PLC Member Weekly Update July 29, 2022

Log A Load Golf Tournament Southern Maine

Space Limited! Register Now!

We are only one month away from the PLC’s Southern Maine Log A Load for Kids Golf Tournament on August 26th in Lovell. Our Northern Maine Tournament in September is now sold out and space is limited in the Southern Maine tournament. Act now to help us help Maine kids by playing, sponsoring, donating or all three to benefit The Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital at Maine Medical Center. Let’s make miracles happen together! Learn more or register below!

Aug. 26, Kezar Lake Country Club, Lovell

Questions? Email jessica@maineloggers.com!

FREE Impairment Detection in the Workplace Training Session August 18

This free one-day training session is designed to help owners, managers, and supervisors recognize and respond appropriately to employee-impairment in the workplace in order to reduce worker accidents and injuries. Participants will be taught procedures to detect impairment regardless of the substance or cause. The class discusses the marijuana laws in Maine and how they relate to the workplace. This class is designed to fulfill the federal DOT requirements for reasonable suspicion training of supervisors. In addition, participants will learn how to develop and implement policies that address impairment in the workplace and are in compliance with Maine’s Substance Use Testing Law.

Light breakfast and lunch provided! Register by 8/12/22. If you have additional employees you would like to attend, please email names to office@maineloggers.com. This class is sponsored by the PLC!

REGISTER HERE.

MDOT Announces Stillwater Avenue Bridge Weight Restrictions and Alternate Routes

MaineDOT sent this bulletin at 07/19/2022 04:18 PM EDT

*Map of alternate routes below

OLD TOWN – The Maine Department of Transportation is posting new weight limits for the Stillwater Avenue Bridge #2 in Old Town. This bridge is the northerly span of the two bridges, named the Llewellin Estes Bridge, that carry Stillwater Avenue over the Stillwater River.

Beginning on July 25th, vehicles that weigh 30 tons or more will be prohibited from using this bridge. The length of the bypass detour is two miles. The length of the abutment-to-abutment detour is approximately eight miles. This posting does not affect a wide range of larger vehicles like fire engines, school buses, oil delivery trucks, and most local delivery vehicles. It does affect loaded logging trucks, concrete trucks, and other vehicles exceeding 60,000 pounds. MaineDOT is communicating with affected trucking interests to minimize impacts.

The Stillwater Avenue Bridge #2 was originally constructed in 1952. A May 17th inspection found water leaking through the bridge deck and widespread concrete section loss. The bridge deck rating has dropped from poor to serious condition. The bridge superstructure and substructure are also in poor condition.

MaineDOT is revising its approach to replace the Stillwater Avenue Bridges and make nearby roadway and intersection improvements. Earlier this year, the department put the project out to bid. The bridge work was bundled with plans to improve the Bennoch Road and College Avenue intersections. The low bid on this project was nearly double what the department had budgeted. Given the design and contract requirements, the bid results were certainly influenced by significant construction cost inflation and risks associated with supply chain issues and a difficult labor market.

“During the planning phase of this project, we could not have predicted many of the current cost drivers, such as the high cost of steel components as well as material and labor availability risks over a more-than-four-year-long construction period,” said MaineDOT Commissioner Bruce Van Note. “As such, we decided to reject all bids on the project. We don’t like to do this, but proceeding with the original plan no longer represented the best value for the people of Maine.”

For this reason, MaineDOT is pursuing separate contracts for the nearby intersection and highway work and the bridge replacements. MaineDOT intends to advertise for construction bids, consistent with the original design, for the Bennoch Road and College Avenue intersections and nearby highway work this September.

Regarding the bridge work, MaineDOT is reexamining the bridge design, construction assumptions, and potential special funding sources. Although the cost of bridges presents a formidable challenge, it also presents an opportunity to showcase the innovation and advances being made in composite bridge construction, especially those being led by the University of Maine. To explore this opportunity, MaineDOT intends to utilize an innovative project delivery method, namely a Construction Manager/General Contractor (CM/GC) process.

CM/GC involves a contractor during the design phase to provide constructability input, scheduling, and estimating services. The goals of this partnership between owner, design engineer, and contractor are to innovate, minimize risk, and control costs. This process could also lead to construction activities beginning sooner than traditional contracting methods.

Setting up the bridge CM/GC process will proceed immediately and is anticipated to move to a construction phase in 2024. MaineDOT bridge engineers will continue to monitor the condition of the existing structure. The department will continue to communicate project updates and traffic impacts to nearby residents and businesses.

*Map of alternate routes

Logger’s Voice Summer 2022

Now Available!

The Summer 2022 edition of The Logger’s Voice is now available!

Copies have been mailed out!

PLC Members Only!

Equipment Cost Calculators Available

Members,

With expenses rising rapidly in the industry we know you are struggling to get a handle on your costs. This is a great time to utilize the cost calculators created in 2021 for PLC Members.

These new, easy to use, logging equipment and log trucking cost calculators are available on the PLC Members Only section of our web site You may access this private section of the web site with your member login or set up a login HERE.

These calculators allow you to quickly estimate the hourly cost of operation for any piece of your equipment.

DISCLAIMER: These calculators are being made available for your business use as a member benefit. They produce equipment estimates and are not official products of the PLC nor should they be used for negotiation purposes.

