A look at Southern Oregon’s non-logging forestry workforce

When we talk about forestry jobs in Oregon, you might automatically think of logging. But there are countless other roles in the industry, including planting trees after a forested area has been clear cut to   thinning the understory for wildfire management. As recently reported by Jefferson Public Radio, that workforce has evolved from worker cooperatives of the late 1960s to largely immigrant contractors, known as “pineros,” which we see today. JPR reporter Justin Higginbottom joins us to talk more about his deep dive into this side of the forestry industry and how it’s changed over the last 50 years.