WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Wet Weather Adds to Loggers' Woes

Wet Weather Adds to Loggers' Woes

Greensboro, Vermont - July 12, 2009

We all know farmers are having a hard time this summer due to heavy rain. But there's another business sector that's suffering as well.

Rivers and streams tell the story. The water is running much higher and muddier than normal for this time of year. And all the wet weather has put a virtual halt to logging operations. "The wet weather has just about shut us down," said Greensboro logger, Warren Hill.

Hill says the weather has left the ground too soggy to handle the equipment. For one thing, it means a shortage of firewood. But the economy is hurting even more. Bill Sayre, a lobbyist for the Vermont Forest Products Association, said, "The markets right now are as bad as they've been, as weak as they've been, in fifty years. So prices for logs are down about fifty percent. Loggers throughout Vermont, throughout the country, are going through very difficult times."

Even though the wet weather has put a virtual halt to logging, it won't have as much impact as you might think. That's because the global economy is on the rocks. It has decimated demand for all kinds of forest products.

"The industry's kind of in shambles right now," Hill said, "with building in the whole of North America -- demand is down, everything. So a lot of the mills even we could work, wouldn't want all the product we could produce. Or if they did, that wouldn't be sustainable to operate on."

Hill said he's already had to lay off workers, and may have to let a couple more go if the weather doesn't dry out soon. It means that loggers, and the income they generate for other businesses, are being hurt just as much as farmers. Or anyone else who makes a living from the land.

Andy Potter - WCAX News