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State Forestry Workforce Study Confirms Vital Role of Forest Sector, Urges Targeted Investment in Oregon Talent
By Associated Oregon Loggers [6],
Salem, OR – The Oregon Forest Operations and Management Workforce Study [7] (Study) was accepted on Friday and released today with input from many forest sector partners, including state agencies, public institutions, and industry employer representatives. The comprehensive report is a detailed analysis confirming Oregon’s forest sector is central to the state’s economic, environmental, and public safety goals and home to some of the state’s most essential, high-demand, and technically advanced jobs.
The Study was authorized by the Oregon Legislature in SB 1552 (2024) and completed by the Higher Education Coordinating Commission. It identifies a strong need to modernize training pathways and expand access to forestry and trades worker careers. It also underscores the importance of workforce readiness in addressing Oregon’s wildfire risk, housing demand, and forest health crisis.
The Study underscores that forest workers are not only economic drivers, but they are critical public servants too. Forest operators are critical first responders during fire season, and their ongoing capacity to operate in forests to maintain healthy, productive landscapes is tied directly to investments in professional development, continued education, recruitment, and the availability of experienced forestry operations crews.
The Study also affirms forest operators and managers help deliver clean drinking water, valuable forest habitat, renewable forest products, and restored forest health through a variety of proactive forest management interventions and tactics.
Associated Oregon Loggers (AOL) Executive Vice President, Rex Storm, highlighted, “Oregon’s loggers don’t just power the economy, they protect it.”
The report acknowledges, “Forest operators build and maintain roads that enhance emergency access, and they provide firefighting and emergency response resources—including equipment and crews—through contracts with ODF, USFS, and BLM.”
It further supports that, “The workforce contributes to climate resilience by supporting carbon storage and reducing the likelihood of high-emissions wildfire events.”
However, the report found the forest sector is facing a critical workforce shortage that cannot be ignored.
According to the Study, “retirement and other job turnover mean that the sector will require a robust flow of newly trained workers for the foreseeable future,” resulting in the need to, “replace at least one in eight workers in these positions every year” or a 3,400 employee need annually. This replacement would maintain current capacity, but the Study indicates if the state aspires to carry out and fully implement the 20-Year Landscape Resiliency Strategy, the Oregon Housing Production Goal, and other stated objectives, then significantly more workers need to be developed and supported.
There is a better way, and we do have solutions. Thankfully, “Oregon’s forest operations and management workforce continues to evolve alongside emergent technologies such as mechanized harvesters and aerial drones,” states the report and, “These tools require new skills, with employers seeking professionals who have technical skills and training in operating advanced machinery.”
Despite these demands, the Study notes Oregon’s education system is failing to produce enough job-ready graduates stating, “Oregon’s postsecondary forestry pathways appear relatively small compared to comparison states … [there is] a need to rely on skilled workers trained in other states … [but this] could also indicate opportunities to expand programs to better support the industry.”
Overall, the report emphasizes opportunities for Oregon to lead in supporting the forest sector’s workforce development through expanded education and training capacity, improved career alignment in public education, and leveraged in-state expertise.
AOL remains committed to supporting workforce development programs that lead directly to employment.
“Oregon can and should be a leader in forestry workforce development. With smart investment, we can equip the next greater skills to steward forests and employ prosperous communities,” said Storm.
AOL urges state leaders and education administrators to act on the Study recommendations. The path forward is clear, Oregon must:
- Promote the forest sector and reduce the size in awareness gaps of its social benefits;
- Better understand forest sector workforce contributions that would achieve state goals around housing, mass timber, wildfire risk mitigation, and forest health concerns; and
- Invest in targeted, technical education that supports rewarding careers in forest operations and management, not just adjacent industries.