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March 2009 March 2009 By conveying an easement on 450 acres of forestland it owns and manages in Union, CT, Hull Forestlands has helped the Nature Conservancy reach its 50,000 acre mark of protected forests, rivers, and coastline across the state. The conservation easement, established with the help of a grant from the North American Wetlands Conservation Act (NAWCA), permanently protects Hull Forestlands’ Myers Pond Forest from development and tips the scales for the Nature Conservancy, which has now protected over 50,000 acres of forests, rivers, and coastline in Connecticut. Located within the Quinebaug Highlands Landscape, an expanse of unbroken forests and sparkling streams in the northeast corner of the state, the Myers Pond Forest has been formally managed for timber production for over 90 years. It is home to wetlands, streams, and forest that are critical wintering and staging areas for migratory waterfowl. As part of the Highlands Landscape, the property also helps sustain the largest drinking water supply watershed in Connecticut, with benefits that trickle down all the way to Long Island Sound. The Connecticut DEP Natural Diversity Database indicates an observance of Louisiana waterthrush on the Myers Pond property. A variety of habitat types including exceptional sedge/tussock meadow, open water, and riparian and upland habitats are capable of supporting many additional waterfowl and migratory bird species including: black duck, wood duck, hooded merganser, American bittern, sora, American woodcock, marsh wren and Cerulean warbler. Cerulean warbler is considered among the rarest of breeding warblers in Connecticut requiring large blocks of interior forest such as those located on the Myers Pond property. The streams and water bodies of the Myers Pond parcel, including Bigelow Brook, are part of the State of Connecticut DEP designated Natchaug River Greenway. Hull Forestlands, sister company to Hull Forest Products, the largest hardwood sawmill in the tri-state region, will still own and pay taxes on the property and continue to practice responsible forest management, growing and harvesting timber to meet the needs of society. “We appreciate the opportunity to work with the Nature Conservancy,” says Bill Hull, General Partner of Hull Forestlands. “Unlike some environmental organizations, the Conservancy recognizes that land can be used for multiple purposes—one use is not necessarily exclusive of all others—and they are willing to forge win/win relationships to achieve their goals.” Hull, who is CEO of Hull Forest Products and a project partner in Russell Biomass, a biomass renewable energy project under development in Russell, has also granted conservation easements to the New England Forestry Foundation, Connecticut Forest and Parks Association, and the MA Department of Environmental Management. Hull Forestlands owns several thousand acres of forests in western Massachusetts that have earned certification from the Forest Stewardship Council, and selectively harvested wood from these forests is turned into woody biomass, wood chips, lumber, timbers, and flooring. These private forests also provide many public benefits that make them important to the region as a whole, including wildlife habitat, enhanced air and water quality, carbon sequestration, and their contribution the rural character of the Hilltowns. “Our own well being is directly linked to the health of our lands and waters, as we all depend on the services they provide, like clean air, clean water and food,” said Lise Hanners, Director of The Nature Conservancy in Connecticut. “Working at this scale is the best way to protect nature’s infrastructure, particularly as our landscapes adapt to the impacts of climate change.” February 2009 Holden, MA (February 23, 2009): The nonprofit organization Facts About Wildlife & Nature Society (FAWNS) has recognized Hull Forest Products for their long-time generous support of the Massachusetts Outdoor Expo (“The Big MOE”) with a special “Champion of Youth and Wildlife Award.” The Big MOE is an outdoor experience where families are encouraged to sample, entirely free of charge, all of the traditional outdoor sports and wildlife activities under expert supervision. They can fish, shoot, kayak, rock-climb, mountain-bike, see and touch wildlife, and learn about recreation and conservation opportunities. The Big MOE also provides an opportunity for youth to participate in nature-related arts and crafts, build a bird nesting box, practice calling wild turkey and waterfowl, and savor the flavor of wild game and fish. Hull Forest Products, of Pomfret, CT, and Russell, MA, has donated rough-cut pine for more than a thousand nesting boxes over the past several years. Hundreds of these bird boxes are assembled and built by excited local children at the event every year, and are then brought proudly home to improve local wildlife nesting habitat. Hull Forest Products also sponsors and presents the Forestry station at the event, teaching participants how to identify, age, and understand the management of native trees. A family business for over 40 years, Hull Forest Products provides forest management services for public and private landowners throughout southern New England and operates the largest hardwood sawmill in the region, specializing in the manufacture of native lumber, wide plank flooring, and post and beam timbers. The company proudly stewards over 8,000 acres of western Massachusetts forests certified to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards. Now in its thirteenth year, the Massachusetts Outdoor Expo is held during National Hunting and Fishing Week at the Hamilton Rod & Gun Club in Sturbridge, Massachusetts. The Big MOE 2009 is scheduled for Sunday, September 27, with an expected attendance of more than 7,000 adults and children.
