BETHEL CITIZEN • March 12, 2025
March is crunch time for loggers hauling heavy loads in Western Maine. Many towns will be posting their roads soon, meaning certain roads will be closed to heavy logging trucks to prevent potential damage to the thawing asphalt. In the logging industry today, it’s all about volume. “Twenty or 25 years ago, a chainsaw and a skidder were enough,” says Bob Brown, of Upton, who manages the Kennebec Lumber Yard on Route 26 in Bethel. “Now, loggers need feller bunchers, de-limbers, processors, and slashers. They have to produce more to cover the cost of the equipment.” Brown worries about the future of logging and hopes more young people will enter the industry. “It’s a hard living, but it’s an honest living. Everything you make, you earn,” he says.