Workforce Development Project

Groups Study Forest Workforce Issues

Concerns over recruiting and retaining qualified and committed workers are rising among America ’s manufacturing businesses.
Idaho ’s sawmills, logging and transport businesses are looking for ways to help them better compete for quality workers and keep the industry viable in the future.
The Associated Logging Contractors, Intermountain Forest Association and Idaho Forest Products Commission have teamed up to sponsor a study of forestry workforce issues. The group wants to learn what individuals, businesses, organizations and government can do to help forest businesses in the Idaho region improve their ability to competitively recruit, hire and retain a high quality workforce.

Request For Proposals (RFP) – (pdf, 35kb)

Dr. John Garland of Garland and Associates in Corvallis , Oregon will conduct the project. Dr. Garland has been involved with numerous forest workforce projects and is Professor Emeritus of forest engineering at Oregon State University.

The project will consist of four parts; an overview, a survey, a report and a summit. The overview will gather timely and relevant information on current and future forest workforce issues. The survey will solicit the opinions, observations and suggestions of employers, employees and others about workforce issues. The report will summarize the survey findings and provide a slate of possible recommendations the forest industry might implement to improve their competitive advantage in recruiting, hiring and retaining a qualified workforce in the region. Finally, the summit will provide an opportunity to present and discuss the project findings with members of Idaho ’s forest business and develop actions that businesses, associations and government agencies may implement. The summit will be held in spring of 2008.

• Comprehensive Idaho Timber Workforce Overview, by Dr. John J Garland, PE (pdf, 492kb)
• Report of a Survey of Idaho Timber Workforce Issues (pdf, 419kb)
• Idaho Timber Workforce Development Summit Agenda (pdf, 24kb)
• Final Report of the Idaho Timber Workforce Development Summit (pdf, 108kb)

Powerpoint Presentations from Summit:
Right-click on the Powerpoint link and select “Save Target As” to download.

• Nilson Timber Summit (ppt, 15.5Mb)
• Experiences from the Machinery Industry (ppt, 9Mb)
• Summit Report (ppt, 8.9Mb)
• Towards Improvement (ppt, 10Mb)

For Information about the Idaho Timber Workforce Development Project, contact:

Forest business owners, employers, related organizations, state and federal government organizations are encouraged to participate in the Summit. Registration fees and lunch will be provided by the Associated Logging Contractors and the Intermountain Forest Association. This is your opportunity to be involved and make a difference for the future.

For more information about the workforce project, contact the Idaho Forest Products Commission at 208/334-3292 or e-mail ifpc@idahoforests.org.