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About

This stewardship program operates under the Trust to Conserve Northeast Forestlands. To learn more about the Trust, click here.

Background
Maine was the first place in the world with a point-of-harvest Master Logger Certification (MLC) program, offering third-party independent certification of logging companies' harvesting practices. The certification system is built around standards that have been cross-referenced to all of the world's major green certification systems, and has been adopted by several other North American states and Canadian provinces. On October 1, 2007 the Maine MLC program and the Southern New England MLC program combined efforts to bring the Northeast Master Logger Certification Program (NEMLC) to loggers in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

136 companies in the Northeast have been third-party certified to date, and 93 have gone through a recertification process as part of the piloting of this history-making effort. While many of them are large logging contractors, some companies are small, independent sole proprietors, and together they represent all areas of these Northeastern states.

How the Program Works
The concept of NEMLC is based on a common vision for the rural communities and forest resources of the Northeast. It is built around eight goals to help guide Northeast Master Loggers in their work: Document Harvest Planning, Protect Water Quality, Maintain Soil Productivity, Sustain Forest Ecosystems, Manage Forest Aesthetics, Ensure Workplace Safety, Demonstrate Continuous Improvement, and Ensure Business Viability. There are detailed harvest responsibilities with explicit performance standards under each goal.

Field verifiers visit actual harvest sites to determine whether candidates for Northeast Master Logger Certification are meeting and exceeding the standards that are required for certification. Their findings are submitted to an independent national board that makes the final decision on whether a company will be certified.

To remain a Northeast Master Logger, each company must be recertified every two years. There are also random audits between recertifications, a continuous improvement process for upgrading skills within the company, and partnership with other forest professionals and their associations.

In 2005, the MLC program was recognized by the Rainforest Alliance's SmartWood program with the first ever SmartLogging certificate. This certificate represents an independent global recognition of the integrity of the Master Logger standard. The program has also been recognized as a source of responsibly harvested forest products throughout the forest products industry and has achieved the FSC standard for Controlled Wood and for Chain of Custody when Master Logger harvests are conducted on FSC-certified land.

Higher Standards
To compete successfully in a global marketplace, we believe that Northeastern harvesting companies and other forest professionals must demonstrate a world standard for economic AND environmental performance. To do this, a profession's essential practices must be defined and each company certified to exemplary standards. These standards must be based on performance in the forest. Once that performance is recognized, harvesting companies can move forward as equal partners with others to ensure economic viability for all of the rural Northeast.

Growth
Rather than be swept along by the changes occurring in the global marketplace, Maine's only logger association decided in 2000 to reinvent their profession and hold it to a world-leading standard of excellence. Their success has attracted national and international attention. In 2002, Maine's pioneering effort in designing and implementing the Master Logger Certification Program was unanimously adopted as the national model for logger certification by the 27 state associations in the American Logging Council.
Maine was the state where the Master Logger certification program was pioneered, but the innovations started there are now being implemented across North America.

As of July 2006, 7 states (Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Michigan, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Connecticut) and 3 Canadian provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island) are implementing Master Logger programs based on the Maine model. On October 1, 2007 the Maine MLC program became the Northeast MLC program by joining efforts with the Southern New England MLC program to bring one comprehensive MLC standard to Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island.

Newsletter

Coalition for Lower Fuel Prices... read

Forestry Equipment Update... read

Deer Wintering Areas in Maine... read

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Headlines

12/04/2007 Volvo backs energy efficient forestry machinery... read

07/04/2007 Coming Soon: EPAT 2.0... read

07/03/2007 Metafore and The Gagliardi Group co-author "The Paper Consumer's Guide to Climate Change"... read

Standards in Focus

Water Quality - Crossings - Temporary Bridges

Written Safety Plan

Documentation of Harvest Planning

Use of the Maine Natural Areas Program