The FBS Podcast

Frank Freese wrote Elementary Forest Sampling for the Forest Service back in 1962 and the information in it remains relevant to this day. Maybe you need a refresher on this topic or have never truly understood how sampling is done in the forest. Either way, this episode is for you.

Profit and Loss Statements are summaries of income and expenses that can be though of as a businesses financial score card. This episode explains them, using a sawmill business as and example. Understanding P & L statements is an important step in the financial well being of a business.

Balance sheets are financial documentation of assets, liabilities and owner equity. This episode explains them, using sawmill and logging businesses as examples. Understanding balance sheets is an important step in the financial well being of your enterprise.

Forest Patrol is a novel by Jim Kjelgaard. Based on this real life experiences of Kjelgaard and his brother, it tells the story of John Belden, a young man trying to become a forest ranger in Pennsylvania. Belden has some inspiring and instructional adventures along the way. This episode explores the book and tells us how to apply these lessons in our work lives.

Can an 18th century novel about logging in Michigan teach us anything about doing business today? This episode discusses ideas from Stewart Edward White's The Riverman. White is the son of a timberman and many people believe his father was the model for the main character of this book. As it turns out, sound business practices are timeless.

This episode explores Sahil Lavingia's book, The Minimalist Entrepreneur. Many of his ideas are directly applicable to forestry and forest products businesses, as detailed in an article by Steve Bick that appeared in a past issue of The Northern Logger.

Past participants in the Forest Business Schools six-month essentials program recently got together to talk about their expectations of employees. These small business owners talked about changes in the workforce and the best ways to understand and motivate today's employees. This episode explore their insights.

Extreme weather events have prompted UNH Extension to develop improved best management practices to deal with the challenges they pose. This episode explores these BMPs and how they are a good idea for many areas of the northeast.

Vermont was a national leader in establishing acceptable management practices for water quality in timber harvesting. Climate change and the increasing seasonal weather extremes that come with have made these practices especially important. This episode explore this topic.

In early 2024 are needs assessment survey of climate adaptation needs in Vermont's forest products supply chain was conducted by Dr. Steven Bick of the Forest Business School. Find out what was learned and the steps being taken toward addressing these needs.

This episode explore an article written by Alison Berry and others about the challenges loggers are facing due to climate change.

This episode explore a toolkit of strategies that are being use by people in the forest product supply chain to adapt to changes in seasonal weather patterns. Learn how landowners, foresters, loggers, truckers and mills are keeping their wheels turning despite the challenges they face.

The Northeastern Forest Products Supply Chain has had no choice but to adapt to changes in seasonal weather patterns due to climate change. This episode explore these adaptations in forest management, harvest scheduling, logging, and wood procurement.

This episode explore changes in seasonal temperature and precipitation patterns, with an emphasis on impacts of the forest products supply chain in Vermont.

This is part of a series on the Forest Business School book After Wood: Routes to Retirement . This episode tells the story of a 25-year old logger named Josh and how he is preparing for his retirement.

This is part of a series on the Forest Business School book After Wood: Routes to Retirement . This episode tells the story of a 55-year old logger named Todd and how he is preparing for his retirement.

This is part of a series on the Forest Business School book After Wood: Routes to Retirement . This episode tells the story of a 45-year old sawmill owner named Ryan and how he is preparing for his retirement.

This is part of the series on the Forest Business School book After Wood: Routes to Retirement . This episode tells the story of a 35-year old consulting forester name Gert and how she is planning for her retirement.

Earlier this year the Forest Business School published After Wood: Routes to Retirement . This book is an introductory guide to retirement planning for small business owners in forestry and forest products. This episode is the first in a series on that book. It tackles the problem of figuring out how much money you need to retire.

Participants in the FBS Linchpin program for key employees had an interesting discussion of accountability in the workplace. This episode shares their thoughts.

One of the core tenets of the Forest Business School's 6-month Essentials program is using the 80-20 principle to make improvements. This episode discusses how it applies to forest products businesses.

This always insightful Orange Book on X listed a number of things that people find a lacking that can almost always be attributed to a fixable lack of something on the part of the individual. The monthly meeting of Forest Business School graduates got together to talk about it. This episode shares their ideas.

After hearing about employer expectations, participants in the FBS Linchpin group got together to talk about their expectation of employers. This is a episode is a summary of that discussion.