Coös Economic Action Plan
Wood Products Technical Review Committee
First Meeting – short version
Lancaster, NH
December 13, 2007
The following members attended the first meeting of this committee—
Roy Amey, R&L Amey, Inc
Bill Andreas, BEDCO
Dave Atkinson, Wausau Paper
Allen Bouthillier, AB Logging, Inc
Phil Bryce, NH Div of Forests & Lands
Ron Bugeau, Hancock Lumber Co.
Marty Driscoll, North Country Procurement
Kevin Evans, Dartmouth College Forester
Thad Gulbrandsen, Center for Rural Partnerships, Plymouth State University
Jill Kelly, NH Fish and Game Dept.
Bob Perras, Perras Lumber
Sarah Smith, UNH Cooperative Extension
Jasen Stock, NH Timberland Owners Assn
Sam Stoddard (facilitator), UNH Cooperative Extension
Matt Tansey, NH Div of Forests & Lands
Jeff Williams, US Forest Service
Don Tase, Upland Forestry Consultants
Brad Wyman (Chair)
Jeff Hayes (representing the EAP Steering Committee), North Country Council
Peter Riviere (representing the EAP Steering Committee), Coos Economic Dev Corp
Additional meeting support was provided by:
Sue Buteau (recorder), UNH Cooperative Extension
Steve Roberge (research support), UNH Cooperative Extension
26 key elements were identified and nominated for action planning to improve the wood products industry in Coös County. These elements were prioritized via a voting process to identify the most important action plan elements. The list was then reorganized according to priority sequence. Group discussion next revealed that some elements should be grouped together and the list was reorganized into an overarching statement followed by five top key elements. The remaining lower priority elements are shown at the bottom of the list.----
Overarching statement: Determining Ingredients of Sustainable Wood Industry -Fiber-Based Industry (This needs to be crafted into a statement about assumptions, etc.) (12 votes)
– Forest Products Development Center
(17 votes) Forest Products Development Center
(5 votes) explore potential products that are still in development stages and not yet commercialized
(4 votes) tap resources about black liquor to ethanol
(9 votes) Alternative/supplemental resources to low-grade wood
(1 vote) explore industry leadership that exists in other states
(10 votes) develop synergistic relationships between industries and products
– Fiber Sustainability
(14 votes) Sustainable levels of woods
– Energy
(14 votes) Identify energy efficiencies in the wood products industry
– Market Diversity
(13 votes) Steering investments/wood resources to higher value-added use
(7 votes) expand diversity of the market and value added products
– Existing Business and Labor
(11 votes) Importance, role, opportunities, and challenges for existing businesses
(5 votes) Communicate with businesses that are here about what they are thinking
(6 votes) Workforce and talent development
Remaining elements considered:
– (4votes) Other models – transportation cooperatives
– (4 votes) Dust off forest industry task force report
– (3 votes) Overseas export of lumber
– (1 vote) Sustainable labor supply
– (1 vote) Explore foreign investors
– (0 votes) Regional economic action plan
– (0 votes) Explore existing resources for grants, market research, etc. (Pease)
– (0 votes) Explore federal subsidies that are available
– (0 votes) wildlife habitat
– (0 votes) possible marketing to promote products to statewide, local markets (branding)
– (0 votes) NEFA website http://www.nefainfo.org - paper on branding
– (0 votes) focus on sustainability and future influences on change and fluctuations of demand
The following committee members volunteered to investigate and develop further action planning for each of the top five elements before the next committee meeting.---
Forest products development center:
Bill Andreas
Allen Bouthillier
Ron Bugeau
Fiber sustainability:
Matt Tansey
Kevin Evans
Marty Driscoll
Sarah Smith
Jill Kelly
Will Abbott
Energy:
DonTase
Roy Amey
Market diversity:
Bill Andreas
Allen Bouthillier
Ron Bugeau
Existing business and labor:
Sarah Smith
Bob Perras
Ron Bugeau
The second Wood Products TRC meeting will be held at UNH Cooperative Extension, Lancaster, NH on January 17th starting at 10 AM. The third meeting is scheduled for January 30th, same place and time.