Heavy Equipment Operations
HEO Newsletter
Spring 2020
Volume 1 • Edition 1
in this
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Issue: SPI Partnership Feature Partner HELO Expansion Sabrina Cantu Melissa Markee Shasta College Resources Industry Partners
HEO TEAM Zack Zweigle
Dean zzweigle@shastacollege.edu
John Livingston
Heavy Equipment Faculty jlivingston@shastacollege.edu
Rick Boontjer
Logging Operations Faculty rboontjer@shastacollege.edu
Clancy Mitchell
Truck Driving Faculty cmitchell@shastacollege.edu
Pete Dickerson
Heavy Equipment Faculty pdickerson@shastacollege.edu
Rebekah Davis
Student Success Facilitator rdavis@shastacollege.edu
Becky Roe
Grant Coordinator rroe@shastacollege.edu
Betsey Ray
Registered Apprenticeship Coordinator bray@shastacollege.edu
Trena Kimler-Richards
Logging and Heavy Equipment Consultant trichards@shastacollege.edu
IMPORTANT DATES MAR MAR FEB
14ough Ponsse Headquarters thr 21 Faculty Visit
APR
03
MAY
America's Forest Premier
05ough 25th Annual SCLC thr 06 In-Woods Show
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Sacramento, CA
19ough Redwood Region thr 21 Logging Conference Ukiah, CA
N.E.W. (non-traditional employment for women) Shasta College
Shingletown, CA
Shasta College thanks Sierra Pacific Industries for its support in the development of our Heavy Equipment Logging Operations certificate.
Sierra Pacific Industries Partnership by Kristy Lanham, Community Relations Manager, Sierra Pacific Industries
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e are pleased to partner with Shasta College, as they serve our rural communities and continually evolve their course offerings to meet the needs of employers across all-sectors throughout the North State. Their leadership team works closely with local employers, community partners and economic development associations, as they establish and maintain quality degree and certificate programs that align with the skills and training necessary to compete in today’s competitive job market. To have a local, accessible community college in our backyard is invaluable. Shasta College continues to raise the bar – in 2020 they now offer more than 100 Associate Degrees and Certificates, including a few new programs focused on natural resources, forest products, heavy equipment and transportation. Sierra Pacific Industries has been a long-time community partner, but this past year has been exceptional for our industry! It started in summer 2019, with an industryfunded worksite learning program -- FIRST SEAT (Forest Industry Real-World Skills Training/Sustaining Employment and Applying Technology). FIRST SEAT was followed by a grant-funded expansion of the college’s Heavy Equipment Operation Program to include training on specialized logging equipment and exposure for students to career opportunities in the timber and logging industry. After seeing the increasing need for qualified commercial truck drivers nationwide,
we then worked collaboratively to include a key, regional Class A & B License Training course as part of the new Heavy Equipment Logging Operations (HELO) certificate program. Industry partners encouraged Shasta College to bring this program to all their north state locations… and they did! Students are enrolled at the Shasta College Main Campus in Redding, Tehama (Red Bluff) and Intermountain (Burney) satellite campuses. These extended education classes provide both instruction and hands-on driving practice, training in-cab and onroad, and give industry professionals the opportunity to interact and train drivers/operators onsite with real-world experiences. Shasta College has been recognized as a true leader in the state, for their innovation and delivery of new courses and programs – we are thrilled for the staff and students, and humbled to be a part of this next generation of worksite learning! We see Shasta College as a regional hub for higher education, with a focus on vocational and technical opportunities that are driving a more qualified, skilled workforce in the North State. This is a win-win, for the students and employers alike. For SPI, we will have the opportunity to interface with the students and a direct recruitment channel to the top talent by having them training onsite at our Burney facility.
Delbert Gannon Featured Industry Partner
D
elbert Gannon, Creekside Logging, has been in the timber industry business right at 30 years. He has been the sole proprietor of Creekside Logging for 10 years. He started out working for Larry Strawn, and then bought out Larry’s company upon retirement. Larry financed Delbert in the beginning as he started his own company.
HELO expansion
When asked about the “culture” of the timber industry, Delbert said, “We are like a competitive family. We will bid against each other for jobs but give the shirt off our backs to help another person.” The timber industry has a long history of coming to the aid of others that have experienced an accident or tragedy.
Tehama County is a hub of trucking activity in the North State. Most companies in the area are actively seeking drivers. A 2019 driver shortage analysis by the American Trucking Association projected a deficit of 1.1 million drivers over the next 10 years in the United States!
Education about the timber industry is a passion for Delbert. Having been involved with Sierra Cascade Logging Conference’s (SCLC) In-Woods show, Buzz Eades, past president of SCLC, cornered him at the conference and said, “You need to get to know John Livingston and be on their advisory committee.” That is how the relationship with Shasta College got started. Through the advisory committee, the Shasta College program made connections to industry partners.
The Shasta College Tehama Campus offered its first truck driving class in the Fall of 2019 with two more course offerings this Spring. The Heavy Equipment, Logging Operations, and Agriculture programs have long recognized the need to cross train students to include a commercial class A driver’s license. Aaron Phipps, a student who completed the Class A course, said in a recent podcast that he was inspired by his instructor. The instructor helped him realize the opportunities and the shortage of talent in the trucking industry, and Aaron was employed even before he graduated.
Delbert hired his first Shasta College intern in the summer of 2018 to run a masticator on a Sierra Pacific Industry job. By the summer of 2019, the timber industry partners, SCLC, Loggers Association of Northern California (LANC), and Associated California Loggers (ALC) had worked with the college to develop the FIRST SEAT internship program, funding a skidder. The need for training a new employee pool was evident and Shasta College was the logical choice because it is strategically located with the “right” industry partners in the area.
