Oregon must rapidly improve its training pathways and expand access to forestry and trade-based careers to meet its timber objectives. That is according to the Oregon Forest Operations and Management Workforce Study, a 196-page report underscoring the importance of the industry in preparing for wildfires, meeting housing demand, and improving forest health—to produce clean and healthy drinking water.
“Oregon’s loggers don’t just power the economy, they protect it,” according to Rex Storm, Executive Vice President of the Associated Oregon Loggers (AOL). “Oregon can and should be a leader in forestry workforce development,” Storm said. “With smart investment, we can equip the next generation with greater skills to steward forests and employ prosperous communities.”
According to the report, “retirements and other job turnover mean that the sector will require a robust flow of newly trained workers,” resulting in the need to “replace at least one in eight workers every year – or 3,400 workers every year” to keep up with current supply. However, to deliver on Oregon’s objectives, which include the 20-Year Landscape Resiliency Strategy and the Oregon Housing Production Goal, significantly more workers need to be developed and supported.
And while emerging technologies, such as mechanised harvesters and aerial drones, can help scale up production, “these tools require new skills, with employers now seeking professionals who have technical skills and training in operating advanced machinery,” the report said. The problem is that Oregon’s education system is failing to deliver enough job-ready graduates: “Oregon’s postsecondary forestry pathways appear relatively small compared to comparison states…(there is) a need to rely on skilled workers trained in other states…(but this) could also indicate opportunities to expand programs to support the industry.”
- To learn more about Oregon’s push to become an engine room for timber production, click here for Wood Central’s special feature last week. And to learn more about the push by the US Forest Service to ramp up workforce capacity to meet Trump’s new presidential orders, visit Wood Central’s story from May.
