As my second summer of working for Starker Forests as an intern has come to an end, I am once again grateful for how great the summer has been.
After learning much hands-on forestry knowledge used in the field last summer, it was great to come back and expand on it this year.
As someone who didn’t come from a forestry family, I could not have asked for a better way to learn everything I’ll need to use in my future within forestry.
One of the best things about working as an intern for Starker has been the amount of time and effort all the foresters put into training the interns and the fact that they value the data we provide for them in return.
We were told from the start of the summer that the data we collect is directly used for management decision and it’s very cool knowing that we’ve all had a small impact on Starker Forest lands. Being able to see firsthand how a smaller company like Starker manages land has been very interesting to me, and I’ve enjoyed seeing all the ways management decisions revolve around every aspect of maintaining healthy forests.
If you are somebody reading this who is looking for an internship in the future, or know someone else who is, I highly recommend pursuing an internship with Starker Forests as they will put in the time and effort to train you properly and show you a broad range of the jobs that foresters do.
As for where I go from here, I am about to start my final year in the Oregon State Forest Engineering program. I am very excited to graduate next year knowing that my time at school and two summers working for Starker have prepared me well for my future endeavors.
I’d like to give one final thank you to everyone at Starker Forests for all the teaching and advice these last few summers and I cannot wait to use it all in the future.
– Andrew Prom