September 2008 The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded a $984,000 grant to Ponaganset High School in Rhode Island to develop an alternative energy laboratory and install a wood-chip fired heating system. The D.O.E. grant also includes funds for the installation of a solar panel and wind tower at the school and a hydrogen fuel-cell technology for student projects. Central to the project are biomass boilers that will heat both the Ponaganset high school and middle school for one-fourth the cost of conventional oil. Hull Forest Products, Inc. of Pomfret, Connecticut, was chosen to supply wood chips for the boilers and is proud to be part of a project that provides students first-hand experience with alternative energy. Ponaganset High will play a "pioneering" role in energy eduation, says Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee. "Generations of students here can learn about alternative energy and prepare themselves for a world where alternative energy will be central to our success as an economy. It’s a very exciting moment when you can see practical progress –– lowering the cost of energy for a school system — and also see the education of young people who can take this knowledge forward to the next generation.” Read a Providence Journal article on the project February 2007 The new computerized kiln controls, installed in February 2007, save money by drawing less power: all four kiln fans now start up much more slowly, drawing fewer kilowatts in the process. But there was an additional bonus with this installation. Because the new kiln controls allow for incremental adjustments, the temperature in the kiln can be ramped up slowly, placing less stress on the lumber and resulting in less degrade. Cody likens the incremental increase in temperature to walking up a ramp instead of taking the steps: it's a much more gradual process, and the change is almost imperceptible to the wood. As a result, there have been fewer cracks and splits in kiln dried lumber lately. The cost savings on this increased yield may well turn out to be more than the savings on electricity. Woodworkers have taken note of the improved color that comes with this slower drying process, particularly in Red Oak, whose prized pinkish-red hue is especially well preserved. Manufactured by Lignomat, the new controls and software make it possible for changes to be made online from any location, and according to Cody, "the accuracy is incredible." It has been a win-win situation for Hull Forest Products and evidence that investment in new technology continues to pay off for this manufacturer.  Back to topJanuary 2004 In 2004, Hull Forest Products installed and began running a new computer-optimized edger system that was the first of its kind in existence. An edger is a machine that saws the round edges off boards from the saw carriage. This may sound like a simple task, but with thousands of boards sawn each day, even the best trained human operators can only be expected to perform at about 75 to 80 percent of optimal. Small errors in edging of 1/16 or 1/8 inch per board add up to significant lost profits. With our new system, we have the ability to consistently saw products to within a couple of thousandths of an inch, yielding 97 to 99 percent of the optimal value recovery from each board. We can also saw fixed width, random width, and specialty products, as well as edge different thicknesses to different parameters, all in the same production run. This system has enabled HFP to provide more customized and value-added products to its customers, which benefits not only manufacturers and end users, but also landowners, who may receive more money for a given quantity of timber due to the increased value of a product that is manufactured using computer optimization. The new edger cost over $1 million and is essentially a production rip saw that incorporates the latest in laser scanning and computer processing technology. In contrast with the traditional method of manually operating an edger (which requires extensive grading and math skills utilized in just a short moment to make the best decision on how to edge each individual board, at thousands of pieces each day), the new edger can process a day's production and achieve the highest value solution on every board from the first to the last. With minimal human input to identify grade zones and defects on the lumber, the edger scanners collect a high density 3D profile of each board within one foot of travel. As the board continues toward the saw box, the computer models the 3D data collected by the scanner and analyzes the geometric limitations of the NHLA grade rules across several grades, combined with relative values, to obtain the optimum solution based on human-entered variables combining appearance, grade, and recovery. The optimizer can evaluate over 20,000 independent solutions for each board in only tenths of a second. As the board approaches the saws, the computer finalizes its decision and directs the hydraulic system to position the saws at the correct angle and spacing. As the saws enter the cut, they slew at a rate defined by the angle and speed of the board. As the board exits the machine, it is pushed out onto the lumber deck, while the edgings are dropped into the by-product system. The edger machine hardware was produced by Timber Machine Technologies (TMT) of Tualatin, Oregon. The scanning and software package was produced by Inovec of Eugene, Oregon. Inovec is a division of GE Infrastructure. The two companies have a history of working well together on sawmill optimization projects. Our new edger installation was featured in The Timberline Magazine.
