Legislation would allow young Mainers to join family logging business
File photo Courtesy / Professional Logging Contractors of Maine
The Future Logging Careers Act, recently reintroduced in Congress, would allow small logging businesses to safely train 16- and 17-year-old family members for future careers in Maine's forest products industry.
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Maine’s small, family-owned logging companies would be able to safely train 16- and 17-year-old family members as future employees under a bill that an industry leader sees as long overdue.
U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, and U.S. Rep. Jared Golden-D-Maine 2nd District, recently reintroduced the Future Logging Careers Act on Capitol Hill, with U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine 1st District, as cosponsors.
“Logging has been fundamental to the success of our state for centuries — creating good jobs, supporting working families, and providing essential economic activity across rural areas,” King said. “As a new generation of Maine people considers careers in logging, we should be providing opportunities to explore the exciting field in a safe, managed way."
Noting that family-owned businesses are a tradition of the state's forest economy, Golden said the bill “will allow young Mainers to get an early start learning the family trade and lay the foundation of a good living in the woods.”
Currently, 16- and 17-year-olds are not allowed to partake in logging operations, even under parental supervision.
The bill, which was previously introduced in 2019 and 2021, would make changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to allow young Mainers to gain important experience while keeping prohibitions on the use of dangerous equipment by minors. The legislation also seeks to address a logging workforce shortage that exists in some areas of Maine and is expected to worsen in the coming years.
A study conducted by the University of Maine found that the total number of jobs in the logging industry in Maine declined 6% more than the national average between 2014 and 2021.
Dana Doran, executive director of the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine, welcomed the bill.
“The logging and forest trucking industry has a proud history in Maine, but its future is uncertain without common-sense congressional action on issues like this one," he said in a March 10 news release from King and Golden. “This legislation is long overdue.”
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