PLC Member Weekly Update April 19, 2024
PLC Events:
- PLC 29th Annual Membership Meeting: Registration Deadline Approaching! Auction donations needed!
- Introducing Grayson & Elliot – Children’s Miracle Network Champion of Northern Light Eastern Maine Hospital
- 2024 Spring Safety Trainings – Still Time to Register!
- Welcome New Supporting Member! – Eskuad
Logging News:
- Blanket Work Search Waiver Extended to May 11th
- The Logger’s Voice – Spring 2024 Edition
- Emergency Forest Restoration Program
- Do You Qualify for Maine’s Direct Link Loan Program?
- Caribou Tech Career Days
- Northeastern Loggers’ Expo
Safety Resources:
- Are your logging employees CPR/First Aid/Bloodborne Pathogen certified?
- Safety Works! Classes
- Small First Aid Pack
- Crew First Aid Pack
- Northeast Safe Logger
News Clips:
Member Benefits:
- Classified listings – Send us your listings!
- Cost Calculators – Members Only
- PLC Store – NEW Small First Aid Pack
- Member Discounts – Many to choose from
PLC Events
Register Now! Donate to the Auction!
The April 26th deadline to register for the Professional Logging Contractors of the Northeast (PLC)’s 29th Annual Membership Meeting and Log A Load for Kids Auction on May 9th – 10th, 2024, is fast approaching! This year’s meeting is being held at a new exciting location, The Samoset Resort in Rockport, Maine. Don’t delay, register now if you haven’t already! May 9th Splinters and Spirits Tour – Robbins Lumber and Local Brewery, Winery, & Distillery Tours Evening Social Gathering – The Samoset Clubhouse May 10th Full PLC Board Meeting and Elections (Contractors only) Equipment Innovation Panel John Godfrey, Godfrey Forest Products Log A Load Auction with NASCAR Driver Ricky Craven PBS America’s Forests TV Show Premiere Featuring The Mallett Brothers Band |
We Need Auction Items!
In 2023, we raised over $127,723 for Log A Load for Kids & Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, through our dinner and auction. Our goal in 2024 is to exceed that total, and we hope that you can help us make miracles happen! This year, we are also excited to announce a new partnership with the University of Vermont Children’s Hospital in Burlington as we expand our Log A Load reach and look forward to sharing our generosity with children in Vermont. *We need auction items! Gift baskets, gift certificates, overnight stays, trips, products, and genuine Northeast experiences that epitomize the region. Can you help us reach our goal and make this year’s Log A Load Auction a success?
There is a link to donate online below. If you would like to call us and discuss your ideas for a donation, please call Renee’ at 207-688-8195 opt. 1.
If you are able to donate, please let us know by April 26, 2024, so we can plan ahead to promote the item!
Thank you for making miracles happen and we look forward to hearing from you!
We are proud to introduce to you, Grayson and Elliot. They are the 2024 Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center’s, Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals Champions.
It’s been more than five years since the Wentworth family, who live in Verona, learned the terrifying news that their 22-month-old son, Grayson, had cancer. As the hours turned into days, weeks, and months, the family leaned on their young son’s bravery for inspiration. They also found hope when Grayson’s mom learned that he’d soon be a big brother. His sister Elliot was born a couple of years into Grayson’s treatments. As Grayson fought a scary battle with leukemia at the Raish Peavey Haskell Children’s Cancer and Treatment Center in Brewer, Elliot unexpectedly spent her first few days fighting for her life in the neonatal intensive care unit in Bangor.
Today these siblings are thriving, and it isn’t lost on their parents how critically important children’s hospitals are to kids’ health. It also is never far from their hearts how important donors are to making sure high quality health care is available for kids, close to home.
The PLC, which was created by Maine loggers to help Maine loggers, has from the very beginning also been about helping others, with a specific focus on kids. The generosity shown through PLC’s annual Log A Load for Kids fund-raising efforts is remarkable.
This year we are determined to once again come through for the kids and their families served by Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals in Maine and, new this year as part of our expansion across the Northeast, Vermont.
If you are interested in donating to Log-A-Load to help support the children in need, click here and join us on May 10, 2024 in Rockport!!! Let’s make miracles happen together!
The Professional Logging Contractors of the Northeast (PLC) is pleased to offer Logger, Fleet and CPR Safety Training to all PLC Members and Master Loggers March 28-May 17 in 2024. Openings still remain! Don’t wait, register now!
There is no charge for the Logger and Fleet Safety Training classes. CPR/First Aid is $50/attendee.
*The trainings on April 18 in Avon, ME; and April 26 in Lincoln, ME are full. Openings remain at all other trainings. The training scheduled for April 4 in Passadumkeag, ME has been moved to April 25 in Lincoln, ME and there is no need to re-register if you have already registered.
Register now!