This is how the edger views the board as it approaches the saw box. The computer models the 3D data collected by a scanner and analyzes the geometric limitations of the NHLA grade rules across several grades, combined with relative values, to obtain the optimum solution based on human-entered variables combining appearance, grade, and recovery. Back to topJune 2003 When Hull Forestlands purchased the Sears Meadow Forest in Ashfield, Massachusetts, in 2000, we realized there was a very old stand of eastern hemlock and white pine on the property. Tall and stately with deeply furrowed bark, these trees stand straight and solemn, their long trunks free of low branches and their canopy darkening the forest floor. Intrigued by the possibility that this could be old growth, we invited eastern old growth forest expert Bob Leverett and Harvard University Forest Ecologist David Orwig to measure the trees in the stand. Leverett found pines with circumferences ranging from 7.6 to 11.7 feet and heights ranging from 117- 131.9 feet, with an average of 260 square foot/acre basal area. One of the biggest pines was estimated to have 3,500 board feet of volume. After conducting ring counts, David Orwig estimated one of the hemlocks could be as old as 250, while the white pines ranged between 183-217 years in age. Orwig also found the pines had very good growth early on, averaging 5-8 rings per inch. His estimates are conservative, and he feels the trees could be much older, but since many were rotten at the core, it was difficult to get an accurate core sample. According to Leverett, these trees offer a glimpse of the forests of North America prior to settlement by European colonists. And their longevity is remarkable as they are as convenient to access as any old growth in New England. Hull Forest Products has pledged to protect this stand of old growth and placed the property under conservation restriction with the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife in 2003. More information on Hull Forest Products' forest conservation projects. June 2002 In order to obtain SmartWood certification, a forestry operation must undergo a third party audit of its forest management systems. A SmartWood assessment team composed of ecologists and forestry consultants analyzed Hull Forestland's data, conducted fieldwork, and submitted the Hull forestlands to extensive peer review. SmartWood determined that Hull Forestlands L.P. practices exemplary stewardship and produces timber in a sustainable manner. For more information on SmartWood certification and the Rainforest Alliance, visit:
Hull Forestlands conducted an extensive bioinventory of its woodlands as part of the certification to FSC standards by SmartWood. Back to topJune 2000 The former Peck Lumber Company woodlands, located in the hilltowns of western Massachusetts, had long been a source of quality timber. But in 1997, heirs of the Peck Lumber Company were ready to sell their land, some of which the family had held since 1910. This posed a threat to the forestland and to open space in Massachusetts. Would this land continue to remain in agricultural use, providing wildlife habitat and green space, or would it be fragmented and developed? Enter Bill Hull, founder of Hull Forest Products. Faced with a dwindling land base in southern New England that threatened the future of his forest products company, Hull had a vision that he could procure these lands and practice long-term forest management on them, providing his company with a reliable supply of timber for years to come. In 1998, Hull convinced the Peck heirs to sell him an option to purchase 7,000 acres from the heirs of the former Peck Lumber Company. But he was faced with a dilemma that confronts many forestland owners: the expense of purchasing and owning this land far exceeded any income he could hope to realize by practicing sustainable forestry. So Hull used his Yankee ingenuity to find a way to afford the multi-million dollar price tag. Recognizing that his company's goals of sustainable forestry and long-term forest management were compatible with public goals such as open space protection, scenic viewsheds, wildlife habitat improvement, and air and water quality enhancement, Hull spent the next two years convincing non-profit groups and state agencies to purchase the development rights to these forestlands. By 2000 he had found buyers for most of the development rights. With the possibility of commercial or residential development no longer on the table, the overall value of the forestland was greatly reduced, and it became economically feasible to practice long-term forest management. It was a win-win situation for environmental groups and Hull Forestlands L.P., the family limited partnership that bought the lands in 2000. Hull's innovative project was hailed by the Massachusetts Secretary of Environmental Affairs as a "regional model for innovative conservation of natural resources." The forestland protected under this project is spread over five watersheds and includes nine miles of frontage on the Westfield River and its tributaries. In total, the Hull-Peck Land Protection Project, which also included some of Hull's Connecticut and Central Massachusetts forestlands, placed over 8,000 acres in 18 communities under protection for a cost of about $4 million in state, municipal, foundation, and private funds—an average of only $500 per acre. The protected lands help preserve the rural character of southern New England, and, unlike public lands, these private forests promote local economies by remaining on the tax rolls and functioning as working landscapes that offer job. The forests have been certified for the Forest Stewardship Council via the SmartWood program, which is part of the Rainforest Alliance’s Sustainable Forestry Division. Among the groups who helped preserve the lands were the Norcross Wildlife Foundation, the New England Forestry Foundation, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Management, and the Massachusetts Division of Fish and Wildlife, as well as municipal water departments such as the Springfield Water and Sewer Commission. According to Hull, the project "highlights the importance of private property and the role it must play if we wish to prevent our region from being consumed by sprawl. The Hull-Peck Land Protection Project hopefully provides a leadership example of how this can be done."
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