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California's forestry sector needs to be strengthened, so it seeks to join forces with women, minorities and veterans by creating an employment initiative that promotes forestry careers, with a special focus on fire prevention and sustainability, contributing to both community resilience and environmental stewardship throughout California.
The initiative focuses on investing in training and educating people about career paths, not only in choosing a qualified workforce, but also in fostering community resilience and environmental stewardship throughout California, said Matt Dias, president and CEO. general of the California Forestry Association (Calforests), during a briefing held by Ethnic Media Services.
"It's important because we're facing key challenges around wildfires and climate change, and as we get deeper into the ravages of climate change and this wildfire crisis, we need a stronger partnership," Dias said.
This initiative has been launched to be prepared and reach out to more organizations to support this project, which is an integrated industry, as there are manufacturing sectors and natural resources related to forestry.
"Part of the goal of this initiative is to have a great deal of diversity in our California workforce and to reflect that in our forest products sector, which is helping to try to preserve and sustain itself," Dias said.
For this program, forestry is essential, since it is the science that is responsible for the cultivation and maintenance of forests, it focuses on the theory and practice of caring for and regulating their composition, but also on development; having this knowledge allows decisions to be made about the care and management of the ecosystem.
Brita Goldstein, working on the industrial side of the private sector, is the liaison between the private company Green Diamond and the public, and focuses on promoting forest education and understanding.
“I learned that forestry can be hard work and only those who truly love it tend to persevere, there are about 1,100 active registered professional foresters. So after school I continued to learn my trade, mostly in private forestry consulting,” explained Goldstein, community affairs and communications representative for Green Diamond Resource Company.
“I am witnessing the increased demand for resource management jobs in the face of climate change and the increasing risk of wildfires. I encourage everyone considering a career in this field, as it offers a wide variety of meaningful work that contributes to the health and sustainability of the workforce. Whether you choose the public sector, private industry, a nonprofit organization or tribal members, you can all make a difference wherever you choose to work,” she continued.
According to Matthew Reischman, deputy director of resource management for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), most people working in this forestry sector have traditionally come from families that pass on knowledge from father to son, in a generational manner, which allows for a very wide diversity of information.
"I'm really excited about this initiative, which is focused on training and developing some tools, a data center, so that people can go and take advantage of the opportunities, from working in the field with equipment and chainsaws, to more technical work as a licensed or registered professional forester, and having the opportunity to reach out to young people and try to engage them to come and see what's going on," Reischman said.
With this initiative, he said, the aim is to close the employment gap, with an increasing number of people interested in working in the forestry sector.
"We know we have a forest management problem and we can do a better job using our natural resources and marketing wood products, that's an area we need to focus on to build resilience to wildfires," he concluded.
She finally explained that they are working on including the language in order to have the information and forms available so that this program is inclusive.
Lopez, a public servant with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said that when he entered the world of forestry, he loved it because of the body of knowledge.
In this regard, he assured that this program will have a great impact not only on the forest fires in California or a forest, but also on encouraging more people to work with the same feeling, which is the care and protection of the global environment.
This initiative is funded by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), more information at www.caforestryworkforce.com.
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