AUGUSTA, Maine — Loggers behind one of Maine’s heritage industries claim the state and its biggest landowners are sharing confidential information about them through a forest certification program.
Tension between logging contractors and the state forest service along with the influential Maine Forest Products Council has existed for years but flared more publicly in Augusta this month through a bill from Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, a fifth-generation logger.
The loggers say the state and forest products group use a certification program to exchange information about them — such as names, locations and potential violations — if they face investigations but have not yet been notified of the probes.
Loggers said it has added to the pressure they face as their field loses workers and money while going from supporting around 9,000 jobs in Maine in 2017 to 5,600 in 2021.
The Maine Forest Service pays dues to Maine Forest Products Council to remain in the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, one of several certification programs the state uses to verify timberland is managed in transparent and ethical ways.
Jackson noted the Maine Forest Products Council runs the certification program here and that the Bureau of Parks and Lands has been paying the council $7,500 annually for the past 20 years to maintain the certification that helps the state sell wood.
The top Democrat also told a legislative committee this month the Maine Forest Service shares with the Sustainable Forestry Initiative information about loggers facing ongoing investigations before the loggers are aware of it. Jackson said he opposes giving taxpayer money to support the arrangement, adding the Maine Forest Products Council has lobbied against his bills supporting forest workers.
“What interest would large corporations that rely on loggers for fiber have in this
arrangement?” Jackson asked. “The answer seems clear to me: money and control.”
Jackson’s bill has not yet made it to the floor and is running tight on time as lawmakers seek to adjourn later in April, but he said it would require investigative records to remain confidential and close the “flow of personal information” without permission from the loggers.
The Bureau of Parks and Lands, Maine Forest Service and Maine Forest Products Council all oppose Jackson’s bill by arguing it would threaten the certification program and the state’s access to certified markets while leading to drops in revenue for the state, loggers and truckers.
Pat Strauch, executive director of the forest products council, called accusations that his group and the certification program collaborate with the state on investigations “hearsay and offensive.” Maine State Forester Patty Cormier said the state does not share confidential information with the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.
The state can share information with nonprofits for “landowner education,” which “does not pertain to loggers,” Cormier said, adding the state works with the certification program and others — such as loggers, foresters and landowners — on offering training on best practices for management and natural resources.
“We especially value our relationship with loggers, no matter their affiliation,” Cormier said.
But Professional Logging Contractors of Maine Executive Director Dana Doran said the group learned in 2018 of the forest service sharing contractor information with the certification program over potential violations when an email was “inadvertently shared” with his group.
Doran provided a June 2018 email sent from a Maine forester to a Maine Forest Products Council official who handles the certification program regarding a logger who potentially violated permitting rules and other regulations while installing a bridge in the Aroostook County town of Woodland.
The official replied he would report it as a complaint to the certification program the next day, according to the email Doran said his group accidentally received, but Doran said the forest service did not tell the logger of the potential violation until weeks later.
The logging group requested a meeting that same year with the forest service to share concerns over legal and constitutional violations. Dana said the state disclosed it had the information sharing policy going back to at least 2010, and the forest service also said its “long-standing practice of contacting certification entities with concerns about timber harvests is lawful as long as we do not reveal information designated as confidential.”
Tom Doak, executive director of Maine Woodland Owners, opposes Jackson’s bill and said tension behind “certification wars” involving the Sustainable Forestry Initiative and another system, the Forest Stewardship Council, has existed for years.