Title
Interview with Mel Ames
Files
Download Interview with Mel Ames - Audio File (74.1 MB)
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Date of Interview
7-1-2004
Duration of Audio File
01:20:58
Interviewee
Mel Ames
Age
Born in 1928, 75 years old at time of interview
Gender
Male
Birth Place
Milo, Maine
Residence
Atkinson, Maine
Occupation/Work History
Farmer and independent logger
Mill or Principal Employer
Ames Farm, Dover-Foxcroft, Maine
Keywords
Woodcutters Strike, Maine Labor History, Maine Paper Industry, logging industry
Description
Ames discusses his life as a logger and trained forester. He is a longtime proponent of sustainable harvesting methods since being trained as a forester in the 1940s. Ames became a leader of the MWA just before the 1975 statewide strike by logging contractors. He became President of the MWA in its last years (1978-early 1980s), and he wrote the state MWA newsletter.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Hillard, Michael G. PhD, "Interview with Mel Ames" (2004). Maine Woodman’s Association Strike of 1975. 17.
https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/maine-woodsmans-strike/17
Comments
Detail recollections about the event during the dramatic MWA strike. Includes careful explanation of how Maine companies claimed that they would hire Maine loggers in remote areas, but that they could only find Canadian loggers who lived closer to these areas. The MWA had challenged the policy of Canadian guest loggers, and for years after the strike they "tested" the claims of the companies and repeatedly found that Maine citizen loggers were given the runaround by companies and by the Maine Department of Labor. Also has interesting and notable obersvations about the non-sustainable forestry practices of large landowners including paper companies.