Vermont and Maine have each gone through a period of great concern over liquidation harvesting. Now it seems to be New Hampshire’s turn.
Liquidation harvesting is a term given to the process by which people buy large parcels, cut them heavily, and then subdivide and sell smaller lots, thereby generating a huge profit. The Vermont legislature responded to concerns about the practice in 1997 with its heavy cutting law. Maine recently followed suit by adopting a rule effective January 2005 setting “timber harvesting standards to substantially eliminate liquidation harvesting.”
Much of the focus has been on logging being done on land owned by T.R. Dillon of Anson, Maine. Dillon, often identified as one of Maine’s larger liquidators, owns 45,000 acres near Berlin, New Hampshire. In a November story in Maine’s Morning Sentinel on the impact of Maine’s new rule, Dillon said that if it had been in effect when he started his business, he never would have grown. And he said that it is precisely this type of government intervention that separates Maine from New Hampshire. “I’m a timber liquidator in Maine,” Dillon said. “I’m Mr. Dillon in New Hampshire.”
Whether Dillon retains that term of respect and whether the scale of the cutting going on in Coös County sparks legislation or rule-making in New Hampshire remains to be seen. Opposition to the level of harvesting has been voiced not only by environmental advocates but also by officials with the state’s Fish and Game Department and by people in the forest products industry. They have raised concerns that the level of harvesting taking place may have undesirable environmental impacts and could endanger the long-term viability of the forest products industry.
Recognizing that there is a need for substantive information on the harvesting, two prominent New Hampshire organizations, the New Hampshire Timberland Owners Association and the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, are working together to study the North Country’s wood flow and supply.
Using existing data and collecting other information, this study will quantify the rate of historical and current timber harvest and timber growth on the region’s private and public lands. It will also identify and quantify the factors affecting the long-term wood supply for the New Hampshire forest products industry.
Both organizations hope the information gleaned from this study will provide data for interested groups, concerned citizens, and policy makers on what can be done to promote long-term forest stewardship and assure a sustainable wood supply.