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Forest Utilization Research asks for workforce manager to train students on $2M in logging technology
Summary
The Forest Utilization Research Program (FURP) at the University of Idaho requested funding for a workforce development manager to train student employees on recently acquired advanced forestry equipment; the program emphasized its workforce-training mission and initial private funding of new equipment.
Kevin Campbell, budget and policy analyst, presented the Forest Utilization Research (FURP) program's FY2026 request and said FURP is part of the University of Idaho's College of Natural Resources. "FERR has 13.28 authorized FTP with a half FTP vacant," Campbell told the committee while summarizing personnel and expenditure patterns.
Dennis Becker, dean of the College of Natural Resources and director of the Forest Utilization Research Program, told the committee FURP's mission encompasses policy analysis, a rangeland center, the University of Idaho experimental forest, a nursery, the Mica Creek Watershed Project and a Wildland Fire Center. Becker said the program "recently purchased about $2,000,000 in advanced logging technology with our logging proceeds and with some assistance from private industry," and that the requested workforce development manager would train students on that equipment and supervise student employees working in the experimental forest.
Budget context: Campbell said roughly 90% of FURP's expenditures are wages and benefits and that FURP has generally spent 100% of its appropriations in recent years. The program received $18,200 ongoing in FY2024 for personnel costs at its Wildland Fire Center and a half-FTE administrative specialist in FY2025 to serve as a Boise location first point of contact.
Why it matters: Becker argued the workforce manager position is necessary because new equipment expands training opportunities but exceeds current supervisory capacity. He said training students prepares them for entry into the forest products industry and cited private-industry partnerships that helped acquire equipment.
Follow-up: No formal vote was taken. Committee members had no substantive questions after Becker's remarks and asked no additional follow-ups at the hearing.
