In December, I presented to the Forest Resource Association’s Northeast Region on challenges the forest industry (and let’s be honest – everyone else) faces in finding, recruiting, and retaining their workforce. In researching this topic, there was no shortage of challenges identified – the Great Resignation, population shifts away from rural areas, and an aging forest industry workforce don’t provide much optimism.

As FRA Southwide Region Manager Clay Altizer discussed in last week’s Woods to Mill, “Looking back at a Busy 2021”, this past December marked the first time in 13 years that FRA has offered the Timber Harvesting & Procurement Short Course. This three-day course, graciously hosted by Auburn University, covered nearly a dozen topics, ranging from ethics to negotiation techniques, which were presented by industry leaders and professors.

In our ‘Introduction from Clay Altizer’, we began by learning about the Forest Resources Association, the broad membership it encompasses, how it advocates for our industry on Capitol Hill, and the resources available such as technical releases, webinars, and safety alerts. 

By the time you read this installment of the Woods to Mill series I will be finishing the final few weeks of my first year as a member of the FRA team. My first Woods to Mill submission (dated February 11, 2021) focused on the value of teamwork. Fortunately, I have had the privilege over the past year to witness this first-hand as I collaborated with my colleagues at FRA to accomplish our goals.  Although the FRA team was busy addressing many issues and challenges in 2021, I would like to devote some time here to discuss two common topics that really stood out to me during the past year.