Page 28 - Tree Line - North Carolina Forestry Association - Third Quarter 2023

EDUCATION PROGRAMS
North Carolina educators
learn how to determine merchantable timber using Biltmore sticks.
FECF Receives Grant for Forestry Workforce Training and Education
The NCFA’s Forest Education and Conservation Foundation is pleased to announce it has been
awarded a competitive U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Forest Service Southern Region Landscape Scale Restoration (LSR) grant for the project “Forestry Workforce Promotion & Training Program in North Carolina.” The amount of the grant is $200,000 and constitutes funding for three years.
The forest industry is facing a critical challenge in recruiting and retaining skilled, trained workers to support its mission of sustaining healthy markets and ensuring an abundant supply of clean air, clean water, and wildlife habitat. The goal of this LSR grant is to address the forestry workforce challenge by increasing the number of trained forestry workers in Tier 1 counties in North Carolina. The LSR grant aligns with the 2020 North Carolina Forest Action Plan, which identifies workforce development as a priority need
to address forest threats and enhance the benefits of forest management.
This grant award would not have been possible without support from partner organizations like the NC Forest Service, the NC Future Farmers of America,
and the Alabama Forestry Association’s Forestry Workforce and Training Institute.
The NCFA is partnering with the
NC Future Farmers of America to
develop curriculum; provide professional development training and support to 180 teachers; deliver the curriculum in schools across North Carolina reaching an estimated 2,000 students; and host career days and field days with member companies.
In addition, the grant brings the ForestryWorks® forest-worker credential program to North Carolina. The innovative approaches the NCFA is planning provide an additional model for states to adopt and will have impacts throughout the Southeastern region. The NCFA will build on the work of other
states with an additional innovation that integrates project evaluation to track impact and outcomes, including student action and behavior after completing the certificate program; in addition, it will develop a project report as a model for implementation of a certificate program in other Southeastern states.
26 ncforestry.org / THIRD QUARTER 2023
LEARN MORE
about the Landscape Scale Restoration program here