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Timber | |
| The Master Timber Harvester education program supports loggers on the front line | ||
| By Helen Fosgate |
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Donna Gallaher stacks
the last two boxes onto the hand truck, stretches the
“This was going to be a three-year program when it started in 1996,” she says, sliding the boxes full of notebooks into the back of the Taurus wagon. “But education isn’t an event, it’s a process. So here we are, eight years later, still going strong.” Gallaher has traveled to every corner of the state, driving thousands—perhaps hundreds of thousands—of miles. More than 3,000 loggers in Georgia have now completed the program, which includes sections on the environment, safety and business management. “This program was started at the request of participants in the American Forest and Paper Association’s sustainable forest initiative program,” she says. “It encourages sustainable forestry practices for the entire forest community, including mills, loggers and forest landowners. But logger education was identified as a priority, so that’s where we have focused most of our efforts.” The program has been so well received that it now includes an eight-hour continuing education component for those who’ve already earned the Master Timber Harvester designation. Those loggers return every two years for updates about best management practices, endangered species, and transportation and safety issues. “We recognized early on that a single three-day workshop wasn’t really enough to raise the level of professionalism or change behavior,” says Gallaher. “While concern for the environment is what drives the program, loggers also have a need for information about the latest on safety and business management, and we cover those subjects as well.” Gallaher, who worked for 16 years as office manager for a logging company before moving into her current position, has a unique perspective into the culture and needs of her workshop participants. “Donna has set a high professional standard for the Master Timber Harvester program, which is no easy task,” says Ben Jackson, professor of timber harvesting, whom Gallaher credits with developing the original program and educational materials. “She is to be commended for her efforts.” Gallaher plans workshops for different geographic areas of the state. Her list of speakers includes wildlife biologists from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, foresters from the Georgia Forestry Commission, water quality specialists, safety experts from the Georgia Department of Motor Vehicle Safety, and other professionals from business and industry. “The Master Timber Harvester designation is educational rather than a certification program,” says Gallaher. “And we’re very clear about that. Some states require certification, but we believe this voluntary approach is more effective than a regulatory system.” Steve Worthington, a procurement manager with Rayonier, and Nipper Bunn, a logging company owner who completed the program six years ago, are attending the workshop again this year in order to make recommendations about how to improve and update educational materials. “These loggers are on the front line of environmental protection,” says Worthington, who is a graduate of the Warnell School of Forest Resources at UGA. “For most, it’s a family business, so they want to do things right. And what they learn here helps them to educate homeowners, too, because there is still an awful lot of wood harvested in this state that’s never seen by a registered forester.” Bunn, who has been named both the Georgia Logger of the Year and National Logger of the Year, currently serves as president of the Southeastern Wood Producers Association and also chairs the Georgia Forestry Association’s Logging and Transportation Committee. He says the logger community in Georgia is improving. “We’ll continue to extract resources from our environment,” he says, “but we’re trying to get the message out that this industry is serious about the environment. We’ve found sustainable ways to grow and harvest wood. Not only that, we want to be world leaders in this.” While the Master Timber Harvester program is voluntary, most mills in Georgia now buy wood only from loggers who hold the MTH designation. Gallaher says this demonstrates the mills’ commitment to the values and practices of sustainable forest management. “The program is growing every year, and we’re adding more players all the time,” she says. “Initially we were reaching mostly company owners and supervisors, but today we’re more often talking to logging employees, drivers and equipment operators. That’s exciting because these are the people on the ground who can really make a difference.” |
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