Publisher’s Note: As 21st century fossil fuel energy resources dwindle in the Age of Peak Oil, Vermont will become more reliant once again on its forests, and our logging industry will once again become more central to Vermont’s economic future. Here’s an overview of where we’ve been, and where we might be going, in the forests of the once-and-future Vermont republic.

Vermont’s 21^st century lumber industry and its economic influence on state prosperity ranks second only to electronics in total manufacturing revenues, and pays the highest manufacturing wages outside Chittenden County. Loggers and trees (birch, maple, oak, pine, and all alike) have coexisted on the Vermont landscape for centuries, from the early settlers who built houses and boats with logs sawed by hand, to modern loggers who zip through the forest piloting specialized heavy equipment.

In the mid-1800s, logging replaced agriculture as the state’s leading industry, and while the methods and markets have changed, logging remains today every much a part of Vermont’s working landscape as dairy farming. The roots of logging run deep in Vermont. The state’s first sawmill machinery business in the green mountain state opened in Westminster in 1739, and a century later, Vermonters operated nearly 2,000 mills statewide. By the mid-19th century, logging had become Vermont’s largest and most lucrative industry. At one point, timber traffic on Lake Champlain made Burlington the third-busiest lumber port in the United States.

However, logging in Vermont today faces an uncertain future. While Vermonters are still making a living in our Green Mountain forests, the number of loggers (estimated to be around 500 in Vermont) has declined by some 50 percent in the last two decades. The aging workforce of loggers is definitely not helping the entirety of lumber production, which is reliant on physically demanding work involving strength, stability, and concentrated focus. The fact of loggers not being noticed and commended a great deal in the media and in other public domains both online as well as in person also has led to the struggle to attract new  loggers to the industry. More problematic? Vermont loggers increasingly find themselves at the mercy of world economics. “I think of logging a lot like I think of farming,” said Toby Rheaume, a logger from East Middlebury. “It’s a natural, renewable resource that just takes a little hard work.” In regards to the productivity and level of efficiency involved with logging in the 21^st century, “It’s not as busy as it used to be,” said Russ Barrett, a Washington County forester who works neither in connection with forest landowners and loggers but instead as the separating link between the two of them. “It’s harder to make a living in the whole timber products industry in general, but we are fortunate to be one of the few places in the world that grows some quality hardwoods.”

Sawmills used to be an integral part of Vermont culture, with every town being in possession of one. In today’s 21^st century filled with more heavily advanced technology leading to expensively advanced equipment tools, larger business corporations are outpacing smaller independently-owned family run shops because of the cultural tendency to become increasingly marketable in a faster-paced world environment. The competition from nationally recognized companies has forced many small operating local businesses to permanently shut down because of the inability to keep customers continuously flowing to their specific location(s). Also, the 2007-2008 recession did not help the many privately owned sawmills’ because the result of the dysfunction ended up leading to a big dip in the housing construction market, which is heavily reliant on wood-based materials of vast kinds, which put many mills out of business, especially the newer ones that had a lot of debt overhead.

Logging’s fate in Vermont is similar to the vast decline of our dairy farms. Overall, the state of Vermont has been one of the largest producers of dairy products in the United States, with a significant part of the state exports amounting to these types of resources. “One hundred years ago, Vermont had more cows than people.” This fact no longer holds true in today’s time. “In 2012, the state had roughly 134,000 dairy cows and about 626,000 people,” according to an economic assessment conducted by the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets and the Agency of Commerce and Community Development, and “each one of those cows generates $12,500 in economic activity, and overall value of dairy farming to the Vermont economy amounts to $2.2 billion. In all, sixty-three percent of all milk produced in the New England region comes from Vermont, and dairy represents 70 percent of all agricultural sales in the state.” The state’s dairy farms over time, with the majority located in rural towns and counties have decreased in high numbers over the past decade due to a lack of economic return on investment in selling their products to grocery store supermarkets, as well as smaller ones of greater convenience. Fluctuation in the value of milk directly affecting the price of the calcium rich product, and the very frigid climate, present especially in the winter time (sometimes extending longer over the course of as much as 5 to 6 months’ time) makes the cost of the entire step-by-step progressing progress very hard on limited available cash resources.

On the more positive side, Vermont is aided and benefited by the beautiful natural forest and nature making up a significant range of the entire outlined acreage landscape. “Our economy here has really been based on the rich, vast forested resources we have around us,” says Steven Sinclair, Director of Forests for the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation. According to Sinclair, the state’s forestry industry contributed about $3.4 billion to the state’s economy in 2012, and sustains about 20,600 jobs.

