Common Sense Radio: Vermont’s Forest Products Market and Working Forests with Bill Sargent
Friday, November 13, 2026, on Common Sense Radio with Bill Sayre, weekdays, 11 o’clock till Noon.
Bill Sargent — forester, and author of the memoir entitled Fifty Years as a Dirt Forester, always Outside, never behind a desk — joins Bill to continue their discussion of the factors that affect the market for forest products in Vermont, and those who earn their living by growing, managing, harvesting, transporting, and adding value to the product of our working forests — including wood energy, and all those who enjoy the benefits of wildlife habitat, cleaner air and water, and a reduced Carbon Footprint. Also, Bill Sargent will preview his forthcoming book, “Vermont Stories for Baby Boomers.“
Potential Questions and Issues
How do you think the results of the elections last week — in Vermont, and in America — affect the market for forest products, and associated markets?
Why is public policy — including regulation of forestry and private forests, management of public forests — such an important factor in the market for forest products, and all associated markets, including Carbon markets?
Is instability in public policy a factor limiting investment and long term planning in forest product and related markets? How so? Examples — tariffs and trade wars; management of forests on public lands. Is there a case to be made that public forests should set an example for sound management of working forests, not left in an unmanaged, stagnating condition? What are we learning, that comes as a surprise to some, about what old growth forests look like?
What have we learned about the effects of closing Finch Paper’s wood yard, and pulp processing. Where is Finch Paper located, and what does closing their wood yard mean, particularly for Vermont? Does closing their wood yard mean they won’t make paper there any longer? What kind of paper does Finch Paper make? Will that change if Finch no longer takes Hemlock pulp? Do we have an estimate of how much pulp Finch has customarily purchased — in total, and how much from Vermont?
How will the loss of the Finch market affect the practice of sound forestry? How will Vermont foresters, landowners, and loggers adjust? Firewood production is a substitute for hardwood pulp production. What about production of Hemlock and Pine pulp? What is Hemlock shake, and why does that create a problem for buyers and sellers of Hemlock logs? What raw material will they use? Pulp slurry? From where will the slurry come? Does the switch Finch is making tell us that that Finch can purchase the slurry, delivered to Glens Falls, at less cost than they can make pulp slurry? Sometimes when companies switch to buying an intermediate product, rather than making the intermediate product themselves, there are issues of quality control. Do you think that will be the case in the Finch situation?
Another issue, sometimes, is the cost of the raw material, vs. the cost of the intermediate product, the slurry. Higher cost factors can affect the pulp, and perhaps, excess supply of the slurry (and perhaps of pulp in the markets making slurry). What factors might make the cost of pulp higher in our market for forest products? Regulatory excess, of all kinds. Competition for labor, from other markets with more hospitals working conditions and higher wages, and likely, greater benefits, such as health insurance. Trucking costs. Restrictions on the resource base, such as the National and State forests. All factors that can limit the capacity for supplying pulp, and raising the cost of pulp. And likewise, in other parts of the nation, or the world, factors that reduce the cost of pulp, or making slurry, or transporting slurry>
Let’s discuss both your book. ’Dirt Forester, always Outide, never behind a desk,” and after that, your forthcoming book, ‘Vermont Stories for Baby Boomers.’ What is a Dirt Forester and how is a Dirt Forester different from other kinds of foresters? What motivated you to write this moemoir? What was the wood products industry like when you goto started? What are working forests? What were the connections among working forests, sawmills, furniture manufacturing, the rural economy, and rural communities? What are the connections between working farms and working forests? What can you say about the health and productivity of our working forests over the past 50 years? What is the role of taxation, and use value taxation, in helping our forests improve in health and productivity? What is the connection between a working forests and wildlife habitat, and — particularly habitat for game species such as white tailed deer, snowshoe hare, and ruffed grouse? And song bird habitat? And the connection to deer hunting, camp culture, and rural traditions? What has been the effect on forest productivity, from increased ownership of land by the Federal Government? Of Conservation Easements? What is the effect on our rural culture, as an ever smaller proportion of the population earns a living from natural resources — forest products, farm products, minerals — and adding value to each of those products in the form of wood and paper products, dairy products of all kinds, granite and marble products?
What are some of the key issues as the forestry and forest products look ahead? As people still want food products — the natural beauty and warmth of wood flooring, furniture, and cabinetry, for example, but don’t want to see or hear about forestry or working forests where they live — what will be the environmental consequence for forests in other parts of the world, such as Indonesia and Brazil?
Let’s not forget about Maple Syrup? How does Maple Syrup help make our working forests, including those that are part of a working farm, improve diversity of biology and sustainability of finances for rural landowners and the rural economy?
This time of year, especially, what is the benefit of forests for our travel and tourism industry?
What should we know about wood products and energy? Is wood renewable energy?
Similarly for the role of forestry in reducing our Carbon footprint? What role do working forests play today? What are some common misconceptions about how harvesting affects Carbon absorption and storage? If we are harvesting only about a third to a half of the wood that grows every year in Vermont, is it reasonable to think that we are building an ever greater store of Carbon in our forests? How do wood products — such as furniture and houses — store Carbon? What about new construction known as Mass Timber, and the breakthroughs that allow wood structures as tall as 18 stories, and just as strong, safe, and fire resistent as other building materials? If decarbonizing our economy is an important societal goal, should we be taking wider and more complete view of how best, and at least cost, we can reduce concentrations of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere? And compare the cost of working forests with the cost of subsidies for renewable energy and battery driven transportation, in achieving a smaller Carbon footprint? Are there forestry practice that can increase the pace of Carbon Dioxide uptake? Different species, for example, that absorb faster, while still providing multiple benefits to society, including non economic benefits such as wildlife and songbird habitat, and water filtration.
What should we know about your forthcoming book, “Vermont Stories for Baby Boomers”? How do Baby Boomers differ from other generations, both older ones, and younger ones? How do Vermont Baby Boomers differ from Baby Boomers elsewhere in the America?
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