LIVERMORE — A Jay logger faces paying the town between $10,127 to $115,750 for cutting about 1,250 trees without permission in the town’s Memorial Forest off Poland Road.

Selectpersons are waiting on one more estimate before they make a decision on how much to ask John Korhonen to reimburse the town.

The town will seek fair compensation, town administrative assistant Kurt Schaub said.

The logger had harvested timber in the area and cut about 10 acres of town property. He had purchased land in the area and many people assumed his property abuts the town’s but it doesn’t, town administrative assistant Kurt Schaub said. There are many properties in the area and the lines are questionable. Schaub said that it is up to cutter to know where the property lines are.

Korhonen declined comment on Wednesday.

Forester Mark Brown has presented a preliminary report on the 1,250 trees that were cut. It indicates that each stump, with the exception of a few that were run over by a skidder, was measured twice, marked and identified.

Brown used established formulas to determine the value for each, Schaub said Tuesday.

There are three values calculated thus far. The first is the valuation used by the Maine Forest Service for prosecuted timber trespass violations. That value is $115,750.

The others are calculated as though the town hired a logger and shared in the gross receipts with the cutter and trucker, Schaub said. With that formula in mind, the second value assumes some of the more sizable hardwood went to a veneer mill and commanded a greater price than if it had not. The “with veneer” price is $12,323, and the “without veneer” price is $10,127, Schaub said.

Brown’s final report will show a mill price for the wood — or a “gross receipts” value. He will be asked to attend the board’s meeting Monday, Dec. 17, to discuss mill prices and related matters.

The town has sent two letters to Korhonen. In a letter dated May 8, the Board of Selectpersons told him it agreed to provide him with an opportunity to compensate the town for the value of the timber removed.

“If a reasonable compensation offer is extended, accepted by the Board of Selectpersons and paid to the town, there will be no need to pursue this matter any further. If no offer is made, or a reasonable settlement cannot be negotiated by both parties, or an agreed settlement not paid within a reasonable period of time, the town will pursue compensation via the Maine Forest Service and the courts,” according to the May 8 letter written by Schaub on behalf of selectpersons.

Korhonen was asked to give the town a response by its May 21 meeting.

A follow-up letter dated Sept. 11 was sent via certified and first-class mail to Korhonen. Schaub wrote to Korhonen in that letter that a property line survey was conducted and indicates that the town line was crossed, and that the amount of land harvested exceeds 10 acres.

The survey was presented to selectpersons on Sept. 10 and the board agreed that once a forester completed a valuation on the wood, the town will seek compensation for the value of the wood, the cost of the survey and the cost of the timber valuation, Schaub wrote.

“The town intends to be made financially whole for this incident,” Schaub said in the letter and affirmed Tuesday.

The town has not been contacted by Korhonen in regards to either letter, Schaub said.

dperry@sunjournal.com

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