Cutting Trees for Posterity

Utilizing the entire tree – including wood waste for heating pellets and chips – keeps the forest here and healthy for generations.

Everett Thurston cuts trees for a living. And while he’s harvesting, he uses the standards of sustainable forestry to maintain water quality and soil productivity and sustain the forest ecosystem.

He shares, in a From Woods to Warmth episode, that harvesting wood makes the most sense when the entire tree is used – and one of the uses of low-grade wood goes to wood heat. In addition to being an integral part of forest management, wood heat keeps dollars local and supports leaving trees for posterity, looking ahead 50 to 100 years.

Based in Brandon, Vermont, Everett helps landowners manage and improve their property and fulfills logging contracts for the U.S. Forest Service and sawmills. The wood he cuts goes for firewood, dimensional lumber, wood pellets, or paper, supporting mills such as Vermont Wood Pellet Co., Ticonderoga Mill, and Glens Falls.

“You need a market for low-grade wood or it wouldn’t make sense to cut,” Everett said. “That’s what we are trying to do with forest management – remove the lower, grade unhealthy stuff so we can let the healthy trees grow.”

Becoming Certifiably Responsible to the Forest

Everett attended Paul Smith’s College and then followed the path of his grandfather and went to work in the woods. Last year, he built on the tradition by completing the Master Logger Certification.

The Master Logger Certification provides Everett a stamp of approval, expanding markets for the wood Everett cuts because it can be used in products that carry certifications. Third-party certifiers, such as the Forest Stewardship Council, let consumers know that the end product came from sustainably and responsibly managed forests that provide environmental, social, and economic benefits.

“It’s a badge of honor,” said Everett. “I’m part of a group, a class of professionalism that the industry needs. Certification holds you accountable and proves that you’re meeting standards” for protecting water quality, maintaining soil productivity, sustaining the forest ecosystem, and more.

Bringing Support and Education to Loggers Throughout the Region

Everett earned his certification through the Trust to Conserve Northeast Forestlands, which expanded its certification program to include loggers in New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York, thanks to a grant from the Center’s Future Forest Economy Initiative.

The grant helped certify 55 new certified Master Logger companies in the region and brought critical training to 720 logging operators, which will lead to more certified, sustainably harvested wood available to buyers.

Everett’s work is part of a larger story that describes how using low grade wood to heat Northeastern homes contributes to climate solutions and maintains healthy forests. Watch Everett’s video and others in the From Woods to Warmth series.

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