PLC Online Store

CPR/First Aid/Bloodborne Pathogens certification: Did you know your employees are required to have this training every two years? If your employees need this training in 2022, contact Jessica at Jessica@maineloggers.com or 207-688-8195 and the PLC will schedule training in your area. THIS TRAINING IS FREE TO MEMBERS!

Featured HumpDay Safety Video – Dehydration

Featured Unsafe Zone Safety Video – Gabe Rioux: Hydraulic Injection Injury!

LEARN MORE

Safe Driver Apprenticeship Pilot Program 

The Safe Driver Apprenticeship Pilot Program (SDAP) will open its application portal for participation on Tuesday, July 26, 2022. Created by President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the program acknowledges that safety is the highest priority for truck drivers. SDAP will help individuals between 18 – 20 explore interstate trucking careers and assist trucking companies in hiring and training new drivers through rigorous training standards – pairing each young driver with an experienced mentor. For more information, please view the SDAP Public Information Webinar  that covers training qualifications, participation requirements, and instructions about the application process.

Please contact safedriver@dot.gov with any additional questions.

REVOKED ELD: Arion Tech Inc.’s ArionT ELD Removed from FMCSA Registered Devices List

On June 24, 2022, FMCSA removed the following device from the list of registered ELDs due to the company’s failure to meet the minimum requirements established in 49 CFR part 395, subpart B, appendix A.

ELD Name: ArionT ELD

Model number: AT5000

ELD Identifier: AR1ONT

ELD Provider: Arion Tech Inc.

This device now appears on FMCSA’s Revoked Devices list.

Motor carriers and drivers who use the device listed above must take the following actions:

Discontinue using the revoked device(s) and revert to paper logs or logging software to record required hours of service data.

Replace the revoked device(s) with compliant ELD(s) from the Registered Devices list before August 24, 2022.

Motor carriers and drivers who continue to use the revoked ArionT device listed above on or after August 24, 2022 will be in violation of 49 CFR 395.8(a)(1)—“No record of duty status” and drivers will be placed out-of-service in accordance with the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) OOS Criteria.

If the ELD provider corrects all identified deficiencies, FMCSA will place the device back on the Registered Devices list and inform the industry and the field. However, FMCSA strongly encourages motor carriers to take the actions listed above now to avoid compliance issues in the event that these deficiencies are not addressed in time.

Questions?

Contact ELD@dot.gov.

Loggers from Across the Country Converged for a Meeting in Louisiana to Discuss the Future of the Timber Industry

Logging representatives from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Maine, Idaho, California, Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Virginia, Missouri, Florida, Georgia, Oregon, South Carolina, Arkansas, Washington, and Louisiana met in historic Natchitoches, Louisiana, for the American Loggers Council Summer Board of Directors meeting sponsored by International Trucks. The ALC is represented in Louisiana by the Louisiana Loggers Association, the Louisiana Loggers Council, and the Southern Loggers Cooperative. The meeting in Louisiana was precipitated by an invitation from Lt. Governor Billy Nungesser.

Governor Mills Announces “Thrive Maine” Program to Support Small Businesses

New program administered by the Finance Authority of Maine will provide $58 million in forgivable loans to Maine small businesses

Governor Janet Mills is dedicating $58 million through her Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan to provide forgivable loans to small businesses in Maine to support their continued economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The new “Thrive Maine” program, administered by the Finance Authority of Maine, (FAME) will offer forgivable loans to eligible Maine small businesses who experienced losses, increased costs, or market interruptions as a result of the pandemic. Small businesses may apply for loans of up to $2 million. If businesses are approved and continue to meet program terms, loans may be fully forgiven over a four year period. Full eligibility details and other information can be found at www.famemaine.com/thrive. The program is expected to start accepting applications in early September.

A Maine forest offers decades of data on the ability of trees to remove carbon from the air

“Since we’ve been measuring the forest over the past 25, 26 years now, Maine has seen the warmest, wettest and driest conditions that exist in the 125-year record of climate measurements in Maine. And throughout all of these extremes the forest has continued to take up carbon from the atmosphere,” Hollinger says. “In fact, over that 25 years the rate of uptake has actually increased.”

Woods Wise Wire – July 26, 2022

       East Millinocket gets help from the Maine Guard to demolish parts of its mill site

       Trucker whose dislodged tire killed Maine detective reaches plea deal

TRUCKING DISCOUNTS THROUGH THE ALC!

PLC Members, because the PLC is a member of the American Loggers Council YOU are entitled to special discounts on truck purchases! Click on the brand names below to learn more!

PETERBILT

WESTERN STAR

INTERNATIONAL

—

Fabian Oil Discount

Traction Heavy Duty Special

Wallingford’s Discounts

Maine Trailer Discounts

Scandinavian Forestry Equipment

PLC Members get a 5% discount on culverts purchased at Treeline and Frank Martin & Sons

Hale Trailer discounts for PLC Members on new trailer purchases! Call Neal at 207-232-7969 for details!

Cross Arena Discounts for PLC! 

PLC Classified Section

Check out the equipment and job opportunities our members have listed at the LOGGING ZONE! If you have equipment for sale, are looking to buy, are looking for employees, or