2015 S P R I N G ISSUE Mainely Agriculture || Equi Ag & Livestock || Aqua Agriculture 5

An innovative logging company has been quietly salvaging tons of sunken pulp and full length trees from the bottom
of Quakish Lake since 2009. The sunken wood was part of the
history of the Penobscot river drives that formerly sent logs to market
by river starting in the early 1900s when millions of wood had no
other way to get to mills before I 95 and rail could help transport the

same. Maine Heritage Timber company owned and

managed by Steve Sanders and Tom Shafer employ
workers who operate barges, transport dumpsters and
trucks. The wood is kiln dried, sent to saw mills and
processed into various products used in applications
like flooring, wainscoting, bar tops, kitchens etc.

The result of this salvage is often far more beautiful

than nature would otherwise create. The underwater
lack of oxygen, rot, sunlight, insect or other pest damage laying at the bottom of a lake for more than 100
years manifests a preserved wood unequalled in the
building trades for a consummate and unique beauty.

Lake salvage photo from company website

Wood harvests value-added

Besides the afore mentioned products, the company makes crates, bread boards, and furniture.
Un-usable wood gets ground into pulp for paper
mills or biomass, shavings and even the rocks that
come up with the floating excavator barge gets
picked up and sold to landscapers.
With likely millions of cords of sunken logs and
pulp at the bottom of the lake, Maine Heritage
Timber company executives expect to be salvaging sunken wood for a couple decades with
annual winter slow downs. The reuse of this
sunken wood is well recognized by builders and
architects/interior decorators more and more.
with
Recently,
published data about the Millinocket company that has helped getting increased
orders for more products sawn from logs cut
decades ago and lost to the bottom of the lake.
BilBilling their sawn lumber as highend-reclaimed wood, lacking any modern exposure to
harmful paints, asbestos and industrialized building materials, clean wood examples used for cutting and bread boards speaks directly to the
pristine nature of preserved old growth Maine
timber left sunken under water for decades. Because such wood is unavailable anywhere, it offers a marketing niche that it cannot be replicated
and thereby is a unique, one-of-a-kind look for
interior finish work of a house or office, or business as flooring, furniture or wall paneling. For
more information about the products of Maine
Heritage Timber call: 207-732-9200/207-447
1772 tom@maineheritagetimber.com.

Forestry in Maine has seen a few

changes in recent months outside the latest paper industry mill shut
downs and sales. The pellet industry has had some stumbles due to
retail store failures to preorder enough pellets for customer demands
and the retooling by pellet manufacturers to meet goals for greater
Salvaged flooring samples, photo from company website
production through expansion, is also ongoing and affects supply and demand. The lumber manufacturing segment is growing steadily and new use of chips and biomass for export
markets is also growing. The following run down offers an
overview:
Agriculture Sec. Tom Vilsack announced that the Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Up north, a maker of cedar shingles has moved from southern
will be awarding over $30 million in grants to help schools prepare healthy meals for children, purchase
states to Ashland to produce a product it calls Smart Shinneeded equipment and provide additional training for food service professionals.
gles. EcoShel has since created about 80 jobs.
Since 2009, USDA has provided $185 million in kitchen equipment funding to states participating in the
National
School Lunch (NSLP) and School Breakfast (SBP) Programs. USDA provides the funding to
Fraser Timbers lumber mill in Marsidis is now owned by a
states,
which
then competitively award grants to school districts in order to purchase necessary equipment,
Canadian Company, Maibec and employs 135 people and will
giving
priority
to high-need schools where 50 percent or more of the enrolled students are eligible for free
produce 100 million board feet of softwood lumber annually.
or reduced price meals. America's nutrition assistance programs include the National School Lunch and
ReEnergy has opened a biomass facility in Ashland to produce School Breakfast programs, Child and Adult Care Food Program, Summer Food Service Program, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants,
enough electricity to supply 37,000 homes from local wood
and Children (WIC).
wastes.

