Reflections on Forestry Education and Recruitment
I spent a significant portion of my adult life in forestry education, first as a forestry instructor at Southeastern Illinois College in a long-defunct associate degree program and then as a professor at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, one of the largest and most stable undergraduate forestry programs in the country. At both locations, my colleagues and I made a point of reaching out to industry employers to assess their employment needs relative to the qualifications and skill sets of the soon-to-be graduates of these programs. Their input and feedback provided insights into both the strengths and weaknesses of the respective curriculums and a means by which we could alter the opportunities afforded to the students to develop the requisite skills within the program of study. Most recently, I was involved in a collaborative workforce recruitment and development initiative in Wisconsin that provides foundational hands-on training and education in forest operations and primary manufacturing. I suspect this history is the reason why I was invited to write a blog reflecting on the lessons I learned over the years pertaining to forestry education and workforce development. The list of lessons learned below is not comprehensive. Instead, I chose to focus on those things I believe we, as an industry, can control or influence. While not explicitly requested, I hope the lessons I learned can provide a measure of direction moving forward for this exceptional and valuable industry.
Lessons Learned
No such thing as a free lunch.
Education, training, and workforce recruitment and development are not cheap, and it is getting more expensive every year. Eroding financial support, the need to incorporate technological advances into a curriculum, off-campus classrooms (i.e., forests), and, by necessity, small class sizes are but a few of the challenges affecting education and training budgets. Unfortunately, transferring these expenses to the student/participant (i.e. tuition-based) is often prohibitive and not typically sustainable. Securing the financial resources required to maintain any type of stable education and training program requires innovative recruitment strategies and across-the-board financial commitments from both the public and private sectors.
Meet them where they are.
The next generations of foresters, loggers, sawyers, consultants, forest business owners, etc., operate and communicate in circles that those in the latter stages of their careers cannot even begin to comprehend. Successful recruitment engages potential students/trainees/employees where they live and operate socially and professionally. Perhaps equally important, it hinges on conveying a message that aligns with their values and motives. Understanding this takes work, and speaking from experience one must lean on expertise typically not possessed by the educator/trainer/employer.
Start Early.
Education lessons that demonstrate the ecological and economic values of forests, the benefits of sound forest management, the resources provided by forests, and the wide array of career opportunities available within the forest industry must start early in the K-12 education cycle. The messages and lessons conveyed must be vetted to comply with education standards, be adaptable to meet local needs and be easily accessible to educators. To be effective, there needs to be a mechanism in place to increase awareness of the available curriculum, access to resources, including human and equipment resources, and dedicated personnel to work with local educators on how best to incorporate the curriculum.
There is room for everyone.
The K-12 education messaging needs to convey the cross-curricular requirements of the forest industry. Collectively, there is a need for computer programmers, chemists, mathematicians, biologists, machinists, accountants, welders, drone operators, mechanics, and a dozen or so more areas of study and proficiency that the industry relies upon. Developing forestry-based lesson plans that can be incorporated into traditional STEM or vocational education courses increases our exposure and reinforces the opportunities that exist within the forest industry.
Stop preaching to the choir. It is likely that the general public has a limited understanding of the breadth and magnitude of the resources provided by our nation’s forests, as well as the economic impacts of the industry beyond their local area. More concerning is the perception, particularly in densely populated areas, that active forest management is not environmentally or ecologically sound. This lack of knowledge and the resulting misinformed perceptions are significant barriers to workforce recruitment. Changing this will require coordinated efforts and resources to develop positive image marketing campaigns that resonate in non-technical terms with the general public.
