Behind the Numbers: 300 Acres

Off Pittsfield Road in Loudon, a muddy path leads to a pile of cut and de-branched white birch, hemlock, pine and spruce trees. Next to the log pile is a large yellow machine called a skidder. If you glanced at this scene from a passing car, you'd miss the meticulous planning done by Jake Bronnenberg in ensuring that everything leads back to the promotion of healthy trees and a healthy forest.

"People see machines, stumps and brush and ask how many houses are going in," he says on a sunny day while trekking through the 300 acres he has managed for several years. "(People) connect it with development."

A licensed forester and logger, Bronnenberg grew up around the industry. His father, Jack Bronnenberg, started a logging and trucking company in 1988 after working as a rancher.

Jake was 14 when he first used a chainsaw in the woods alongside his dad. Now 27 and a graduate of a forestry program at the University of New Hampshire, he gained more experience working with a forester for four years before joining his father full time. The two now manage roughly 8,000 acres.

"I knew I always wanted to work in the woods," he says.

In the forest management industry it is common for a forester to survey the land and mark the trees, then let a logger remove the marked trees. Jake does both and is required to take courses to keep up with credits for both certifications.

"There's a future in it if you do it well. It's not always about the money," he says. For Jake, it's more about the relationships he shares with the people he works for and the satisfaction of leaving a healthy forest for future generations. "You may not know if you did a good job for 10 or 15 years."

All aspects of the logging operation have an effect on the re-growth of trees. While the skidder may leave large tracks in the mud, it does so on a planned route so the tires will churn the soil, in turn burying seeds dropped from the trees that Jake has intentionally left standing.

"The woods tell me what to do," he says. "Some places are good to leave alone and let Mother Nature do her thing." If there are signs of wildlife in a tree, it is left untouched.

Accompanied by his dog, Lady, Jake walks through a section that he cleared months ago to promote pine tree growth and stops by some wind-toppled trees. In one spot, a hemlock tree, commonly used for pulp, had blocked the sunlight and was felled, while another hemlock was left untouched to protect the new generation of pines.