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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Folklife Center Exhibit Features Loggers' Stories

Surrounded by breathtaking scenery and countless beautiful trees every day, it becomes easy for Middlebury students to take Vermont’s ecological beauty for granted.  A new exhibit at the Vermont Folklife Center, “Portrait of a Forest: Men and Machine”, provides Middlebury the opportunity to learn more about Vermont’s forests as well as its wood industry.

The Folklife Center is located at 88 Main Street, just past Twilight Hall. The exhibit, produced by George Bellerose and the Vermont Folklife Center, focuses on the lives and stories of seven loggers.

The profiled loggers range in age, experience and socioeconomic backgrounds; they share what makes a good logger, how they entered the field and their passion for the forests. The profiles of the men are incredibly interesting: some have been logging for 60 years, some are sixth-generation loggers and others are small business owners.

The exhibit also focuses on the sustainable practices of the logging industry and what it means for people who work in it.  Many are simply trying to make a living, while others are trying to make a difference, but all of them are proud of what they do.
One logger’s work ethic is quoted in the text beneath his pictures: “Leave the woods better than you found them”.

Many of the loggers’ passion for the forest and keeping it healthy shine through their quotes in the exhibit.
The commissioner of the Vermont Department of Parks, Forest and Recreation is also quoted saying, “I tell them that working forests are our last best hope to keep forests as forests.”

The discussion and different perspectives regarding the importance of logging to the health of the forests and environment is very interesting. The explanation of the exhibit also explains how by the mid-1800s, Vermont had been cleared of 80 percent of its forests.

However, the forestry community helped restore the forests and make Vermont one of the most heavily forested states again.
The exhibit emphasizes the importance of the forests and the logging industry to Vermont, describes it at one point as “the fabric of Vermont”. It also explores the economic aspect of logging (it is a one billion dollar industry in Vermont) as well as how the practice has shaped its workers’ characters and livelihoods.

The profiled loggers also speak of their visions of their own personal futures and the future of the industry. One man’s profile explains how terrified he is of what he will do after he gets too old to continue logging.  Another profile goes more in depth about the economic and ecological future of the industry. This represents how many dimensions of the industry the exhibit explores, from backstories of the loggers to the complex societal impacts logging makes.

The exhibit will be housed at the Folklife Center until Jan. 9, 2016. To discover more about how the logging industry has evolved, what impact it has on the environment and economy and to see fascinating photographs documenting the lifestyle of the loggers, stop by the Folklife Center, which is open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 A.M. to 5 P.M.


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