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STATE OF THE ART IN LOGGER TRAINING OR EDUCATION?
EDUCATION: EMERGING ROLES AND
RESPONSIBILITIES 1 Some would make a large distinction between the
terms "education" versus "training"; however, they are
by typically used interchangeably by most people in the
forestry sector. Some use the term "training" to
John J. Garland
describe the physical training of muscle patterns
Oregon State University
needed to perform the manual and control tasks in
Corvallis, Oregon, USA logging, while reserving the term "education" for
changes in knowledge or attitudes that are largely
mental and less visible. The fact that both training and
ABSTRACT: Describes the current state of the art in education are needed to carry out logging tasks, such as
logger education and training in the US. The paper
felling trees, makes the semantic distinctions both
highlights the increase in activity resulting from the cumbersome and hard to use. A compromise would be
Sustainable Forestry Initiative of the American Forest to concurrently list such programs as "logger training
and Paper Association. The differences between and education" programs when practical and
programs of accreditation, certification and licensing
emphasize the distinctions when necessary,
are noted. Describes in brief detail what is being
taughtand the partnerships engaged in the education
efforts. Funding arrangements are outlined for unique STATUS OF LOGGER EDUCATION AND
approaches. Future prospects are outlined for logger
TRAINING PROGRAMS
education,
The author's best estimate of the current status of
Key Words" loggers, training, education, roles, logger training and education programs are listed in
responsibilities, and funding
Table 1. Each program is identified by state, program
name/type, partial listing of cooperators, whether the
program can be identified as an accreditation,
INTRODUCTION
certification or licensing program, and an abbreviated
list of topics in the program. Admittedly, there are
The level of activity in logger education and training
likely errors in this summary as the rate of change in
has risen sharply in the last few years compared to the these programs is phenomenal. In addition, where data
previous twenty that the author has been working with were not available, I simply listed the status as
this issue. Part of the increase in activity earl be "unknown". For some states where forestry is not a
attributed to the Cooperative Extension program of large part of the economy it may well be that nothing is
LEAP: Logger Education to Advance Professionalism happening in the area of logger training. Also, the
which stimulated activities in various states with grants
aimed at logger education. More recently, the
table does not reflect programs well that are in the
planning stages except where information has come to
Sustainable Forestry Initiative of the American Forest
the attention of the author. Finally, Table 1 does not
and Paper Association (AF&PA) called for landowner
show national efforts of organizations like the
and logger education efforts by their member American Pulpwood Association, the AF&PA or its
companies (AF&PA, 1995). Based on my assessment, individual member companies, or the Cooperative
some 35 states have logger education efforts now States Research, Education, and Extension Service
underway. Several of these states have had logger
(CSREES), all of whom have been actively supporting
education efforts dating back to the mid sixties, and
state and local efforts in logger education and training.
progressive companies and contractors have long
The abbreviations atthe end of the table are perhaps
recognized the need to provide education and training
awkward but they allow quick state by state
for their employees. This paper mainly addresses the comparisons. The author welcomes suggested changes
most recent activities and highlights some emerging
and corrections to the table.
roles and responsibilities.
_Presented atthejointmeetingoftheCouncilOnForest
EngineeringandInternational UnionofForestResearch
Organizations SubjectGroup$3.04-00,Marquette, MI, July
20-August1, 1996.
32
ACCREDITATION, CERTIFICATION OR
LICENSING
At last year's COFE meeting, I detailed the distinctions
between accreditation, certification and licensing