Forestry program at SouthArk to fill need in industry
A new program at South Arkansas Community College will benefit not only local residents but the forestry industry that makes up a significant portion of the state’s economy, as well.
Starting this fall, the college will begin offering non-credit forestry courses as it develops curriculum for a forestry tech program that will give students the opportunity to begin working right away or transition into a four-year forester program.
“We’re really excited about this program,” said Dr. Stephanie Tully-Dartez, vice president of academic affairs at SouthArk. “There’s a real need in Arkansas, especially in south Arkansas, for individuals in this area, forestry tech.”
The program’s establishment is being made possible thanks to a grant announced on March 15 by Gov. Asa Hutchinson. SouthArk received $259,200 to establish a forestry program that will support the timber industry that makes up just over 5% of Arkansas’s economy, according to the state Senate.
Funding came fro the Arkansas Office of Skills Development, according to information provided by SouthArk. Hutchinson announced more than $8 million in grants for workforce programs throughout the state during a meeting of the Career Education and Workforce Development Board in Jonesboro.
About 15 organizations submitted proposals for grants through a competitive process, which included pitching their services before a panel of judges, according to reporting by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. TulleyDartez said she wrote SouthArk’s grant proposal, and noted that the college also
submitted letters of support from the Arkansas Foresters Assocation and F&W Forestry.
“This project will result in new forest technicians to fill high-demand, entry to middle-skill positions of which there is an immediate need in the region and across the country,” F&W Forestry U.S. forest operations manager Brent Williamson said in the company’s letter of support for the grant. “SouthArk will assist us in meeting our staffing needs by providing valuable, hands-on training to their students.”
Tully-Dartez said non-credit courses in the program are set to begin this fall and curriculum for a credit program will be developed in the following year so that the school can pilot a credit program with a small first class in fall 2023.
“This will be workforce training… We have a program where we’re working with unemployed and underemployed individuals to get them entry-level work while we work to develop the curriculum for the other (credit program),” she said. “It will be for people who have not yet entered the forestry industry.”
For the non-credit side of the program, students will be able to earn stackable certificates of proficiency, ultimately leading to a technical certificate after two semesters of learning.
The credit program will offer courses including safety, surveying, dendrology, measuring, soil science, harvesting, technical math and writing and other training, according to a press release from SouthArk.
“We’re working on developing that (curriculum). We have to form an advisory committee, so we’ll have representatives from all of the major forestry products partners,” TullyDartez said.
SouthArk’s credit program will allow students to earn an Associate’s degree in general studies, which can be utilized for future higher education efforts. Tully-Dartez said a forester program is available at the University of Arkansas at Monticello.
“We’re not preparing foresters, we’re preparing forestry tech,” she explained. “And there’s a desperate need for that with the amount of land management in south Arkansas and because people aren’t going into those fields.”
According to SouthArk, forestry jobs have an average wage of $22 an hour in Arkansas.
The new program will be housed on the college’s East Campus, which sits among 30 wooded acres. It also will make use of the South Arkansas Arboretum, which the college manages.
Tully-Dartez said the college hopes to open the non-credit program to 40-50 students this fall and the pilot credit program to about 10 students next year.
“But we will grow the program to the size it needs to be,” she said.
SouthArk’s department of career and technical education offers a number of programs that can help students find longterm, high-paying careers, including in fields such as culinary arts, welding, automotive technology, criminal justice and more.