Page 16 - Tree Line - North Carolina Forestry Association - Fourth Quarter 2022

Above: An owner/employee arranges sheets of veneer before they head to the gluing station for panel assembly. At the gluing station, employees will glue the front/back veneer to the requisite layers of inner ply to match the panel thickness ordered by the customer. Right: Orrin Goure, forest certification manager at Columbia Forest Products.
BY AMANDA MURPHY, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS, AND KAT PETERS, COMMUNICATIONS INTERN
An Open-Door Policy:
ORRIN GOURE,
Columbia Forest Products
Amanda Murphy had the opportunity to sit down with Orrin Goure, forest certification manager at Columbia Forest Products (CFP) and NCFA board member, earlier this year in Asheville. They spoke about Orrin’s nontraditional route into the forestry industry and his positive experience coming into this tight-knit community.
Q: Tell me about yourself. Our records show you have been an
NCFA member since 2017 and CFP has been a member since 1994.
A: My background took a nontraditional route. I attended Haywood
Community College (HCC) in 2016 for an associate’s degree in Forest Management Technology, went to work for some forestry consultants, and then the CFP position became available a year after I graduated.
I had some plans to go to North Carolina State University, but then decided I would rather make a go of working, which turned out to be the best decision. CFP is a fantastic employer to work for — they respect their people, have an open-door
14 ncforestry.org / FOURTH QUARTER 2022