The NH SFI Implementation Committee’s support and endorsement of the New Hampshire Professional Loggers Program (PLP) advances three SFI principles,
- Responsible fiber sourcing
- Legal Compliance
- Training and Education
PLP is a voluntary certification program open to anyone employed in the harvesting of timber, including trucking. Initial PLP certification requires 32 hours of course work in a two-year period. See Current PLP workshop offerings, or the directory of PLP certified loggers.
To become certified loggers, equipment operators, and others engaged in logging must attend four workshops (8 hours each).
Note: For truckers, a Safe Trucking course is added, substituting for Safe and Productive Felling. For mechanized logging contractors, the Mechanized Harvesting class can be substituted for Safe and Productive Felling.
Initial certification is for four years. First aid/CPR is required every two years NH PLP offers additional courses that qualify for continuing education credits. These include, Advanced Felling, Advanced First Aid, Best Management Practices, Managing for Wildlife, Forest of Exceptional Conservation Value, and others. In addition, we offer classes for landowners that may also qualify for PLP recertification.
We estimate 70% of the wood harvested in New Hampshire comes from operations that have fully trained loggers or foresters overseeing the operation. By that estimate, over 2.4 million tons of forest products are harvested annually in New Hampshire by fully trained loggers.
