Timber Bulletin May/Jun - Minnesota Forest Industries

66th Annual Membership MeetingOn Friday, April 25, the TimberProducers Association held itsannual membership meeting atSpirit Mountain, in Duluth, Minn.President Clarence Johnson calledthe meeting to order and welcomedall the attendees. Executive VicePresident Wayne Brandt reportedon the association’s activities forthe past year, including a legislativeupdate.The chairmen from themechanization, transportation,public relations, membership andsafety committees reported oncommittee activities during the pastyear and gave summaries of issuesthey would be dealing with in thefuture. John Hill, Lumbermen’sUnderwriting Alliance, gave a briefreport on the workman’scompensation insurance issues. Heemphasized that the rates haveremained steady and LUA has beenable to offer the 20 percentdividends because of the safetyefforts of member companies.By recommendation of thenominating committee thefollowing TPA members werenewly nominated and elected to theboard of directors along withreturning members: Doug Brenner,Grand Marais; Dave Goetz, CassLake; Cory Lovdahl, Effie; NikRajala, Deer River; and MikeWalsh, Park Rapids. Tom McCabe,Jr., Duluth, was elected to theexecutive committee as secretary/treasurer by the board of directors.To start off the morning program,Dr. Susan Stafford, dean, College ofNatural Resources, University ofMinnesota, presented an overviewof the college’s program and thedirection it will be going in thefuture. Also on the morningagenda, Superior National ForestSupervisor Jim Sanders andChippewa National Forest ActingSupervisor Duane Kick updated themembership on the progress of theForest Plan Revision. Mike Carroll,director, DNR Division of Forestrypresented an overview of his goalsfor the state program. Workingwithin the budget cuts, he outlinedthe department’s priorities.Dave Zumeta, executive directorThe 2003 annual membership meeting.of the Minnesota Forest ResourcesCouncil, gave a brief overview ofthe goals of the council.The new director of theMinnesota Logger EducationProgram, Dave Chura, is lookingforward to building on MLEP’ssuccesses to ensure loggers haveaccess to the best training andinformation available.After lunch, Jerry Lamon, withthe Cass County Land Department,explained the benefits of setting uptimber sales with the help of a GPS.Charlie Blinn and Mike Kilgore,both with the University ofMinnesota, provided a program onapplying forest managementguidelines and who pays the cost.The panel discussion, “What doesthe Future Look Like?” includedpresentations from the consumingmills on their companies.TPA would like to thank theSome of this year’s proud safety contest winners.following meeting hosts for theirgenerous contribution to the coffee,rolls, and break food: Amerisafe;Hahn Machinery Inc.; LindsayMachinery, Inc.; Menominee Saw &Supply Company, Inc.; Nortrax;Road Machinery & Supplies;Russell & Herder Advertising; andTwo Harbors Machine Shop, Inc.The keynote speaker for this year’sbanquet was DNR CommissionerGene Merriam. The commissionerspoke about the importance oflogging and the Pawlentyadministration’s plans for the DNR.The banquet concluded with thedoor prize drawings. TPA wouldlike to thank the followingcompanies for their generousdonations: Wells Fargo; MinnesotaForest Industries; Fryberger,Buchanan, Smith & Frederick; BoiseCascade; Potlatch Corp.; UPM(continued on page 10)8Timber Bulletin May/June 2003