Logging Visionary to Retire

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Tom Cushman, President of The Professional Logging Contractors of Maine and the Trust to Conserve the Northeast Forest announced today that its long time Executive Director, Sandra E. Brawders is retiring

Web Site: http://www.masterloggercertification.com

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Logging Visionary to Retire

Bangor Tom Cushman, President of The Professional Logging Contractors of Maine and the Trust to Conserve the Northeast Forest announced today that its long time Executive Director, Sandra E. Brawders is retiring. Citing the extensive accomplishments made during her ten-year service, Tom said her uncanny ability to see into the future resulted in the Maine loggers creating the first in the world, Northeast Master Logger Certification program.

He said, Doing it before it was needed was tricky, however Sandy has a knack for planning for the unexpected, and in doing so, she has helped us influence the future.

The Northeast Master Logger Certification Program (NEMLC) offers third-party independent certification of logging companies' harvesting practices. The certification system is built around standards that have been cross-referenced to all of the world's major green certification systems. http://www.masterloggercertification.com

Tom continued, Her leadership allowed us loggers to keep focused firmly on production, the weather, the environment, equipment, our employees safety, and the immediate day to day of business.

In response, Sandy shared, I first became involved with the Maine logging association when asked by Tim Gammel of the American Pulpwood Association to develop a handbook for the "train the trainer" model for the Northeast and I fell head over heels with the smart, ethical discussions loggers and foresters were having at the workshops. And so it began. As an outsider to this industry I immediately saw in 1999 that the loggers were not at the tables as the valuable voices in the changes that were already being documented. So I asked myself, how could we really and profoundly change that? The answer? Create performance standards expected of a high performing, viable, sustainable company, whether that company was one person with a chain saw or a 60 employee mechanical operation. High performance is high performance! So as a partnership of many interested people who respected the logging profession, Maine PLC developed the Master Logger Third Party Certification program, the first in the world to define what the world could expect from professional loggers in the forested landscape. To tell the story about this remarkable group of professionals who wake up every morning with a plan to make a living for themselves and their employees and who hung in there for ten years with a vision to be ready for the unexpected instead of facing change with constant crisis and survival strategies is proving true. I know of no other profession so prepared for what the world is about to ask them to do.

She continued, Forward thinking like this takes a leap of faith, I thank the NEMLC companies who applied for the program for good business reasons and in the early days out of complete faith that it was the right thing to do, those first 27 companies have my deepest prayers for prosperity in the days ahead. My admiration and respect is undimished after ten years of working with and for all of you. I now look forward to the time to write the articles and a book about the importance of third party certification including the complete supply chain.

Joe Smith, Director of Industry Services for PLC and NCNEF will serve as the Interim Executive Director and Cheryl Russell of The Russell Group will lead the recruitment of the new director.

Ms. Brawders Career Highlights:

- Received her Masters of Divinity from Princeton Seminary in Ethics and Ancient Languages specialty from Princeton University.

- Taught high school for six years in New Jersey.

- Served as the director of elderly outreach for the Episcopal Diocese of Trenton, NJ and started the pre-meals on wheels program at 19 churches.

- Director of Alzheimer day care center for relief to caregivers thru ecumenical funding in Trenton, NJ. She started a catering business training mentally challenged adults and supplied the churches with their suppers and event planning.

- Director of House of Ruth in Washington, DC, the country's largest homeless shelter for women and children in the country which provided the first AIDS clinic for prostitutes, first program for homeless pregnant women, first street outreach with food and medical, first in house accredited school, first 24 hour seven day a week services for homeless women and children, served over 7000 each year in the 1980's.

- Recognized as Woman of the Year by the Congressional Wives.

- Credited with setting up homeless education programs for children and adults in Massachusetts thru the McKinney Act.

- Director of Adult Learning and Literacy within School of Education, University of Maine in Orono.

- Elected to serve on National Adult Literacy Board to develop performance standards for adult learning and training programs, moving from seat time to actual performance of tasks.

- Instituted portfolio assessment for adult education in Maine.

- Consulted with National Retail Sales Assoc. and American Concrete Workers Union to develop national professional standards as part of a national program with DOE and DOL.

- Developed the first in the world, Master Logger Third Party Certification program administered by the Trust to Conserve the Northeast Forest.

The Trust to Conserve Northeast Forestlands (TCNEF) is a 501(c) 3 organization formed by the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine in 2003 to administer the Northeast Master Logger Certification program with the broader goal of "enhancing the health of the working forest through exceptional accountability" throughout the Northern Forest region.
In addition to overseeing the Master Logger Program, TCNEF serves as an administrator for a group Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Chain of Custody certification (SW-COC-001677) and an FSC-certified group of family forest landowners (SW-FM/COC-001881). Under this group arrangement, natural resource professionals can inexpensively gain access to FSC certification for their landowner clients. In support of these certification programs, TCNEF is working to develop market-based incentives to practice sustainable and ecologically responsible forest management.

The Trust also provides services for companies seeking individual chain of custody or controlled wood certification. The Trust prepares chain of custody systems and documentation, develops controlled wood risk assessments, provides staff training, and prepares the company for audits and assessments.

The Professional Logging Contractors of Maine and the Trust to Conserve the Northeast Forest are both 501 (c) 3 nonprofit, organizations based in New Gloucester, Maine. The Professional Logging Contractors of Maine seeks to improve the public image of harvesting natural resources through accountability and transparency. The Trust to Conserve Northeast Forestlands was formed by the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine in 2003 to administer the Northeast Master Logger Certification program with the broader goal of "enhancing the health of working forest ecosystems through exceptional accountability" throughout the Northern Forest region.

Additional Information

Web Site: http://www.masterloggercertification.com

Category: Forestry>Who's Who

Region: Maine

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