As a young man, Herbert C. Haynes, Sr. had spent enough time working on his father’s farm in Winn to know that agriculture simply wasn’t his calling.

Instead, the young Haynes was drawn to the other commodity growing from the northern Maine soils.

“I like the land, the trees,” Haynes said in 2003 interview for a publication of Lee Academy, where he served on the board of trustees. “I like seeing the wood growing, over time, and I like the process of marketing wood.”

Before his death Tuesday at age 76, Haynes combined his love and knowledge of all things timber-related to become one of the more powerful – and sometimes controversial – figures in Maine’s forestry industry.

Along the way, the Winn resident earned a reputation as a shrewd and honest businessman who kept Maine mills supplied with fiber even during the landownership turmoil of recent decades.

“He was a giant in the industry,” said Donald Mansius, director of forest policy and management for the Maine Forest Service. “He moved a lot of wood and he had a lot of strong relationships with the whole supply chain.”

But Haynes’ aggressive logging practices and forays into the real estate market also earned him a reputation among some conservation groups as a “liquidation harvester.”

“He built a small empire, and you have to give him credit for that,” said Jym St. Pierre, Maine director of RESTORE: The North Woods. “I’m one of those people who was critical of his logging practices, and I don’t apologize for that. But I have to admire him for his abilities” as a business owner.

Born in October 1930, Haynes helped out on his family’s farm while attending Winn High School before his father landed him a job in the woods.

Starting as a truck driver, Haynes slowly began to make his way up in the forestry industry. He formed H.C. Haynes Inc. in 1963 and, over the ensuing decades, gradually expanded the company’s land holdings. As the large paper companies divested their forestland, they often found a willing buyer in Haynes.

Exact figures are hard to come by, but Mansius estimates that H.C. Haynes Inc. and related companies own “well in excess of 100,000 acres” of forestland in the state. Haynes was still working alongside his children at his company until his death.

Keith Van Scotter, co-owner of Lincoln Paper and Tissue, said his mill has done a considerable amount of business with Haynes over the years. Van Scotter described Haynes as a good supplier, “a first-class guy” and an old-fashioned “self-made man of the Maine woods.”

“His word was good,” Van Scotter said.

But Haynes’ aggressive approach to timber harvesting also caught the attention of conservationists, especially as public concern focused on the effects of clear-cutting.

Phyllis Austin, who followed Haynes’ and other timber companies as a reporter covering environmental issues for the now-defunct newspaper Maine Times and other publications, said Haynes had a reputation for cutting “hard and heavy” up to the letter of the law in the Forest Practices Act.

But Austin also described Haynes as “a grand old man from another time” whose business decisions – and cutting practices – were centered on his commitment to his employees and the local community. That philosophy made Haynes “the salt of the earth” in the local community, Austin said.

“[He] really felt strongly they had to carry on the way they always had because they needed to put money in employees’ pockets every week,” Austin said.

Haynes was also well liked among sportsmen for his open-access policies on his land. In fact, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife named Haynes “Landowner of the Year” twice in the past four years.

Although still occasionally accused of aggressive cutting, Haynes and his family members in recent years have negotiated several significant deals with conservation groups.

The company worked with The Nature Conservancy in 2003 to develop plans to protect nearly 10,000 acres of Haynes’ land near the West Branch of the Narraguagus River. Last year, Haynes sold 23,000 acres of heavily harvested land to conservationist Roxanne Quimby in a highly controversial deal that angered some sportsmen in the Millinocket area.

In addition to his sizable forest products business, Haynes also was heavily involved in civic groups. Perhaps his most notable contribution came as a member of the board of trustees of Lee Academy, which his children attended.

Haynes was a past president of the trustees but most recently served as the board’s financial adviser, helping manage the academy’s finances and overseeing investment of the endowment.

Lee Academy Headmaster Bruce Lindberg said Haynes was always willing to work for the academy. Less than a month ago, he volunteered one of his company’s trucks to haul a bus donated to the academy from Presque Isle to Lee.

“And this was from his hospital bed,” Lindberg said. “He made all of the arrangements. That’s just how Herb was.”

Funeral services for Haynes will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at Clay Funeral Home in Lincoln.