Ski resorts often rely on temporary foreign workers to increase their staffing numbers during busy winter months. That is especially true in Maine, which has a relatively small population. Many Mainers say the federal government's H-2B visa program, which brings in temporary workers, is vital to some of the state's largest economic drivers - forestry and tourism. Maine Public's Carol Bousquet reports from Portland.
CAROL BOUSQUET, BYLINE: After landscaping, the forestry industry is the second-largest user of H-2B workers nationwide. Seven Islands Land Company manages more than 800,000 acres of forestland in Maine owned by a local family, the Pingrees. They have relied on H-2B workers to help thin forests and plant new trees since the '90s. Pingree Family Associates president Alex Ingraham says temporary foreign workers help fill critical roles.
ALEX INGRAHAM: This is not just a Maine thing. This is nationwide. There tends to be a real concern about having enough H-2B visas available in order to get all this work done across the country 'cause it's used by a wide variety of industries.
BOUSQUET: But what is unique to Maine - the state is home to a relatively small population with labor-intensive sectors like forestry. And temporary foreign workers, many from Jamaica or Central American countries, are willing to work in remote areas in physically demanding jobs for a short period of time. The forest products sector produces more than $8 billion of economic output in Maine each year. Industry experts say 5,000 new hires will be needed in Maine by 2037 to keep the forest products industry viable.
BOUSQUET: Maine also relies on tourism to bring in billions of dollars every year and counts on H-2B visa workers as well.
ETHAN AUSTIN: Without them, it would be difficult for us to fill all of our roles, so we're very grateful for the work that they do and the availability.
BOUSQUET: Ethan Austin, spokesman for Saddleback ski resort, says he relies on a mix of visa workers.
AUSTIN: We have a mix of H-2Bs and J-1s, and the mix of those together meets our needs. We're in good shape with those. We're not short.
BOUSQUET: They'll be helping with food service, lift operations and ticketing. He says Saddleback makes an effort to attract seasonal workers with amenities other employers might not offer.
AUSTIN: With things like the dorm and, you know, just shuttle programs and everything, we put a lot of effort into being an accommodating and desirable location for those people to work.
BOUSQUET: While some ski resorts like Saddleback say they have enough temporary foreign workers for this season, business owners who make much of their profits in the summer say they are concerned they won't have enough foreign temporary workers come next year. Jeremy Dougherty, managing director of Witham Family Hotels, has eight properties in the Bar Harbor region and uses about 170 H-2B visa workers each season. He says just about every year he doesn't get the number of temporary workers he needs.
JEREMY DOUGHERTY: Acadia National Park is a huge generator of state incomes - in winter, Sunday River and Sugarloaf. And so Maine is per capita, I think, the largest user of H-2B visas because of our rural nature and high tourism complexity.
BOUSQUET: But Dougherty says it's never certain how many H-2B visas will be released each year.
DOUGHERTY: Somebody decided, this is the right number of visas that we're going to allow in on the H-2B program, and then it hasn't changed at all or adjusted to the boom in travel and the need.
BOUSQUET: And he says he would like to see a more realistic number set into law. In a typical year, 66,000 H-2B visas are issued in the U.S., but in the last few years, the number released by the federal government has nearly doubled. Last month, Maine's senators, Angus King and Susan Collins, signed a letter along with more than two dozen senators asking the Departments of Labor and Homeland Security to increase the number of H-2B visas released from 66,000 to 130,000. The agencies did not respond to a request from NPR for comment on that letter.
For NPR News, I'm Carol Bousquet in Portland, Maine.
Copyright © 2025 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
