PORTLAND, Ore. – A new educational program from the Oregon Forest Resources Institute aims to help inform the approximately 61,000 Oregonians with forest-related jobs about contemporary forestry practices and instill a sense of pride of their work in the state’s forest sector.
“Forest Proud Oregon is designed for forest-sector employees who aren’t exposed to today’s responsible forest practices because their work doesn’t involve hands-on experience in the forest,” says OFRI Executive Director Erin Isselmann. The program offers a variety of educational materials for sector employers to distribute to their workforce that highlight current forest sector practices and values.
Forest sector companies can use the online Forest Proud toolkit to order or download the materials free of charge to share with their employees. These include fact sheets, a booklet for employees who are new to the sector, posters and slideshows for display in work areas, and infographics for sharing on social media. There’s also a Forest Proud Oregon webpage and Facebook page.
All of the Forest Proud materials reinforce key reasons employees can be proud to work in Oregon’s forest sector, helping give them the confidence to represent the sector to friends and neighbors and recruit new employees into the sector.
About the Oregon Forest Resources Institute:
The Oregon Legislature created the Oregon Forest Resources Institute in 1991 to advance public understanding of forests, forest management and forest products, and to encourage sound forestry through landowner education. A 13-member board of directors governs OFRI. It is funded by a portion of the forest products harvest tax.