By Christine McGowan In the hip city of Burlington, Creston Lea builds one of a kind electric guitars, while in southern Vermont, Douglas Cox turns out violins for classical musicians around the world. Creston Lea and Douglas Cox live about as far apart as two Vermonters can...
By Christine McGowan As development creeps into our rural landscapes and woodlot ownership changes hands, our forests face an uncertain future. Vermonters value working landscapes, but do they value the work it takes to keep these landscapes intact? Not unlike other Vermont business sectors, our forest...
By Christine McGowan, Forest Program Director, Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund From urban forests to thousand-acre parcels, Vermonters own 80% of the state’s forested land. Vermont’s forests are one of our greatest natural resources, contributing to the economy through industry and recreation to the tune of $3.4 billion,...
By Christine McGowan, Forest Program Director, Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund Northeast Kingdom logger models responsible forestry with small-scale, low-impact logging. “Good forestry equipment does not have to be big and heavy,” says Joel Currier, owner of Currier Forest Products in Danville, Vermont. “There are big operations doing...
By Christine McGowan, Forest Program Director, Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund Green Mountain Grain & Barrel producing locally-sourced, locally-made oak barrels. Woodworkers by hobby and Vermont National Guardsmen by training, Tony Fletcher, Josh Waterhouse and Mac Broich are finding their niche as coopers for Vermont’s craft spirits industry....
By Christine McGowan, Forest Program Director, Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund If you ask Malcolm Cooper Jr. how long he has been involved with J.K. Adams, he’ll tell you 68 years, or since the day he was born. His father, an engineer by training, bought a half...
By Christine McGowan, Forest Program Director, Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund Vermont forests a critical part of global bird conservation effort This spring, when the Black-throated Blue Warblers, Wood Thrush, and Scarlet Tanagers make their annual return to Vermont from Central and South America, they will find new...
By Christine McGowan, Forest Program Director, Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund April 13, 2018 While an aging industry struggles with succession, Colleen Goodridge cultivates the next generation through education, relationships. Every industry needs a matriarch, and Vermont’s forest products industry has Colleen Goodridge. Goodridge Lumber, owned and operated by Colleen...
Vermont prides itself as the Green Mountain State, with nearly 80-percent of its land mass covered in forest. Healthy and productive forests are inherent to Vermont’s culture and heritage. Yet, the industry responsible for bringing us countless valuable forest products: high quality furniture, specialty wood...
The Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund has launched a new initiative to assist the forest products industry in creating and retaining quality jobs and opening additional markets for locally produced wood products. A collaboration between the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund, the Northern Forest Center, and the...
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