Eskuad of Portland, ME joined the PLC as a new Preferred Supporting Member in April of 2024. The company builds mobile forms and workflows for field operations.
Eskuad captures data regardless of connectivity without draining your battery. For more information contact Max Echeverria at (207) 449-5674, email max@eskuad.com, or visit https://eskuad.com/
Logging News
Blanket work search waiver extended to May 11, 2024
Members, many of you are facing the annual challenges of temporarily laying off employees or being laid off yourself due to mud season, and with wet conditions continuing in many parts of Maine, the PLC has secured an extension of the work search waiver period for unemployment.
As before, workers impacted will be granted a work search waiver approved by the Commissioner of the Department of Labor and Bureau Director of Unemployment Compensation for up to 5 weeks total, but we have just learned that the period of eligibility for waiver has now been extended through May 11, 2024. This will assist loggers in areas like Northern Maine where mud season conditions persist later than elsewhere.
The most important steps for logging contractors and employees to follow in order to apply for Unemployment Benefits:
File an unemployment claim by phone or online. DO NOT enter a return to work date when applying.
Call to File: The employee contacts the Bureau at 1-800-593-7660 selects option 2 between 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM Monday through Friday. The department is manually putting in a “Director Approved Waiver” for impacted loggers.
Note: Mondays are busiest at the unemployment office and tend to slow down each day following. Currently, the average wait times for phone calls are below 3 minutes, so please be patient and a representative will help you.
File Online: online self-service, click HERE. There are zero wait times, and this option is available 7 days a week. Select “Create ReEmployME Account” if you do not already have an account created from prior years, or “Claimant Login” if you have filed through the ReEmployME system sometime within the last three years. Then select the “Unemployment Claim” tab at the top of your screen and go to “File Unemployment Claim.” Follow the prompts on the screen to file a new claim or reopen an existing claim. The department is manually putting in a “Director Approved Waiver” for impacted loggers.
Any questions may be directed to the Bureau at 1-800-593-7660.
Click here for more unemployment information and guidance
Members, The Emergency Forest Restoration Program (EFRP), administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA), provides payments to eligible owners of nonindustrial private forest land in order to carry out emergency measures to restore land damaged by the weather related storms of the last five months. This program could provide many landowners you work with, and as a result your business, revenue during mud season for clean-up efforts on eligible forestland.
Applicants to this program (landowners) need to work with their local FSA Office to register their land by providing proof of ownership documents such as their deed(s) and tax map(s) and complete in-house eligibility paperwork. Applicants will also need to take initial pictures of the damage and provide an estimate of what is needed to clean up the land. Work cannot start in the program until approved.
Only nonindustrial private forest land is eligible for this program. Applicants that are principally engaged in the primary processing of wood products are not eligible applicants.
Once approved, applicants will be paying upfront for the cleanup to contractors and the program will provide cost-share for items approved. It is important to note that the program will not pay more than 75% of the established price which can be found on the component spreadsheet – the intent of the program is not to reimburse applicants in full but to cover a portion of the cost. Receipts will be required when applicants request payment.
A Fact Sheet on the program is available here and we encourage you to share it with landowners you work with: Emergency Forest Restoration Program.
Sign up for this program ends on May 24.
Anyone with questions should speak with their local FSA office.
Maine’s Direct Link Loan Program
Are you a Master Logger® in Maine who is buying new equipment? Take advantage of the Direct Link Loan Program and get an interest rate reduction of up to 2% on qualifying equipment. Details of the program and how you can take advantage of it are below:
1. A Master Logger signs an Agreement with the Maine Forest Service (MFS), the bank submits Agreement to MFS, and it is approved by the MFS for the purchase of a new or new to them piece of qualifying equipment. (Cut to Length Harvesters and Forwarders, Tracked Feller Bunchers, Stroke Delimbers, Mulching Machines, Road Graders; also includes retrofitting of existing equipment like Flotation tires, Bogey wheels, harvester and processor heads; and Miscellaneous purchases like Metal and Wooden Bridges, Bottomless arches, and sediment and erosion control products) Purchases are considered on a case by case basis, with eligibility based on whether the equipment facilitates the implementation of Best Management Practices.
**Equipment that is NOT eligible: Grapple Skidders, Pull-Thru Delimbers, Tree-to-Tree Feller Bunchers.
2. The Master Logger gets a loan from a participating bank. (See list below) Example: Loan is for $500,000 at current bank interest rate (ex. 7.00%). Contractor can have multiple loans but can’t exceed the $800,000 aggregate limit allowed by the program.
3. The Master Logger is given an interest rate subsidy (reduction) of 1.50% (up to 2%) – the same amount as the *CD rate for as long as they continue to qualify for the program.
Example: 7.00% loan interest rate less 1.50% rate subsidy = 5.50 effective rate.
The following banks participate in the direct link loan program.
