A student in last year’s class operates a forwarder loading logs at a felling site.

Nortrax announced its continued support of the Mechanized Logging Operations Program, which will resume this summer on June 28, 2021.

The program is an educational joint venture of the Maine Community College System and the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine, along with other industry partners.

Nortrax will again provide full use of a John Deere forwarder and two John Deere tracked harvesters that the students will use to learn how to harvest timber during the 12-week program.

Last year's class gained valuable hands-on experience and accumulated hundreds of working hours on the provided John Deere forwarder and harvesters. This summer's class is the fifth since the program launched in 2017, with graduation scheduled for Sept. 17.

The program gives students a broad view of the forestry industry and focuses on harvesting laws, environmental best practices, forestry markets, logging techniques and more. The course is designed to get students started in a career as an equipment operator and teaches them what it takes to be a well-trained operator as part of a safe, production-oriented harvesting team.

Students pay no tuition, but are responsible for their travel, housing and food costs. Personal protective equipment is provided by the program to the students.

"This program takes an incredible amount of cooperation from many industry partners and Nortrax has been there from the very beginning. We could not provide this opportunity without the support of Nortrax and their entire team in Bangor," said Donald Burr, the program's coordinator.

Burr is one of the five instructors for the course and was part of the team that helped develop the curriculum more than six years ago.

"We are looking for the 16 best candidates from across the state of Maine. We have some incredible success stories from our students who have benefitted from the program. They have found rewarding, high-paying careers, and are helping to fill a much-needed demand for skilled operators in the logging industry," added Burr.

Applications are being accepted for the upcoming class and students are encouraged to apply now.

For more information, visit Maineloggers.com or nmcc.edu.

This story also appears on Forestry Equipment Guide.

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