Timber Harvesting magazine Associate Editor Jessica Johnson has the opportunity to visit Maine Custom Woodlands in Durham, Maine. Maine Custom Woodlands owner Tom Cushman didn’t set out to be a logger. He thought his career path would be at John Deere or Caterpillar, helping to design logging equipment. But when the University of Maine forest engineering grad went to get a job, all he got was a stack of rejection letters. As a college student, the now 47-year-old Cushman cut firewood for some professors: “I came home for spring break and started looking through the yellow pages to find some logging contractors. I called one and he said ‘Hey, can you supervise and buy timber?’ I said, ‘sure, absolutely!’ There wasn’t much of a training program in that position; it was sink or swim.” In December of 1993, Cushman figured the guy he was working for was quite successful, so much so that he should give logging a try.

Featured Story: “All The Right Things”

Written By: Jessica Johnson
Company: Maine Custom Woodlands
Location: Durham, Maine
TH Issue: July/August 2016

Check out other featured articles in the July/August 2016 issue of Timber Harvesting magazine.
The July/August 2016 issue of Timber Harvesting magazine features Durham, Maine’s Maine Custom Woodlands and Doddridge, Arkansas’ Hartline Farm and Timber. Special articles discuss the latest in automatic fire suppression systems, upcoming forest industry trade shows, and an overview of the latest in track-type feller bunchers. Other articles cover the latest industry news and new machinery and products.