Logging industry urges concrete roadmap after Attorney General—s timber-trespass report recommends two-year pause

Representatives of Vermont—s logging industry told the House Committee on Agriculture, Food, Resiliency, and Forestry that an Attorney General—s Office (AGO) report on timber trespass and theft does not provide the detail or assignments needed to reduce incidents and improve enforcement.

Dana Duran, executive director of Professional Logging Contractors of the Northeast, told the committee the industry supported last session—s H.614 and that the AGO produced the required report but did so without a joint stakeholder consensus. "Timber harvesters are not generally in favor of more government regulation," Duran said, "however, we believe then and still today that the legislation ... is an important step to professionalize the industry in Vermont, protect landowners, and ensure that the industry moves forward without a black eye that has festered here in the state of Vermont for decades." He added that stakeholders reviewed a draft but the final report "was at no time reviewed by the group in a joint setting" and that the report—s recommendations largely amount to a two-year pause with no ownership or resource commitments.

Sam Lincoln, owner-operator of Lincoln Farm Timber…