- Katahdin Trust Company – David Cambridge
- Farm Credit East – Shannon Webber
- Machias Savings Bank – Anita Madden
- Acadia FCU
**Note: Maine Municipal Bond Bank buys a $500,000 CD for up to five years from bank for up to 2.00% less than the bank’s going CD rate matching the term of the loan. Ex. 1.50 % – (up to 2%)
Don’t see your bank on the list? Reach out and encourage them to get involved.
Not yet Master Logger® Certified? Email Sydney at sydney@tcnef.org, call (207)-688-8195, opt. 2 or visit masterloggercertification.com.
For more information, click here for the Direct Link Loan Program.
Safety Resources
Workplace safety and labor law requirements can seem complex – join the Maine Department of Labor for no-cost upcoming trainings!
Upcoming classes:
A Practical Approach to Electrical Safety –
April 26, 2024 I 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. SafetyWorks! Training Institute, 45 Commerce Drive, Augusta
In this half-day class, you will learn how to protect workers from electrical hazards. NFPA 70E requirements will be discussed in layman’s terms.
Fire Extinguisher/Emergency Action Plans/Workplace Violence –
April 29, 2024 I 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. SafetyWorks! Training Institute, 45 Commerce Drive, Augusta
In this class, you will learn about Emergency Action Plans, including the use of fire extinguishers and how to maintain them. In addition, this class tackles the emerging concern for workplace violence and how to prepare your organization for this hazard. This is a one-day hands-on class. Those attending this class should come prepared to discharge a fire extinguisher.
Register and browse more SafetyWorks! classes: https://www.safetyworksmaine.gov/training/scheduled_classes/register.shtml
If you have questions about safety or upcoming classes, reach out to SafetyWorks! at 1-877-SAFE-345 or general.bls-safetyworks@maine.gov.
If you have questions about Wage and Hour compliance, please reach out to the Wage and Hour Division at 207-623-7900 or bls.mdol@maine.gov, or visit www.maine.gov/labor/bls/
New Small PLC Operator/Driver First Aid Pack!
In response to demand for a smaller/”must have in an emergency” first aid pack to be stored in a machine or pickup, the PLC has created a new Operator/Driver First Aid Pack.
- Contains “must have in an emergency” bleeding control items
- One pack is recommended per machine/truck
- Detachable velcro panel ideal for mounting in a machine or truck
- Meets OSHA requirements for a logging first aid kit
- Supplements PLC’s larger first aid back pack but is not a replacement
The PLC Member price is $69 plus tax and shipping (if it is not picked up by the contractor or delivered by the PLC). Color RED
More information on the pack and its contents is available HERE.
Get yours now by clicking HERE!
PLC Crew First Aid Backpack
PLC First Aid Pack: In response to widespread interest from members, we have created a PLC First Aid Pack that has everything you need for emergencies in the woods. This Military Elite Tactical Trauma First Aid Backpack was designed for the PLC by Paul Stewart – EMT Houlton, ME.
To order Click HERE
Maine News
Loggers and top Democrat decry Maine alliance with biggest landowners
Maine logging tensions / ‘Smart growth’ / Bangor shelter’s future
Environmental Protection Agency report shows an increase of toxic chemical releases in Maine
Webinar Covers Two of Maine’s Troublesome Pests: Jumping Worms and Browntail Moths
Vermont News
Watershed Forestry Partnership Annual Meeting is Back in Person – The University of Vermont
Column: Act 250 update would preserve Vermont landscape – Valley News
Forest officials prescribe fires in Green Mountain National Forest – WCAX
‘Judgment proof’: Timber theft highlights a gap in Vermont’s judicial system – VTDigger
Member Benefits
PLC Members Only!
Equipment Cost Calculators Available
Members,
With expenses rising rapidly in the industry we know you are struggling to get a handle on your costs. This is a great time to utilize the cost calculators created in 2021 for PLC Members.
These new, easy to use, logging equipment and log trucking cost calculators are available on the PLC Members Only section of our web site You may access this private section of the web site with your member login or set up a login HERE.
These calculators allow you to quickly estimate the hourly cost of operation for any piece of your equipment.
DISCLAIMER: These calculators are being made available for your business use as a member benefit. They produce equipment estimates and are not official products of the PLC nor should they be used for negotiation purposes.
PLC Online Store
Looking for great PLC items and apparel? Gifts? First Aid packs, safety items and more? You will find them at the new PLC Online Store on our web site. Ordering is easy.
CHECK IT OUT HERE
ALC Member Discounts
PLC Members, because the PLC is a member of the American Loggers Council YOU are entitled to special discounts! CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE
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Fabian Oil Discount
Wallingford’s Discounts
Maine Trailer Discounts
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PLC Members get a 5% discount on culverts purchased at Treeline and Frank Martin & Sons
Hale Trailer discounts for PLC Members on new trailer purchases! Call Neal at 207-232-7969 for details!
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