Looking for forestry work

Hello everybody!

Like the title says I’m looking for forestry work, but for the right company. Maybe yall could give me some good insight on where to look and what to look for.

Just turned 30, currently work as an oil tanker engineer (literally sailing up the east coast at this moment). I have a lot of skills this career requires you to be able to do alot of troubleshooting, welding, fabrication, electrical, Diesel engine maintenance, rigging, plumbing, paper work, ... blah blah. Shxt breaks daily, we literally keep the ship from sinking.

9x out of ten I would serve best as a field mechanic , but that’s not what I’m looking to do. Well to be honest I’ll do anything to get in the door and prove myself along the way to be capable of doing more. Whether that’s being a laborer, mechanic, or operator.

What i really want is to learn the trade, operate equipment, learn the lingo, learn any and everything possible. Eventually, I’ll stop sailing. But for now it pays the bills.

Lasty, I dont want to come across as someone here to talk about there self. I want to know do yall think there’s a chance for me to get hired on some where with no experience in forestry work “part time” during my 6 month vacations? If so, were would i look? Should it be a small company or a large company? Money isn’t important although I don’t want to be taken advantage of.



Disclaimer: Your probably wondering why in the hell would someone want to work in the woods during there vacation time, especially after working 12-13 hour shifts 7 days a week. Well, that’s just the type of person i am. I like to work especially on big machinery.


Thanks
-Pete

The 'hands on' the forestry machinery training.
Alabama - logging equipment training (similar in Maine and other places)

John Deere has a number of its own training centers and training partnerships with education organisations.(agriculture and industrial/ forestry)
https://www.deere.com/en/our-compan...n-training/construction-forestry-technicians/
https://www.deere.com/en/our-compan...aler-technician-training/ag-turf-technicians/

Wheel harvester simulators - Europe (Euro money = US dollar x 1.14) Ideally trainee machine operators on some machines should have 150 hours on the simulator before felling the first real tree.

Ponsse simulator - Ontario

John Deere have wheel harvester/ forwarder simulators and were developing track forestry machine simulators.

Simulator US Army - excavator training on both sim and real machine.

Thanks for the information I may look into one of these logging vocational schools.

Anyone have any opinions on the 4-8 week logging schools?

thanks

The best money I ever spent on schooling was at a Master Logger Certification Class. Back in the mid 90's, I paid $100 for a 5 day course over 5 weeks. The field day with the chain saw and saw safety was the best day and has made me pre-aware of dangers that I would have otherwise had to learn from experience. And experience is always an expensive teacher - one you sometimes don't walk away from.

Once I had that certificate, I was offered work by several companies that I dealt with, although I was already in business for myself. These days, I am quite sure you almost have to have that certification if you want to get hired by a larger firm. Look to your local state forestry department for this class and more information on getting into the field.