Credentials?

[Stihlboy088]

Credentials?

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Hey, i've been doing tree work for friends and family for a few years now; just small time stuff nothing too big. I am a student in my second year at a local 2 year college earning generals toward a degree in forest management and i'm in my second year there. This past sunday i spent about 3 hours in a fairly large silver maple taking it down for my friends parents and dropped 3 large norway pines in their backyard. When all was said and done equipment was loaded in my truck and was driving back home i realized this is kinda what i really want to do (Tree work and Logging). i started climbing every thing in sight when i was around 10 months old according to my mother, and never really stopped i still rec. climb as often as i can and have been around chainsaws all of my life (started out with a bow saw and axe when i was 7 and got my first chainsaw when i was 13. i also come from a 5 generation logging and lumber based family started in sweden and moved to the states in the 1890's) I've looked into starting at the local tech school next year in a program specifically designed for tree work (Urban Forestry Technician) 4 semesters long and then going for a 1 year diploma at a college up in Minnesota for CTL and Mechanized Logging Equipment training. i think this would be my best bet in getting really started in the industry but i have every intention of going back to school and finishing the forest management degree+parents said they will help pay for a full four year but want me to be happy.(i think it may also be easier to do this class by class and keep a little coin in my pocket) so that later in life after iv'e had my fun i could relax and not break my back everyday but still go out and do somthing that i love. i would really appreciate feed back from everyone out there in arborist and logging land. My dad says i should also look into going to a heavy equipment operator and CDL course (Level I) to take this summer he says it will probably help out big time. sorry to make this so long winded but this is going to help me decide what i'll be doing for the rest of my life so it's kinda really important.

Dave,:cheers I also posted this in the commercial tree care and climbing forum.

 

[Billy_Bob]

I have a logger friend who is about 35 years old and mentioned that he is getting tired of the physical part of logging. Realizing that he is not a young whipper-snapper anymore. (So very physical job and you can get "worn out", good to have other options open should this happen...) So would be a good thing to get as much education now as possible.

Then I have another logger friend who is a heavy equipment operator. He told me it was a LOT of luck and being at the right place at the right time which got him his job. (Switching from regular logger to equipment operator logger.) I get the impression that everyone wants to do these jobs, but relatively few jobs are available. Then they are quite picky about who they will let operate the equipment. Must have prior experience type of thing. Can wreck havoc if you don't know what you are doing, so no room for "beginners", etc. Anyway if you can get any sort of education or experience with heavy equipment, I think it would big plus toward possibly getting such a job.

 

[Stihlboy088]

thanks

I have experience running excavators, and small dozers but have a he!!uva lot more experience "Operating" payloaders skid steers and big tractors even more on compact utilities. mostly plowing snow with the with the loader (dad own one but hates the cold) and i own tractor experience in the woods moving log and brush and grubbing and pulling stumps. but yeah getting into a course is my best bet. thanks

Dave,

 

[slowp]

Ditto on the wearing out. All the little twists and pulls,cracks and breaks of the past get to start bothering as you age. Not just logging either, working in the woods, period. And landing on your head too many times trying to ski "powder". I finally got a hot tub which cut down on ibuprofen. I'm up to 30 years of tripping through the woods now....A cutter was comisserating last week. We're both the same age. I've tried another line of work and hated it, he wants to find something else to do because of the wearing out factor. Multiple skills are a good thing.

 

[kkottemann]

Man get the degreee in forest management. That Is my background and I fall back on it plenty of times. I got into arbroiculture because I needed a job after school and happend to love it. Worked for a few years and went out on my own. Now when things get bad buisness wise I can always got to the timber companies and get work, such as cruising timber or overseeing merchandising in the woods on logging jobs on a contract basis. This work is tough but not nearly as demanding as climbing or felling, and it will get me through the hard times when the phone stops ringing for tree work. This would not be available to me in these parts if it was not for the B.S. in forestry I have hanging on the wall. As far as equiptment, learn as much as you can. A cdl is easy, mabe look into some mechanical classes. My stuff breaks all the time and I have not idea what to do. I rely on mechanics who put a real dent in my check book. Good luck. Pm me if you have some specific questions.

 

[Stihlboy088]

Powder

Hey slowp, we don't get too much nice powder round here but plenty of tree skiing crashes in my past!! I'd really like to get back out to colorado sometime again or even out in your area. Would i get laughed at for sporting a pair of Rossignol's and a backup set of Fischers? i think i'm going to try the forest management degree at the 4 year while taking a few courses at the tech school, the tech school is less than half the price at the 4 year on most of their credits and the ones i need will all transfer it's a really nice set up so the plan is formulated. thanks for all the suggestions and help.
Dave,

 

[slowp]

Hey slowp, we don't get too much nice powder round here but plenty of tree skiing crashes in my past!! I'd really like to get back out to colorado sometime again or even out in your area. Would i get laughed at for sporting a pair of Rossignol's and a backup set of Fischers? i think i'm going to try the forest management degree at the 4 year while taking a few courses at the tech school, the tech school is less than half the price at the 4 year on most of their credits and the ones i need will all transfer it's a really nice set up so the plan is formulated. thanks for all the suggestions and help.
Dave,

Nope. It doesn't matter what you ski on, it is how you ski. A word of warning, I skied the little hill just out of Bayfield, WI and the snow seemed, well, really really light and powdery and easy. I skied what a local called Crud, in Utah, and it was easy. We get the famed, Cascade Concrete. We call it powder. If I want my knees to last a while, I have to avoid that but I can still make a few bump runs. I also failed to buy the local's season pass this year, so it will probably be a great snow year. Make sure your tech school credits are good to transfer. I got a 2 year tech degree but never went on, except took a forest engineering course at OSU (Oregon). Most of the tech classes were not transferable, even though the same books were used.

 

[Stihlboy088]

Which hill in bayfield i don't know i've probably skied it before i still need to pick up a pass for the hill near Wausau WI "Granite Peak" the other hill i really like around here is up in u.p. o' Michigan "Ski Brule" (Summer is just a break between snowsports for me) and yeah the credits as far as Science, Math and Humanities all transfer from the tech school to the 4 year, they set the program up about 8 or 9 years ago to do that which is really in my favor because of the price.
Dave,