by Colleen Campion
Labor Day is an annual celebration recognizing the contributions and achievements of our nation’s workers. In the late nineteenth century, in response to a movement developed by labor activists and more than two dozen individual states adopting the holiday, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year the legal national Labor Day holiday.
Yale forestry class on porch
Around that same historical time, Gifford Pinchot established the Society of American Foresters, an organization that would help bring credibility and visibility to the new formal profession of forestry. Throughout his career, Pinchot would continue to invest greatly in developing the forestry labor force, beginning the Yale School of Forestry and other workforce learning and career opportunities focused on sustainable natural resource management.
But professional forestry studies are far from the only pathway that may lead someone to connect to and serve this great work today. At the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Bureau of Forestry, it is well known that foresters are only part of the dedicated workforce laboring every day to sustainably steward forest resources in service to the public. Many people outside the organization don’t realize the Bureau of Forestry is made up of foresters, botanists, ecologists, geologists, maintenance and administrative personnel, numerous program specialists, educators, rangers, forest fire specialists, lawyers and policy makers, business managers, and many others – each playing a pivotal part and all working together to achieve a common mission.
Bureau of Forestry career education table at W.B. Saul High School in Philadelphia
One of the greatest responsibilities we have as a labor force is how well we invest in, prepare, and support the next generation of workers coming behind us. We have a duty to educate young people about the career opportunities available to them. And we owe it to the legacy of our own work to help them develop versatile skills that will carry them through their careers even as they find themselves having to build solutions to ever evolving and emerging issues.
Across Pennsylvania, Bureau of Forestry staff from various program areas invest time and resources in green career education and workforce development efforts throughout the year. We engage with youth and attend career fairs to demonstrate the many aspects of this dynamic work. We provide hands-on workshops about forestry and green job pathways for educators and guidance counselors. We offer internships and job shadowing opportunities. We collaborate with and support colleges and universities to help inform and strengthen the natural resource learning programs they offer. We host project crews from the PA Outdoor Corps, where young people aged 15 to 25 learn new skills and gain job experience while improving public lands. And we provide support for the Correctional Conservation Collaborative, a program designed to provide green job skills and training to current or formerly incarcerated individuals to help with reentry employment. The Bureau of Forestry recently created a position dedicated to community forestry workforce coordination, to further build and strengthen these workforce initiatives and collaborative partnerships.
So, as we take some well-deserved time to celebrate Labor Day this week, reflect on the history of the day, the career pathways that led us all here to work together, and what we can do to carry on the legacy supporting our workforce every other day of the year – for it truly is a labor of love.
PA Outdoor Corps crew learning about chainsaw maintenance and operation
References
History of Labor Day | U.S. Department of Labor
Gifford Pinchot: The Father of Forestry (U.S. National Park Service)