In late July, Hancock Lumber welcomed 30 educators from across Maine to tour our Casco White Pine Mill and Jugtown Forest Conservation Land. Part of the Maine TREE Foundation, the Forests of Maine Teachers’ Tour program has been hosting two four-day Teachers’ Tours annually since 1997. Designed to bring Maine educators to commercial forests, recreation areas, mills, conservation lands, and family woodlots, the tours showcase Maine’s forest industry, ecology, and job opportunities.
Connecting educators to one of Maine’s iconic industries, this program provides access to outdoor education for all grades and subjects, while fostering a unique connection between forestry professionals and teachers. In 2024, teachers had the opportunity to tour forests in Fort Kent and Casco while at Hancock Lumber.
During the group’s Southern Maine / Poland Spring stay, their first stop was Hancock Lumber’s White Pine Mill in Casco. Educators got a first-hand look into the complex inner workings of a sawmill and what it takes to turn sawlogs into world-class Eastern White Pine boards—from grades, patterns, textures, lengths, and finishes, Hancock Lumber manufactures to their customer specifications including their eleven lumberyards across Maine and New Hampshire. Casco Sawmill GM, Mike Shane, took the time to highlight the technological advancements, including the use of artificial intelligence to grade boards, emphasizing mill modernization and industry enhancements.
One of the second-grade teachers on the tour had this to say about our sawmill, “Huge thanks to you for the amazing tour of your facility. It was very interesting to see all of the working parts and how they work together. I love that you employ so many local people. I look forward to working with you in the future to help educate and inform our kiddos!”
Following the mill tour, the team traveled a few miles down the road to Jugtown Forest, Hancock’s 5,000 acres of responsibly managed and selectively harvested forests that are open to the public for recreation and span parts of Casco, Naples, and Otisfield. Accompanied by Hancock Lumber’s consulting forester, Paul Larivee, the group heard from him on sustainable forest management practices and other notable forest facts including it takes 80-100 years to grow an eastern white pine to maturity!
Thank you to the Maine Tree Foundation and Teachers’ Tour for making Hancock Lumber a stop in your educational series—we hope to see you again in the future!
For more information about The Maine TREE Foundation, click here.
For more information about Forests of Maine Teachers’ Tour, click here.
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