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University forestry program seeks workforce manager after $2M in equipment purchases
Summary
The University of IdahoForest Utilization Research program has asked the legislature for funding to hire a workforce development manager to train students on $2 million of recently acquired advanced logging equipment.
Kevin Campbell, budget and policy analyst, presented the Forest Utilization Research program (FUR) budget request and said the program is part of the University of Idaho's College of Natural Resources and manages experimental forests, a nursery, a rangeland center and related projects. Dennis Becker, dean of the college and FUR director, told the committee the program has 13.28 authorized FTE and seeks partial funding for a workforce development manager to supervise and train student employees in the University of Idaho experimental forest.
Becker said FUR recently purchased approximately $2,000,000 in advanced logging technology funded by logging proceeds and private industry contributions and that the program lacks capacity to train students on the new equipment. "This workforce development manager will be really important for helping us to train those students which we currently do not have capacity for," Becker said.
Campbell noted that about 90% of FUR expenditures are wages and benefits and roughly 10.6% are day-to-day operating expenses. The request to fund the manager is positioned as a workforce-development investment that will help students gain skills for the forest products industry.
No committee votes were recorded; members did not pose substantive follow-up questions during the presentation. Becker thanked the committee and said he would attend a related forestry luncheon.
