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A central mission of the Montana Timber Legacy Foundation and Montana Logging Association (MLA) is education, which includes engaging with young Montanans about career opportunities in the timber harvesting industry.
MLA and the Foundation educate students about timber harvesting career opportunities through several events throughout the year, including sponsoring and hosting a booth at the Montana FFA Ag Expo Career Fair. The Foundation and MLA have attended this impactful event for the last six years. This year, the career fair was held on Friday, November 17, at Montana State University – Bozeman.
At this year’s booth, Montana high school students had the opportunity to engage one-on-one with timber harvesting professionals, including Dyrk & Erin Krueger - Enhanced Forest Management, Scott Kuehn - Retired Forester and MLA staff Justin Doble and Tim McEntire.
Through these interactions and educational materials available at the booth, students learned about the importance of timber harvesting in our state’s history and future and the career opportunities available in the forest products industry.
Students also had the opportunity to take the controls of MLA’s John Deere Logging Equipment Simulator, which allows you to experience what it is like to fell, de-limb, and buck trees using this powerful machine.
Other high school student education initiatives this year included hosting a booth at the Worlds of Work Career Expo in Great Falls; supporting the recent Forest Products Industry interactive student event hosted by Sun Mountain Lumber, KLM Contracting, and the Department of Natural Resources (DNRC); the yearlong social media promotion of the Why I am a Logger video that encourages Montanans to learn more about timber harvesting careers; and more.
The Montana Logging Association and Montana Timber Legacy Foundation look forward to continuing these initiatives in the new year and working to ensure a new generation of timber harvesters to protect Montana’s forests and communities.
