Some forestry workers say that the thing they like most about their jobs is being out in the woods alone, just them and the wildlife. The feeling of frontier-like solitude and independence gets you hooked. 

In the 2.4 million acres of forest managed by Acadian Timber, it’s not hard to find a remote area where it’s just you and the deer for miles around. Out there alone, walking the ground or operating a forestry machine, staying safe is a priority. Radio communications are the primary method of staying in touch with home base but in the vast forests of New Brunswick and Maine you’re not always in range. Besides, says Blair DeGrace, 

Acadian Timber’s human resources superintendent, it can get costly to supply everyone with a radio. 

“Most established contractors have radio capabilities and Acadian Timber has an extensive state-of-the-art system of our own,” he explains. “But we often have summer forestry students working independently, or short term contractors hired to trim brush for example. It’s expensive to wire a machine for a radio.” And, there are still places in the woods where even topnotch technology won’t get you a signal.

Acadian Timber has up to 80 equipment operators and supervisors out in the field on any given day, and some are working alone. Regulations and good safety practices require regular scheduled check-ins by solo workers in remote areas. If they’re out of radio contact, a “buddy” must go to the remote location every two hours to make sure the worker is safe - not the most efficient use of manpower. 

That’s where SPOT becomes a man’s, or woman’s, best friend. The new SPOT Satellite Messenger is a GPS-enabled handheld device that allows the user to stay in touch, wherever he or she is. Compact, inexpensive compared to a radio setup, and easy to use, SPOT was tested by Acadian Timber last summer and passed its audition. 

“We had two units operating,” says DeGrace, “and found it has many applications.” 

The team at Acadian Timber passed the SPOT units around to different people who changed its options to suit their needs – a few minutes of reprogramming is all it takes –  and tried it out in various situations. “It worked well with our normal harvesting equipment, at the back of a hill, in a ravine,” says DeGrace. “We tried it in different stands like dense cedar and heavy canopy and inside vehicles. It worked everywhere. We plan to keep using SPOT and have recently added several units. It’s cheaper than a cell or satellite phone, it’s simple to use and serves our purpose. We even developed a quick reference card for using it in the field.”