What is it going to take to revive the NAHMLA?

I used to get the international Horse Logger’s Newsletter. I really appreciated all the work NAHMLA did to promote horse and mule logging. In fact it is their influence that caused me to consider the efforts I have undertaken such as DAP. Organizations are difficult because there are usually only a few people who really take action, and when they get too busy or otherwise distracted the group sits idle. Go for it Scott.

Carl

Dear Horse Logging Peers,

This is a short version of my/our history with NAHMLA. I hope it isn’t over… yet!

Many years ago, Glen French and Tim Carroll came and stayed with us here the Virginia Mountains and we worked a spell. NAHMLA was active then and it was primarily Glen French. Glen wrote the newsletter, keep up with membership and provided direct contact through the phone for anyone interested. Tim was the vice president at that time.

It is like Carl says, these titles mean nothing, it is who takes action that makes things happen.

When Glen decided to quit and actually retire from actively logging with his horses, he asked if I would be interested in taking it on. That was about ten or eleven years ago and HHFF was just getting started. My primary volunteer at that beginning point said “no way” we have more than we can do already and our mission and goals were clearly different than an “association”. I accepted that guidance and told Glen I couldn’t handle it at that point.

Glen passed the archives, newsletters and membership list and some funds to Tim to carry it on. I completely agree with Scott, Tim plate and anyone’s plate can be overloaded with all the stuff it takes to run a growing operation
especially when one is determined to actually make a living at this work. I completely empathize with Tim’s reality. It is more that any one person can do. So it has languished in space and not moved forward in recent years, despite having a few ads here and there and Tim still fielding some calls and putting out a couple of good newsletters. I think he has done the best he could and am grateful for that effort.

At one point in recent years (ten or so years after the first discussion with Glen) there was some discussion with Tim about HHFF taking on NAHMLA and developing it as a clearing house for contact between existing horse and mule loggers. We expressed a willingness to do that and Tim never moved on the idea. That is where it remains from our position at this point.

Now I want to be clear about the difference between a “public charity” that exist for the public good, because it serves the public in ways that no other government organization does and an “association” that represents a particular interest group and promotes that groups cause and efforts.

The greatest legal difference it that a 501c3 is a tax exempt entity that all donations to are 100% tax deductible and through that status they are allowed to compete with the government for revenue as they have that status by exiting for the public good and providing services (education, demonstrations, etc.) not provided by the government. An association is not tax exempt and donations are not tax deductible. This is why associations sell membership or collect membership fees to operate. We don’t sell memberships and fund our efforts through other means, meagerly I must admit.

Both entities have advantages and disadvantages. We are working to refine and develop the Public Charity status. We are limited in our political actions and must stay out of that debate although political positions are pretty obvious to anyone paying attention. Getting the government to support “restorative and therefore sustainable forestry” is a long ways from happening. There are many reasons for this that we can talk about if anyone is interested.

HHFF is still willing to be a support agency, a fiscal agent, an umbrella organization for NAHMLA. That would certainly require more collaboration than has occurred historically. It will take time on someone’s part to do the association justice. The membership could be grown seriously and form that economic base the culture perpetuated. That puts it within our mission, goals and objectives and would be within our legal status. It would take help to make NAHMLA all it could be.

Let’s keep talking about it…..

Thanks for bringing it up.

PS – Personally I count Glen French as one of my mentors. He was extremely skilled when working in the woods and was one of the most accomplished horsemen to every skid a log. Tim Carroll has also given a tremendous amount of his life and personal time to this effort over the years and is due considerable credit for his efforts on this cause and for the powerful example his own operations have provided.

