Partnerships in Forestry: TENNESSEE

Candace Dinwiddie,Executive Director, Tennessee Forestry Association

The Tennessee Forestry Association appreciates the partnership with FMIC. Thanks to all the folks at FMIC for working with our loggers and mills to ensure that safety and professionalism are top priorities in our state. FMIC is a vital partner with our Tennessee Master Logger program and other activities and events sponsored and organized by our association.

TFA has continued to work successfully in our General Assembly for landowners and industry to grow trees and manufacture wood products in a business-friendly environment. Our organization will always endeavor in the Tennessee legislature and on the federal and local levels to keep our Tennessee industry and landowners from facing unnecessary regulations and burdensome taxes.

During the past two years, TFA has been very fortunate to receive several grants from the TN Dept. of Agriculture and other sources to be able to support our members and grow our organization in new directions.

TFA has contracted with a Workforce Development Coordinator, Larry Pitt. Forestry curriculum programs are now included in several TN Colleges of Applied Technology (TCAT) vocational schools. TFA is also working with local county school systems, particularly in rural and distressed counties, to include curriculum related to future careers in the sawmill and logging industries. Apprenticeship programs in wood products industries are now available with support from the TN Dept. of Economic and Community Development. Still work in progress, but TFA’s workforce program is making a positive difference in counties with a strong presence of forest industry to ensure a trained and safety-conscious workforce for the future.

TFA is partnering with the AL Forestry Association on the Forestry Works Training Institute programs and is excited to grow our workforce programs in the future. Also, TFA has contracted with a Conservation Education Coordinator. With the help of our coordinator, Teri Frye, TFA has held Project Learning Tree programs both in schools and online. Also, in 2021, we have again scheduled in-person four Teacher Conservation Workshops and two Green Jobs Workshops. TFA is hosting mill tours and logging site visits for teachers and providing educators the opportunities to understand better the connection of harvesting trees to everyday wood products. TFA is active in local Envirothon competitions, and along with our Workforce Development Coordinator, Teri is scheduling middle and high school forestry career days for autumn 2021 across the state. TFA’s Conservation Education Coordinator is also working with several state and private universities to ensure that Project Learning Tree training is included in all pre-service teacher programs before graduation.

Another grant from the National Fish & Wildlife Federation (NFWF) provides TFA funding to contract with a forester to work with landowners in the Elk and Duck River Watersheds to promote sustainable forest management and growing the number of acres of certified private non-industrial land in the Tennessee Tree Farm program. Cost-share funds for planting trees are available to landowners, along with funding for consultant visits. TFA’s forester, Alex Richman, actively works with landowners, consultants, and TN Division of Forestry personnel to ensure that non-industrial landowners understand the importance of growing trees, strong markets for certified wood and foresters achieve landowners’ goals for their forests.

Other projects that TFA is working on include a grant to work with landowners to grow more white oak in Tennessee, expanding our Master Logger training, honoring milestone Tree Farmers, landowner education through Tennessee Healthy Hardwoods, and “Welcome to Your Woods.” At the Tennessee Forestry Association, we believe in safety, advocacy, education, networking, and believing in and supporting our members. We always want to thank our members for the great job they do in the woods and their communities.

For more information on the Tennessee Forestry Association, check out www.tnforestry.com