Supporting the Industry
About Us
For over sixty years the Northeastern Loggers Association has published a highly respected monthly magazine that focuses exclusively on our region – The Northern Logger and Timber Processor. NELA also produces training programs, pamphlets and books, and the region’s largest exposition of forest products and tree care equipment. If you are interested in becoming a member, please click the link below.
Features
Selected articles from The Northern Logger & Timber Processor magazine.
The Loggers’ Expo Returns to Bangor
The Northeastern Forest Products Equipment Expo (Loggers’ Expo) will return to the Cross Insurance Center in Bangor, Maine, May 16-17. The annual forestry equipment expo, organized by the Northeastern Logger’s Association (NELA), alternates between Bangor, Maine, and Essex Junction, Vermont, each year. This year’s lineup features over 150 exhibiting companies—from firewood processors and portable sawmills to large forestry equipment dealers that showcase the latest CAT, John Deere, Komatsu, Tigercat models, and more. There will also be exhibitors from a variety of lumber mills and specialty parts and accessories companies.
Women Supporting Women in a Male-Dominated Industry
We’ve come a long way, baby, but not far enough. Forestry is, and has historically been, a male-dominated field. Women currently make up only 15% of forestry and conservation workers, but not from a lack of interest. Fifty years ago, women struggled to be accepted into forestry programs based on their gender alone. Even today women contend with sexist professors who tell them they “aren’t strong enough” or they “don’t look like a forester.” It is not surprising then that women make up only 23% of undergraduate students enrolled in forestry programs. For women who do graduate with forestry degrees, some experience gender biases during the hiring process and find it difficult to get hired.
Carrying On the Family Legacy: Jelinek Trucking
Dave Jelinek is young for being in the business 73 years. “I always used to say that I’ve been in the business 73 years – and they’d say, well, you don’t look 93,” he joked. But there’s not really a better way to summarize the years he’s spent involved in the family business, Jelinek Trucking. Supposedly, his involvement goes all the way back to getting his diaper changed in the front seat of the log truck. Much of his childhood was spent being dragged along on logging jobs. Although Dave did go to vocational school for a degree in diesel mechanics after high school, he never wanted anything other than to work alongside his dad in the woods.
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