The American Forestry division is an institution to which I can relate and am very interested in after developing a passion for forestry growing up on my family’s timber farm in rural east Germany. There is a stark difference between the approaches towards forestry in Germany and the US, particularly among those involved in the American Forestry division and the German “Waldbehörde”. Changing the mentality within an institution towards an industry as big as forestry is an extremely difficult task, however, I believe that by following the lead of a country that has arguably got “it” right – the US could learn a whole host of more sustainable and efficient approaches. My primary approach to transforming the Forestry division would be through the use of social media campaigns, with the hope of promoting the prestige of forestry as a degree. Part of the problem that manifests itself today across the country is that forestry is a degree that is not taken seriously by a large enough percentage of the population, not due to a lack of care and appreciation for nature, but because of a lack of well educated foresters. Increasing the number of forestry graduates could be completed through the tactical use of social media and combining it with an artistic presentation to increase the awareness of: a.) The need for foresters b.) The rewarding nature of the program and the plethora of employment opportunities thereafter.
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