The American Loggers Council (ALC) and state logging associations are supporting bipartisan legislation in the U.S. Congress that provides economic relief to timber harvesters and timber haulers impacted by COVID-19.
Please urge your federal representatives to approve these measures (HR 7690 and S.4233) BY SUBMITTING YOUR LETTER TO CONGRESS NOW! (TAKES LESS THAN 5 MINS)
The ALC proposed the "Logger Relief Package" in May. Wood products manufacturers have reduced their consumption as a result of reduced or lost markets during the COVID-19 pandemic. The ripple effect has been a reduction in the amount of wood fiber being sourced from the forest by the small, family-owned logging and log trucking businesses.
Assuming the country's economy reopens this summer, analysts predict it could take two years for log markets to recover. This amount of time will be a significant challenge for loggers and log truckers to survive and remain whole to continue their operations. Loggers and log truckers could go out of business and the entire value supply chain could be significantly disrupted as a result. With high operating costs, diminished markets and low returns on investments, logging capacity throughout the United States could be deeply reduced and new investments into the logging sector will be limited.
In order to sustain the supply chain, the Logger Relief Package would provide a grant program for those contractors that harvested or delivered wood to various mills across the country in 2019.
Contractors would be able to apply for a grant through the U.S. Department of Agriculture to assist them with their ability to continue business operations for the next twelve months while their markets attempt to recover, much like the assistance already given to other producers of agricultural commodities.
Funds could be used for business operating expenses such as equipment loan payments, maintenance costs, consumables such as fuel and oil expenses, required insurance payments and other fixed and variable costs not already covered in existing federal payment programs such as the Payroll Protection Program and other Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.