Students Look Forward to Careers in Timber Harvest & Forest Regeneration
By Craig Reed
Jake Gerrard and Isaac Cherry are young men with similar career goals in the forestry industry. Both want careers in forest management: seeing trees planted, grown, harvested, and replanted in the area.
Jake and Issac are students at Oregon State University in Corvallis. Jake expects to graduate in June with a bachelor’s degree in forest management. Isaac is on track to earn his degree in June 2025.
“I’m looking forward to being able to see the work I’ve done over the years turn into stands of tall trees again,” Jake says.
“To see a harvest, then replanting, and then be tall by the time I retire is my hope.”
Both students were exposed to forestry at young ages. Jake’s grandmother, Nancy Benzel, is a small woodland owner. As a teenager, Jake helped maintain her forest by backpack spraying invasive weeds, limbing trees, keeping fences up to keep cattle out of the young tree stands, and keeping roads cleared.
Jake graduated from North Douglas High School in 2020 and enrolled in the 2-year forestry program at Umpqua Community College. He earned an associate degree in forest management in 2022 and transferred to OSU.
Isaac’s first exposure to forestry also came as a teenager. On several occasions, he rode with Luke Harris—his brother-in-law and a contract timber cruiser for Roseburg Forest Products.
Isaac was a dual-credit home-school and Umpqua Community College student during his high school years. To fulfill a science requirement, he took a dendrology class at UCC. Dendrology is the study of trees and other woody plants, such as shrubs and vines.
“It just happened to fit in my schedule,” Isaac says of the class that helped spark his interest and led to him entering UCC’s 2-year forestry program. “Forestry seemed to be something I was good at and could enjoy for a career.”
Isaac transitioned to OSU last fall. In addition to classroom work, summer jobs have given Jake and Isaac a taste of the forestry industry. Jake worked for a roadbuilding company during his high school and UCC summers, running equipment used to build logging roads.
Isaac worked 1 summer at a sawmill in Roseburg. “I figured knowing how a mill operates would be educational and helpful for me with a career in forestry,” Isaac says. “It’s all connected.”
While at UCC, both students applied for and received internships for summer jobs at Lone Rock Timber in Roseburg. Their work included surveying the number of trees per acre, measuring survival and studying the impact of vegetation and wildlife on the trees. They also surveyed stream buffers.
“We learned the importance of precise planning and execution of the timber inventory, how the tree inventory drives management of forests,” Isaac says. “The internship drove home for me that forestry was something I could enjoy and do as a career.”
Jake hopes to return to central Douglas County after graduation in June and secure a job in the private forestry industry. “Working in silviculture is my ultimate goal,” he says.
Silviculture is the science of growing and harvesting forest crops to meet the needs of timber production.
“The rules are changing every year, but at the end of the day I just want to see timber harvests, regeneration of the forest, and then timber stands that can eventually be harvested again,” Jake says.
He plans to continue to help his grandmother manage her small woodland stand of trees. Before his graduation in 2025, Isaac will have the opportunity to learn about another aspect of forest management. This summer, he will learn to fly drones commercially to survey the health of young stands of trees and aerial spraying with drones.
Like Jake, Isaac anticipates working for a private timber company after graduation. “I feel there are more diverse opportunities in private industry,” he says. “I love silviculture and forest management. Trees are a huge resource. I want to help realize them to their full extent and then help with the regeneration of our forests.”