According to the Vermont Woodlands Association, “Private landowners control 80% of forestland in Vermont” while the “Local, State, and Federal government own 19%,” and the remaining 1% is allocated to the business or forest industry. The reasons given as to why private landowners in the state own forestland “in order of priority are aesthetics, privacy, nature protection, family legacy, other recreation, land investment, hunting and fishing, and timber production.” It is common now for a sizable number of Vermonters to use wood cut down from the state’s forests for “electrical and heating use” in homes with the total coming out to approximately 10%. The mission statement the organization holds is to be “dedicated to promoting the thoughtful stewardship of Vermont’s privately-owned working forests.”

The materials that the industry operates on a daily basis provide specialized items that are a luxury to normal living with a number of them being firewood, lumber, furniture, and maple syrup. The forests also help provide clean water, carbon storage, and wildlife habitat with the environmental ideals and values being vital to the backdrop of recreation, in addition to tourism in the state. “We recognize and are aware of the wide use forest land provides for state citizens and tourists with exercise as well as sports recreational opportunities bringing in valuable means thus enhancing the state’s economy as a whole,” says Sinclair. “There is certainly a fine line to balance in regards to keeping the landscape as vibrant as it can be while also accomplishing our set out goals to improving the state’s overall vision. The conservation, protection, and preservation of the state’s natural outdoor beauty remains of utmost importance to our department, not to be taken lightly.” Foresters’ goal is to harvest timber in a way that doesn’t destroy the overall health of the forest. This can be done by cutting down older trees to encourage diversity and growth, and thinning tree populations in some areas to promote healthier growth. It’s also important to plant new trees, while taking immense care to plant species that will both provide the type of timber wanted and fit into the forest ecosystem.

According to the Vermont Forest Resources Plan, environmentally friendly green infrastructure areas as well as renewable energy resources play a vital role in promoting the cleanliness and prosperity of planet earth we inhabit. The region’s vibrant forestry industry is a valuable asset to the state, as part of the natural habitat of vastly rural Vermont with a spotlight on adventuring through the wilderness.

The Vermont Department of Forests, Parks, and Recreation recognize their duty to care for the natural forest landscape through maintaining a high quality of growth. Sustainably managing forests involves the recognition of the ecological, social, and economic systems necessary to maintain forest health while still providing benefits for the current and future generations. “Vermont’s forests cover 4,591,281 acres of land.” Covering 78% of the state, forests provide jobs, stability to the landscape, wildlife habitats, biological diversity, clean water, scenic vistas and diverse recreational opportunities, says Paul Frederick, Vermont Department of Forests Wood Utilization Forester. Vermont’s forests cover 4,591,281 acres of land. He has been familiar with the state’s outdoor environment since he was a young child because of his experience growing up in the southern part of Vermont on his grandfather’s farm dedicated to nature’s existence impacting human as well as animal life on a consistent basis.

As a once and future republic, Vermont “grows twice as many trees compared to the number we have cut down or otherwise removed. The development of homes is having an effect on forest lands acreage, but the volume of trees in totality is increasing. Wood is a resource that has been used for 1,000s of years to construct buildings, crate paper products, heat homes, and many other purposes just to name a few. It is a renewable commodity. The forestry sector contributes $1.4 billion dollars annually to the state,” says Paul Frederick, Vermont Department of Forests Wood Utilization Forester. The most challenging issue facing the future outlook of the state’s lumber industry is “forest fragmentation with large blocks of forest lands diminishing. Also, the concept of forest parcelization with plots of land being taken up by home development thus is making increased infrastructure a priority for overall expansion efforts,” explains Frederick.

Vermont’s forests are still vital today, as they reduce the effects from climate (drought), weather (flooding, strong winds), and insect and disease problems (natural controls). Forest ecosystems have intrinsic value because of the added capabilities in fulfilling the values of human society. For example, forest ecosystems are being associated with the promotion of health, clean air, and energy. Trees purify our air, soil, and water, as well as provide temperature regulation in our homes from shading and wind protection, while also removing excess carbon dioxide from the air and store it above and below ground.

As outlined in Vermont’s Department of Forest, Parks, and Recreation (FPR) Forest Resource Action Plan back from 2010, the state’s primary focus continuing on into the future has to do with conserving biological diversity across all landscapes, maintain and enrich forest health in addition to productivity, and conserve and supplement forest products as well as ecosystem services. Additional objectives they have high attention concentrated on is a respect for the state’s geographic heritage along with upholding sustainable use of all resources, and accomplishing formatted management strategies. Environmental as well as economic conservation framework is held to a very high standard.

Written by Nathan Hetrick, a senior Sociology Major and Media Studies, Journalism, & Digital Arts Minor at Saint Michael’s College.