Weather impacting logging industry
CHANNING — Living here in the Upper Peninsula, we know all too well how the weather can effect just about anything from travel plans to the economy.
The current above average temperatures are having a big impact on U.P. logging companies. The lack of a frost line has made it difficult for workers to get their trucks to spots that they usually can get to.
This has led to a slow start for one of the busiest times of the year for loggers.
“Winter is the best time for logging in the U.P.,” said Ryan Carey, President of J. Carey Logging, Inc. in Channing. “All of the low land swamp areas usually freeze over and we can access them. This time last year I think the high temperature was 1-degree, so that was easy, easy logging then. But 45-degrees and rain; that’s no good at all for us.”
While loggers wait out this stretch of warm weather, another group in the timber industry is staying busy.
“The mills are just jam packed full of wood right now,” said Carey. “Short term it’s bad because it’s tough for us to operate, but I think this will help stabilize the market a little bit.”
Carey added that the ideal temperature for harvesting timber is between 10 and 20-degrees.