Forester discusses Haiti trip

A Greenville forester who spent last January with his wife and daughters in Haiti made a plea at Bangor Monday night to the Maine forest industry and individual foresters to help that poverty-stricken country.

Mark Armstrong, a forester with the S.D. Warren Co., was the featured speaker at the Eastern Maine Forest Forum, which met at the Ramada Inn.

Armstrong and his wife, Diane, taught at the American University in Les Cayes in January. The couple’s daughters, Angela, 15, and Melanie, 13, helped their mother begin organizing a library at the newly opened science building at the university’s new campus.

“There’s a lot of untapped potential in Haiti,” said Armstrong. He told the audience that the forest industry should look to Haiti because of its good climate, abundant water supply and fertile soil.

Wood can be produced on a fairly short rotation, and eucalyptus trees grow large enough to produce lumber in six years, he said. “That’s pretty amazing, when you’ve spent your career trying to grow pulpwood on a 50-year rotation,” he said.

Armstrong acknowledged that Haiti has more than its share of problems, political and otherwise, as the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. But, he said, the problems are not insurmountable if individuals and U.S. industry are willing to help.

“All the elements for success and prosperity are present in Haiti. What they badly need right now is organization, technical assistance and industries willing to invest in the country,” Armstrong told the foresters and their guests.

The forest industry can help, he said, by giving professionals leaves to teach or conduct research at the American University.

The Greenville resident said the Haitians “are anxious to learn, anxious to work, and anxious to do something better with their lives than what they are doing. They want to put their country back on its feet.”

He said the AULC students are dedicated to getting an education so that they can help in the rebirth of a nation that has been plundered over the years by corrupt governments.

“It will be the students at the university who will some day be managing the country. Our job, as I see it, is to help the American University at Les Cayes get on its feet,” he said.