03/27/2020
Oh, for the love of loggers!
Do you love me now the logger humbly asks as he visits the store only to find the shelves completely void of paper products? I awake every day at O’dark thirty, put on a smile, even if I don’t feel like it, and off to the woods I go. I have the largest personal investment of any person in the entire manufacturing chain, I work under contracts having less value than the paper they’re written on, there are no guarantees, I may or may not survive this crisis, yet my heart tells me keep going, I’m doing the right thing.
I know the work I do is extremely important for wildlife, the environment and for the people who’ve never placed any value on what I do. I implement the in-forest work, a responsible for how the forest looks and how it regenerates. Perhaps unknowingly wise consumer, you depend on the products made from the raw material I produce daily to enhance your very existence.
I’m a humble logger. I know the power of nature and I respect it. I live it, breathe it, work in it and witness its grand beauty and wonder every day of my life. My respect for the forest is proven by the fact that we’ve never run out of trees. As a matter of fact, trees are multiplying 2 times faster than are being harvested. At least this is true in America where I live. Many fellow loggers like me, are 3rd, 4th and 5th generation. Evidence of the sustainable work we do is standing tall and green no matter where you go. Trees are everywhere! Why is it then you’re never thankful for the products you desire and depend on daily? That is until now.
America and the world are in crisis. Toilet paper, personal protection products and paper products are in extreme short supply. Will I say, “Oh well” and go home uncaring, because no one ever thanked or appreciated what I do? I won’t, never have and never will. I’ll put on my smile like always and likely, because of the shortage, I’ll work even harder to make sure every factory has the raw material they need to produce essential products to meet your needs.
Admittedly there are days I wonder what life would be like if I worked a job that paid a decent wage, had great benefits for my family and vacation I’d get paid to take. What would it feel like to have no employee’s looking up to me, depending on me for their living and their family’s well being? You, the consumer, might argue that I have a choice, the reality is, I don’t have a choice. Logging is in my blood; my heart pumps it beat by beat, day by day. Sawdust flows in my veins. It’s been there from the beginning of my life and will be there till the day I die. It’s my way of life, my family’s way of life.
You scream and even fight in stores for paper products in short supply, you ask for healthy forests in which to recreate and find peace and solitude to meditate, you want wildlife, clean air and clean water, I am and will continue to provide all you want. The next time you want to file a lawsuit stopping a vegetation management project, a timber sale or add more regulations, remember this moment in time and COVID-19. Toilet paper, PPE face masks and paper products really do grow in trees. You don’t have to thank me wise consumer. All I ask is that you respect me the way I respect you.
