What is the Forest Service Training and who needs it?
The United States Forest Service (USFS) has had a long-standing Saw Program that provides direction on qualification requirements, as well as training, evaluation, and certification standards for Forest Service employees, volunteers, volunteer partner groups, and cooperator organizations using saws under an agreement on National Forest Service, (NFS) lands.
Up until 10 years ago, their requirements and techniques were quite different from Soren Eriksson’s Game of Logging’s chainsaw techniques. The Forest Service, having seen more and more sawyers using GOL techniques out west, asked David Birdsall of Northeast Woodland Training and Tim Ard of Forest Applications Inc. to join the USFS National Chainsaw Technical Advisory Group (TAG) to demonstrate the GOL techniques. After that session, David Birdsall joined the TAG for a week of trainings for four summers.
The USFS saw the benefits of GOL’s tree felling techniques and training system. The US Forest Service is not a Game of Logging training organization – yet from the Game of Logging curriculum, they created OHLEC – Objective, Hazards, Leans, Escape Route, Cutting Plan. Their training is called OHLEC, or DTS: Developing a Thinking Sawyer.
Who needs this USFS classification training? As stated above, Forest Service employees, volunteers for the USFS, volunteer partner groups, and cooperator organizations using saws on National Forest Service lands.
Northeast Woodland Training Instructors have all been certified by the USFS to provide this DTS course.
Our DTS training will be our normal Levels 1&2 that have been slightly modified to meet specific FS qualifications, and a third day for field proficiency evaluation using the FS Evaluation Form. Meeting the requirements of the FS Developing a Thinking Sawyer course and viewing some PowerPoint presentations will earn the participant the appropriate qualifications to work on FS lands, as well as receiving a Game of Logging Certification.