Blandin Forestry has a staff of six foresters, organized into two main functions: Land Management and Wood Procurement. The Forest Ecologist and Land Management Foresters are responsible for the overall management of the company's more than 188,000 acre forest. They determine when and where to harvest timber, build access roads and ensure that the land remains productive. They carefully design timber harvesting plans, specify the season and equipment to be used, and follow up with forest regeneration plans after harvest operations.
UPM buys wood from private, public and company owned land, for use in the Blandin mill. Wood Procurement foresters select and purchase timber to be cut and hauled into the Blandin pulpmill for use in papermaking. They evaluate timber sales offered by all levels of government, private individuals, and UPM lands. Professional loggers are contracted to cut and haul the trees to the mill's scale house, where quality and volumes are recorded.
Our marketing forester arranges to sell other pulpwood, saw logs and biomass to others. All of the wood is transported by road. UPM uses a certified chain of custody tracking system to identify country, region and forest of origin for all wood deliveries.
Wood from sustainable and legal sources
The legal basis for sustainable forestry in Minnesota combines Federal law (ie. the Endangered Species Act), State law and the Minnesota Voluntary Site-Level Forest Management Guidelines published by the Minnesota Forest Resources Council. The US Departments of Interior (Fish & Wildlife Service) monitors compliance with Endangered Species Act.