Press & Media

By Christine McGowan, Vermont Forest Industry Network Dave Nelson is on a mission to bring sauna culture to the United States. With his partner, Nicole Sweeney, Nelson founded SAVU in Cambridge, Vermont with the construction of a contemporary sauna nestled in the woods overlooking Smugglers’ Notch. “We…

By Christine McGowan, Vermont Forest Industry Network Charlie Shackleton hand planes a piece of wood in his workshop at ShackletonThomas in Bridgewater. Charlie and his wife, potter Miranda Thomas, established ShackletonThomas in 1987. Photo by Erica Houskeeper. Charlie Shackelton has a pretty interesting…

In the April 26 Federal Register (attached), the US Small Business Administration (SBA) proposed new rules to retain or increase the employee-based size standards governing the term “small business.” Comments are requested by June 27. SBA proposes to increase size standards for 150 industries and retain…

Participating companies will focus on developing products that use chips, dust, resins, shavings, byproducts, and other low-grade wood; technology that improves forest industry operations, production, automation, safety, management, or sales throughout the supply chain; or products or services that increase…

UVM Extension Business Specialists Chris Lindgren, Betsy Miller and Zac Smith are available to work one-on-one with farm, forest and maple businesses on their finances and business planning. These sessions are designed to be flexible so that the time is spent focusing on the topics that are important…

By Guild of Vermont Furniture Makers Sustainability and eco-friendly living is not merely a trend. Sustainability has become a mandate from furniture consumers. You may wonder: What is more sustainable – mass-produced or handcrafted furniture? We’re happy to report that by most scorecards, hand-crafted…

By Kelly Nottermann The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund (VSJF) announces the selection of the Energy 2022 cohort of the DeltaClimeVT climate economy business accelerator. Eight early-stage energy companies from across the U.S. and Canada will work with climate economy leaders, industry experts, potential…

In response to COVID-19, the Vermont Community Action Partnership and the Micro Business Development Program came together to establish the EMBRACE (Economic Micro Business Recovery Assistance for the COVID-19 Epidemic) direct grant program. Thank goodness for the acronym!  EMBRACE issues $5,000 grants…

The Vermont Legislature has created the following relocation incentives to attract new residents to the state and grow the workforce as well as provide support to Vermont employers. This program combines elements of previous relocation programs. There are two different types of grants available under…

In December, I presented to the Forest Resource Association’s Northeast Region on challenges the forest industry (and let’s be honest – everyone else) faces in finding, recruiting, and retaining their workforce. In researching this topic there was no shortage of challenges identified – the Great Resignation,…