Clear-cut forum set for St. Albans

ST. ALBANS — Sebasticook Farms, a non-profit corporation that employs adults with development disabilities at a sawmill in St. Albans, is sponsoring “An Evening with Roger Milliken Jr.” at the St. Albans Grange Hall on Aug. 28 at 7 p.m.

Milliken, president of Baskahegan Co., a major woodlands owner in Washington County, initially was invited to address employees of the farm on the subject of the upcoming clear-cutting referendum. Since then, the session has been opened up to the general public.

“To many of our employees we are a human services agency. But we are also a human services agency that operates a hardwood sawmill,” said Larry Ross, Sebasticook Farms administrator. “We’re trying to give our employees as much information as we can.”

According to Ross, the farm’s sawmill provides 40 percent of the $3.3 million annual budget. Changes in wood harvesting are likely to impact the farm operation that serves 85 people in different capacities.

Milliken considers himself a woodlands owner and an environmentalist. Having been both an officer for the Maine Forest Products Council and a director of the Natural Resources Council of Maine, he brings a different perspective to the challenge of creating a working forest while protecting the environment.

Milliken also has been active in the development of the Compact for Maine’s Forests, the compromise plan to the clear-cutting referendum currently being proposed.