Our “Faces of the Forest” series is designed to do just what the name implies: put human faces on the families who own, and the foresters who work, the healthy forests on which our industry relies. We’ve nearly covered all of the major “wood baskets,” including the pacific northwest, the greater southeast, and now, northern New England.

Our shoot in and around Falmouth, Maine added a new wrinkle. This time we were working not with a family who owned a particular stand, or a forester who contracts with a number of family landowners, but with an entire town. Falmouth participates in the great New England tradition of town forests – land that provides not only, and not even primarily, economic benefit in the form of forestry activities; but rather open space and recreational space, wildlife habitat, and a respite from nearby bustling Portland.

We pulled in a wide cast of characters for this one. Town officials and councilmembers, contract loggers and forest scientists, state regulators, and even cameos from ordinary residents enjoying their forestland. There’s a lot to love about the images and the testimony we captured in Maine (much of it at 12 degrees Fahrenheit with 40 mph winds!), but maybe our favorite moment was the lovely and succinct way Paul Larrivee described the rationale behind forest management, and specifically selective cuts. When consumers understand that we as an industry steward our forests as we would a farm or a garden—never sacrificing long-term health for short-term gain—their eyes can be opened to recognizing us as some of the world’s biggest fans of healthy and thriving forests.

So come for the amazing New England accents, but stay for the wicked forest stewardship messages!

Watch it here: http://hluf.us/nXro50rNZsV