Shasta College was able to offer the course thanks to the support of Sierra Pacific Industries, and partners in Tehama County such as Lepage Construction, Tehama District Fairgrounds and the Tehama County Farm Bureau. The donation of equipment, space to practice driving, and industry partnerships that allowed permitted students to drive with company drivers to gain more experience made the course a great success. This unique relationship also allows a company to get a “first look” at a prospective employee.
When asked, “Where do you see the needs for the future of the timber industry?”, Delbert responded that there is a critical need for operators, mechanics, truck drivers, and others within allied industries. This includes young leadership that gets involved in the various timber organizations. “Not every kid is built to go to a 4-year university, many are hands on, critical thinkers that want to go to work outdoors,” he explained. “The quartermillion-dollar piece of equipment today is high tech, computer operated, and requires a multitude of skills to operate and a maintenance mechanic to computer guru.”
For more information, visit www.shastacollege.edu/HEOP.
Delbert is hopeful that the Shasta College Heavy Equipment Logging Operations (HELO) program will continue to receive grant funding that will turn it into a Regional Training Center.
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Spring 2020
Volume 1, Edition 1
Melissa Markee Foresty & Natural Resources Instructor
Sabrina Cantu
What was one of the highlights of the Heavy Equipment Program at Shasta College?
One of the highlights was how supportive and knowledgeable the instructors were. As a female in the industry it is hard to find many people willing to teach and push you to go after your goals. The HEO program helped me to feel confident jumping on any piece of equipment and having a rough idea how to maintenance and operate it. If there was some advice you could give a new student coming into the program, what would it be? The advice I would give is never be afraid to try any piece of equipment. Do not be embarrassed or feel intimidated. This is the perfect environment to learn, make mistakes and understand the equipment you are operating. I told myself no matter what never say no to an opportunity and try it all. Who hired you? What does this company primarily do? What equipment are you training on?
Is there a place for females in the logging industry?
I believe there is a place for women in the logging industry. With the advancements in equipment the operators cannot be as rough and tough with the equipment as they used to be. A softer approach keeps equipment running longer and repair costs lower. It is not a man vs woman thing. Or, at least it should not be. If you truly love the woods and are willing to work hard, then you should be able to be in any industry of your choosing.
“Having a logging certificate in addition to our Forest Science and Technology A.S. is a benefit to both programs. Students in the logging program are able to take natural resource courses to help them understand and avoid the negative environmental impacts harvesting timber can have while also understanding the ecosystem benefits of thinning California forests. The students in working towards an associate degree in Forest Science and Technology on their path to become forestry technicians and registered professional foresters are able to learn more about harvesting processes and equipment, plus they have additional exposure to the sites our logging program is actively harvesting.�
What do you enjoy the most in your new job? What I enjoy most about my new job is the freedom and beauty of being out in the woods. Finally seeing progress in a thinning that once was dark and gloomy from over growth turn into a spacious sunny forest is rewarding. Knowing that the trees before me will grow taller, larger and stronger in years is a good sight to see. Lastly I enjoy getting to do what my heart genuinely enjoys. Operating one cool piece of equipment.
The company that hired me is Miller Timber. The company was started in 1981 and continues to use the best practices to efficiently handle your forestry needs. I am an Operator for their Cut to Length (CTL) operation and operate a Ponsse Elephant King Forwarder. The company does many things from Reforestation, Wildland Fire Fighting, and Harvesting.
Heavy Equipment Operations
HEO
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SHASTA COLLEGE RESOURCES NEW! Heavy Equipment Logging Operations certificate, beginning Fall 2020. Existing programs: • • • • • • •
Advanced Manufacturing Diesel Technology Fire Technology, Fire Academy and EMT Heavy Equipment Natural Resources (includes Forest Operations and Silviculture) Truck Driving Welding
Shasta College Intermountain Campus Shasta College Trinity Campus
Shasta College Main Campus
STEP-UP – award-winning college support program for formerly incarcerated community members, providing student trainees for Shasta College’s HELO program.
Shasta College Tehama Campus
FIRST SEAT is an in-woods internship program sponsored by logging industry partners (2019): • • • • • • •
Associated California Loggers (ACL) Creekside Logging Del Logging Loggers Association of Northern California (LANC) Peterson Timber Sierra Cascade Logging Conference (SCLC) Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI)
GRANT FUNDING – Received $3.2M as part of Fall River RCD’s CCI CAL FIRE Forest Health Grant. Receiving additional $1.8M as direct grantee of CCI CAL FIRE Forest Health Grant. ONE of only 11 campuses in the CA CC system that offers housing, and has farm dorm housing. FREE tuition for two years to qualifying students. IN-WOODS EXPERIENCE – Sierra Pacific Industries provides Shasta College access for training to 54,000 acres of prime timberland.
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Shasta College is positioned at the epicenter of logging and forest resource management—and the only area in the state that still has a fully intact timber processing infrastructure.”
Dan Opalach, Senior Biometrician, Forest Biometrics Research Institute
Fall River Resource Conservation District
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In compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, Shasta College does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, handicap, or age in employment, in any of its educational programs, or in the provision of benefits and services to its students. A lack of English language skills and/or visual and hearing impairment will not be a barrier to admission or participation in any educational program, including Career Technical Education.
Spring 2020
Volume 1, Edition 1