School lunch programs to get more cash in Maine

In central Maine, Corinth Wood Pellets will spend $7 million

upgrading its pellet plant and will add 18 additional jobs this
and next year when complete.
Pleasant River Lumber of Dover-Foxcroft purchased the former Lavalley sawmill in Sanford two years ago and is investing
millions in software and mechanical upgrades to that facility.
Pride Manufacturing in Burnham is the new manufacturer of
the Lincoln Logs kids building toys, formerly produced in recent years in China. Already a well known golf tee manufacturer, Pride shows a marked growth pattern ahead.
Louisiana Pacific invested more than $140 million in its New
Limerick mill to expand into laminated strand lumber.
Cate Street Capital and Thermogen still plans to develop a pellet mill on former Great Northern Paper Company ground in
Millinocket. A recent additional payment of back taxes in January to the town has signaled patience from the city council to
assist the project as Finance Authority of Maine indicates Thermogen can now re-apply to reopen its former bond financing
award of $16 million it previously did not use for financial
shortfall while undergoing financing. If the project breaks
ground this spring, the mill would create 55 annual jobs, 281
indirectly and produce 300,000 tons of biofuel pellets for sales
overseas. It has yet to clear the hurdle of environmental permitting with the state but when soon clear of this, financing for
the same will have a clearer path to arrange some $140 million
necessary to establish the same and succeed.

PIONEER MACHINE, INC.

General Machining, Consulting
Welding & Fabrication
Hydraulic Cylinder & Repair

31 Harding Road
Albion 04910
Tel: 207 437-9281 Fax: 207 437-2731
Email: pmi@uninets.net
www.pioneermachineincorporated.com
Steven Grenier, President

TILTONS AUCTION

Mad Cow example revives argument for COOL

The Canadian Food Inspection
Agency's confirmation of Mad Cow Disease in a
beef cow in Alberta, Canada Feb. 13, points out
why USDA may continue to hold strong on the
Country-of-Origin Labeling (COOL) rule according to some producers.
"This
incident makes
Farmers Union
members believe
even more in our
cause to protect
Countryof-Origin
Labeling,"
said Wisconsin
Farmers Union President Darin Von Ruden, a dairy
farmer. "It is a vital tool in ensuring that farmers can
provide a secure product and that consumers can be
confident about where their food originates."
COOL is a labeling law that requires retailers notify
their customers of the source of certain foods, including muscle cut and ground meats, fish, fruits
and vegetables and certain nuts. Since its passage
in 2002, COOL has taken fire from meat processors
both domestically and internationally. Not all pro-

ducers are opposed to the labeling law nor are all

universally for the same. However, in papers filed
Feb. 9 in the U.S. District Court for the District of
Columbia, recent COOL opponents dropped a lawsuit
filed by the multinational meat packing industry and
their allies to try and stop the U.S. Department of
Agriculture from implementing the labeling law. The
resulting dismissal saw National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson praise the decision to drop the
lawsuit, noting, "This is a clear and indisputable win
for American consumers and producers, and it's a
huge relief to know that common-sense labeling laws,
like COOL, can prevail in court despite the deep
pockets of the multinationals." A recent report released by Auburn University indicates that fed cattle
prices declined after COOL went into effect, while
imports of slaughter cattle and feeder cattle were
unchanged or not affected by the notion of COOL.
An appraisal of the same report would indicate producers prices were initially artificially lowered rebelling against the labeling rule and that buying better
livestock was investment planning for improved herd
genetics and higher valued, more secure holdings to
eventually meet labeling rules when finally pressed to
do so as a means to balance labeling expenditures.

Waldo Area
Compost

Feed, Hdwe

Tractors

Daily Buying & Selling

MACs

Trucking Available
Auctions, all types

Hardware
& Feed Store - Unity

SHIPPING DAY TUES.

207 285-3467 991-4435 c
Auctioneer Jeffrey Tilton

Lic.# AR 1163

72 Reynolds Rd., Unity

Ph 207 948-3071
Fx 207 948-5139

COR. JCT. RTS. 137 & 220

3 KNOX RIDGE SOUTH KNOX