Joe Conrad: FRA’s National Technical Writing Award Winner

Photo: Joe Conrad, Assistant Professor of Forest Operations at the Warnell School of Forestry & Natural Resources at the University of Georgia
Published

The Forest Resources Association is pleased to announce our 2020 National First Place Technical Writing Award winner: Joe Conrad, Assistant Professor of Forest Operations at the Warnell School of Forestry & Natural Resources at the University of Georgia. This annual award recognizes the best Technical Release published as selected by FRA’s National Operations Committee and posted on FRA’s website.

Conrad authored Technical Release 19-R-1, “Forest Logistics Summit Identifies Opportunities to Address Log Trucking Challenges.” This Technical Release highlights the findings from the summit co-hosted by the Georgia Forestry Association, the Georgia Forestry Foundation, and the Warnell School of Forestry & Natural Resources at the University of Georgia. The summit had more than 120 loggers, log truck owners, foresters, mill representatives, insurance industry representatives, and university researchers discussing the challenges the industry faces in timber transportation, and most importantly, identifying solutions.

While reviewing Joe’s technical release, I found it encouraging that most of the identified challenges, examples being high insurance premiums, driver shortages, and trucking inefficiencies, are addressed in FRA’s Strategic Plan. Additionally, many of their solutions identified, such as driver training, use of new technologies, and truck weights, are addressed in the tactics identified to work toward our strategic goals.

We are in the process of updating the goals in our Strategic Plan, but many of the current goals and tactics will remain after the update, a testament to great vision from those who developed the goals in the past. I encourage you to review them, as well as Joe’s Technical Release, and think of ways you can assist us as we work towards the goals of the organization. The links to the two documents are below.

Link to Technical Release 19-R-1 (Note: FRA member access is required to view our Technical Releases. Please contact Jacob Minor, [email protected], if you have difficulties logging in or do not have an account).
Link to FRA’s Strategic Plan

Photo: Joe Conrad, Assistant Professor of Forest Operations at the Warnell School of Forestry & Natural Resources at the University of Georgia
Photo: Joe Conrad, Assistant Professor of Forest Operations at the Warnell School of Forestry & Natural Resources at the University of Georgia