Hirong an intern forester?

duckwhacker · 12-31-2004, 09:53 PM

Has anyone have had any experience in hiring an intern (not like Monica) forestry student to help them with their property for deer managment?
I just reread the book "Grow em Right" about hiring a forester to work with a logging comapny to make sure the logging is done right and to specs. I don't have the type of the money to spend on a professional but was hoping that I could work with a student form the PSU school of Forestry. I would let the intern use the property as a project and give he/she a letter of recommendation. They could take pictures and have testimonials aas part of a "live resume" for employment.
Your thoughts?

BrutalAttack · 01-01-2005, 11:28 AM

Great idea. I wish this would be done more with students. I would contact their forestry or forest products department right away and see what they say. I'm sure they have some sort of program already in place that would work fine for you.

timbercruiser · 01-02-2005, 05:30 PM

Not sure that a forestry student is the right approach. Are there any local universities that have wildlife management majors in your area? I know in the south Mississippi State and Auburn have that type program and they do a lot of whitetail research. Great idea though, maybe you could have both a forestry student and a wildlife management student working on your land. A Google search should help.

Dan O. · 01-02-2005, 06:21 PM

Duckwhacker; after my daughter finished her university course in environemntal forestry she put in a work term with out west with a lumber company doing assessments, etc. Her university doesn't have a practical requirement like some courses do to show that they can put into practice what they learn.

The biggest cost with be the plant stock, equipment and labour. You may find a grad or senior that's interested but you'll need to budget those other expenses into the project.

Dan O.

duckwhacker · 01-02-2005, 08:10 PM

Hey guys, thanks for the input. I know tha Penn State has a pretty good forestry school. I'll have to check the wildlife management portion though. I really just want the advice and I'll do the physical labor. I figured it may help a student land a job if he/she can show that they put that book knowledge to practical use.
Years ago I did this for a recent elementary education grad that watched our children while my wife and I worked. She laid out lesson plans and taught the children while she was watching them. I wrote her a glowing letter of recommendation and she had the documentation that showed she knew how to teach. She is now a 3rd grade teacher in our school disrtict and has children of her own. The experince really helped her.

BrutalAttack · 01-03-2005, 04:25 PM

You need to clarify what exactly you want done on your land. If you want advice on how to log it and specs etc you want a forestry or forest products person. If you want advice on how the loggin will effect wildlife habitat you should probably want a wildlife or ecology student, or maybe convservation biology. I'm a wildlife graduate and I can tell you we didn't learn a whole lot about logging techniques etc but we can assess the prospective effects of logging from a wildlife standpoint.