well, what a blast from the past. I was googling around for light self powered balers and found this site. very propitious conversation going on. just want to point out that Glenn French’s NAHLMA and my Horselogger’s Int News were two entirely separate things. Don’t forget old Elwin Wines was one of the instigators of the NAHLMA.
I think we all are self taught. We get an itch and we scratch it. Those that survive become what they want. I wrote about horses because I’m an artist/writer. what transpired developed into an effort to share the things I was learning and help others to “keep their fingers and toes”.
I’m farming now. Got a couple hundred acres and put up hay in the summer. Farming is more fun than logging as you can use more horses. (the teamster challenge). There isn’t much logging out west as the mills have dried up, the price of timber is what it was in the 70’s and the price of trucking is problematic. Even British Columbia where my friend and fellow horselogger Rod Gould has a government wood lot, logging is dead but the government stepped in as a job making program and is subsidizing woodlot management. No extraction, just by the hour woodlot maintenance. B.C has/had a great woodlot program but then they had a provincial land commissioner that was an ex horselogger.
In the interem between my full time horselogging carreer and today I was a utility commissioner and learned a lot about the energy industry. Living off the grid, I had a different/sustainable attitude about issues and brought a different perspective to the table.
Sustainability is the key. I would offer that the future of woods management should be regarded in terms of its value as energy. Especially public lands. Turning wood fiber into energy while maintaining the woods. I remember a phone conversation with my Swiss friend, Andy Egger. He was home in Switzerland and when I asked him what he was up to he said he was clearing brush under powerline right of way with his horse and taking it down to the local community boiler. Hog fuel for a steam generator. That’s the kind of thing we need more of. Andy is now in Santa Cruz and he and Randy Clayton use horses to clear fire line in the Berkely Hills of San Franscisco. Get paid by the acre.
The new buzz words, as I am sure you have all heard, are about your, “carbon footprint”. I can’t imagine a more appropriate positive attribute for horses than the size of their “carbon footprint”. A new dimension for HL to consider for marketing.
I’ll stay out of the fray about starting an association. Everything that ever gets done is because of someone’s personal committment/energy. It sounds selfish but an old teamster (Gary Eagle) told me, “the only reason a guy runs for office is to get his driveway paved.” I find this to be true.
I will say that the 15 years I spent with my little newsletter was choice. One of my ambitions is to go around the world to all the folks I corresponded with and visit. One such is Simon Lenahan in the British Isles who is managing the Prince of Englands forests. Cool!
Take Care and stay out of the bight.:)

Scott,

I have sent a personal email to Tim inviting his participation on this thread. If I don’t get a response I will call him, because as we all have probably experienced – this medium is not always reliable. Emails don’t always go the person when you click send….has anyone else experienced this….?

And I think Glen said NAHMLA was a 501c6 – a trade association.

You know Glen used to author some cool tips along with the newsletter. They were somewhat regional to the work he did in that regions forest, but good stuff. I think the general thinking was that he was writing this to other practitioners not new beginners to the trade.

I hear you Carl. I am glad you are there doing what you are doing and willing to share as much as you do. We are all fortunate to have you in this community of interest. Thanks.

Well, I’ve been away for a few days so missed this thread. Great ideas. I remember reading the newsletters years ago when I was still running a skidder show. When I started with horses there was a real void and certainly that has been superbly filled in this arena. During my years as a commercial fisherman I put some energy into various organizations promoting one thing or another for us as well as writing and publishing newsletters. Takes lots of time and energy and sometimes is disappointing. However for us in the logging business I think it would be a great thing to have an association for working and retired horse loggers sharing. Although I use the net all the time I sure still like to have a hard copy of info show up in the mail. Here is Maine I think John Plowden and I who are in touch sometimes weekly are the only two who share with each other and folks from away on a regular basis and it would be nice to get some more folks into the ring. Lets keep this dialog going at the very least we can pass stuff on to the younger folks coming in.
Well the sun is shinning and maybe in a week or so some of the woods will dry out enough to get back to work. A month off is a hard show.
Thanks to all for being here for the others.
Jimbojim in Appleton

You are very correct in your telling of the time it takes to get a newsletter out. I’ve done contract newsletter work and also put together (in the early days of desktop publishing) a newsletter for a very active bicycle coalition. It was very hard to get other folks to write stuff much do the pagination, get it to the printer and such. So with trepidation I might get my saw sore arm up to help out. I really agree with Tim that we need to inform land-owners as well as enlist the young guys and gals. Just today I got a query for an apprenticeship from someone who looks like a great prospect. But working for me at this time would be a starvation gig. I still have to jump on a skidder crew from time to time. And with the super wet ground and low prices and……..
But lets keep talking and see what come of it. With the response to this site from all the loggers I didn’t know were there we aught to be able to shake a few trees. Simon what is your perspective from over there?
Jim