We need access to work on agency land for our small contractors. We need education dollars for training in value-added processing. Traditional forest work is about productivity and extraction. Restoration work is about analysis and precise repair. A restoration worker needs a very broad range of skills, from landscape analysis, to data collection and analysis, to restoration practices including habitat rehabilitation, road improvements and obliteration, riparian rehabilitation and monitoring.
Restoration often takes specialized, low impact equipment.
Restoration forestry is very labor intensive and therefore, very costly. Costs could be lowered through some mechanization, but without constancy of work no business can capitalize even a small investment. Training programs are only possible if the agencies allow the use of some of their projects for training purposes. Other partners like Small Business Development Centers can provide business training, but fieldwork preparation can only happen if you DO field work. Today the perceived cuts by the administration in next years National Fire Plan budgets is hampering the implementation of this years program, which focuses mainly on hiring suppression crews.