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Mild weather has made it one of the toughest logging seasons ever.
“I would say this is a totally unprecedented winter,” Ben Lobb, a Makinen logger and president of the Associated Contract Loggers and Truckers of Minnesota (ACLT) board said. “We’ve only had one week of cold weather. If you would have asked me if this would be happening in Minnesota, I would say ‘no.’
Without enough frigid weather to firm up the ground, loggers can’t get their equipment into the forest in some areas to harvest wood where they hold permits on state or county- owned timber.
“Nobody’s ever seen it this bad,” Mike Forsman, ACLT executive director said. “It’s been ridiculously warm. I think the number of actual cold days has been very slim. It’s been hit and miss. It comes down to where they are at. The guys who are on high ground and close to a road are okay, but other guys are cutting at like fifty percent. A lot of them who can’t cut their winter wood are into their summer sales.”
It’s the second straight year loggers have had to deal with weather issues.
Last year, heavy snowfall impacted logging operations, Lobb said.
“The snow was deep last year which created problems,” Lobb said.
However, an action announced by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will help.
Timber permits held by loggers on state land will be extended under an emergency declaration for adverse surface conditions, the DNR said.
The one-year, interest-free extension will be for winter- accessible permits with an expiration date between April 1, 2024 and December 31, 2024, according to the DNR.
Loggers, logging groups and northeastern Minnesota legislators pushed for the extension in letters to the DNR.
St. Louis County is also offering extensions to loggers for timber permits on county land, Jason Meyer, St. Louis County Land and Minerals deputy director said.
The action is in line with existing St. Louis County policy, Meyer said.
“For obvious reasons, this has been an unprecedented season,” Meyer said. “We are going to be doing extensions.”
In Itasca County, the land department plans to go to the county board on March 19 or March 26, asking the board to approve a blanket reprieve on any permits that were due to expire March 1, Michael Gibbons, Itasca County Land Department deputy commissioner said. “A lot of loggers have sent us letters asking for extensions,” Gibbons said. “It’s been a bad winter.”
Other area counties like Koochiching County, have also provided extensions for timber harvesting on county lands, Forsman said.
Mild weather has only added to a list of problems loggers are continuing to face, Forsman said.
The cost of repair parts, tires, fuel, lubricants, and equipment, has loggers in an ongoing pinch, he said.
“With inflation and prices going up, it’s been hard on everybody,” Forsman said. “And with the warm weather, you compound it.”
Tougher days for the forest could yet be ahead this spring, he said.
“If this keeps going into March, it’s going to be rough,” Forsman said. “It could be a real rough forest fire season. It’s like a tinder box out there.”
