Press & Media

By Christine McGowan, Forest Products Program Director at Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund Brad Johnson would like to see wood products valued for the stand that’s left behind in the forest, not just the dollar value of the wood removed. “The lumber industry is sort of where the food industry was in the…

The Wood Works Council hosted its fall meet-up on September 16th with two great programs in one afternoon.  Third Branch Horse Logging in Northfield welcomed us for the first stop. Brad Johnson, joined by business partner John Plowden (partner Derek O’Toole was not present) conducted the tour.  Brad…

Now is Your Moment! Vermont has over 2000 woodworking shops. Many are small operations in a garage or basement. Several are workshops with 5-15 craftspeople working together. A handful are large manufacturing facilities (large in Vermont terms anyway) with 50-100+ craftsmen. Regardless of the size of…

A project initiated by the Northeast –Midwest State Foresters Alliance, Forest Markets & Utilization Committee researched contributions of the forest products industry in the 20 Northeast and Midwest states. The project was funded, in part, by a Landscape Scale Restoration Grant and administered by Michigan…

The newest member of the Vermont Woodworks Council is Hauskaa. Based in Burke, Hauskaa is a maker of little wooden houses for fun, form, and function. Hauskaa’s handcrafted houses can serve as candleholders, keepsakes, conversations pieces, collectibles, or part of a design-forward Nordic village as…

By Christine McGowan, Forest Products Program Director at Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund Updates to Vermont’s 100-year old tree warden statutes provide clarity, opportunity for collaboration.According to Elise Schadler, a program manager with Vermont Urban and Community Forestry, a tree warden is a modern-day…

By William Sampson Skyrocketing lumber prices have grabbed the media spotlight recently, but most of the attention has been focused on softwood lumber and homebuilding. In reality, the crisis is more widespread than just homebuilding and has reached deep into the woodworking industry across North America,…

With lumber prices hitting record prices over the past few months, many news outlets have sought information on why, and how the prices are impacting the rest of the forest industry supply chain.  INRS’s Eric Kingsley has spoken to reporters from around the country looking at this issue and has been…

For the last year, funded through the Northern Forest Center by the US Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration (EDA), INRS has been working hard on a research project for the North East State Foresters Association (NEFA) that seeks to provide the foundation for forest products markets…

We welcome Third Branch Logging as a new member of the Wood Works Council. Third Branch Horse Logging is located in Braintree, VT, and is owned and operated by Brad Johnson, Derek O’Toole, and John Plowden. Third Branch uses draft horses and some machine used for commercial logging, land management,…