Logger Brian Lafoe knows this all too well. On a recent January morning, he was in the cab of a machine called a forwarder in a patch of woods in East Burke. He maneuvered its mechanized arm to pick up logs that his son-in-law felled, split and piled along a road they cut through the forest. As it moved through the woods, the forwarder left ruts in the ground. Usually, he said, that’s not an issue at this time of year.
“You shouldn't be able to see this ground,” he said. “We should have snow right now. Life should be good. It should be zero degrees. We should be going.” These rules are intended to protect water quality by stopping erosion and preventing sediment and other materials from getting into streams and brooks. Lafoe said he’s happy to follow the rules, though the cost adds up. Logging practices, he said, have changed a lot since he started his business in 1988.
Forester David Senio, standing in front of a pile of balsam fir logs, said responsibly managing forests can make them healthier in the long run. “This year, we don't have that extra inventory that we had last year. So we are hoping that, you know, we have a strong next few weeks,” she said.