Shortage of bonded loggers expected for next summer

BREWER – Maine’s wood-dependent industries – from logging companies to paper mills – face another year of shortages and high prices as the federal government keeps a tight clamp on the number of foreign workers it allows in to harvest the wood.

The marketplace already has endured one summer of low production levels and rising prices, coming up with creative ways to cut wood without cutting jobs, according to industry representatives at a Thursday night conference sponsored by the Forestry Resources Association.

But creativity goes only so far without changes in federal laws to give the marketplace some relief, they said.

Last spring, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security alerted the U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services that a law that limits H-2B visas to 66,000 annually must be enforced.

Of the 66,000 nationwide, Maine needs 700 for logging – which are filled by skilled Canadians who live in towns that border the Maine timberlands – and 3,000 for tourism.

H-2B visas are given to foreign workers who are hired by a specific company to work a specific job for up to 11 months, and then they must go home. Primarily, H-2B visas are given to temporary nonagricultural workers such as loggers and hospitality workers.

The catch is that companies needing the workers are required by law to apply for the visas 80 days before the job-start date. Southern states are grabbing the visas earlier, with many of them being used by tourism parks, landscapers and construction firms.

“What we’re hearing is the 66,000 cap is going to be reached by the end of this year,” said Thomas Dodd, forest operations manager for International Paper’s Stratton forest operations. “We’re in the same boat next year.”

An effort by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., to increase the annual limit of H-2B visas was rejected by U.S. Congress two weeks ago.

Maine woods were without the full 700 foreign loggers until October, when the industry was granted a reprieve. But from June to October, Francis Vir of French Logging in Madison, who relies on Quebec loggers to operate his business, had to idle 10 machines. Production was 30 percent of normal levels.

“It hurt me and it hurt everyone from I-95 up to the border,” Vir said.

The Forestry Resources Association, along with Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, the state labor department and other industry groups, are considering changing the job-start dates on the visa applications to secure the visas earlier in the process.

“What this does is get us ahead of the cap filling up,” said FRA executive director Patrick Hackley.