ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 (COVID) pandemic affected nearly every aspect of higher education. It has been particularly disruptive to forest operations courses that rely heavily on field experiences. Dodson and Blinn (2021) surveyed US forest operations instructors at four-year institutions granting SAF-accredited forestry degrees to understand how they rapidly modified courses during spring 2020 to accommodate a move to fully remote instruction. Through an online survey and interviews, a follow-up study was conducted to understand how courses were modified when instructors had time to prepare and what, if any, of those modifications are likely to be retained upon a return to in-person instruction. Two main themes emerged from the survey and interviews: instructors will expand the range of tools and methods used to convey course content, and they have a renewed respect for the importance of field experience and personal interactions.
ABSTRACT
A survey of businesses that provide a variety of forest management services indicated the importance of H-2B guest workers in performing important tasks which facilitate management and sustainability of forest resources in the United States.Those workers accomplish a wide variety of tasks with tree planting being most common. Although the positions filled by those workers are first made available to US workers at government-mandated wage rates, few apply. Businesses reported that it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to secure all of their guest visas to fulfill their contacts. Although former President Donald J. Trump's proclamation on June 22, 2020, suspending entry of workers with H-2B visas, would have resulted in approximately one million acres not being reforested by respondents in 2020, a National Interest Exemption process provided a reprieve through the end of 2020. A long-term solution is needed to ensure that there are enough H-2B workers available to continue providing these important services.