Greenleaf Forestry and Wood Products, Inc.

Colorado

n/a

Qualified applicants will be physically fit, preferably have some chainsaw and carpentry experience, reliable transportation, a drivers license, and a tested ability and willingness to work in all weather and rustic conditions. Experience with heavy equipment is helpful, but not necessary. An interest in sustainable forestry and business will also be beneficial, as would a love of living and working in a small town mountain environment.

Greenleaf Forestry and Wood Products has been in business since 1994 in the Wet Mountain Valley of Southern Colorado. Our founder and forester, Len Lankford, has lived and worked here since 1975, and was one of Colorado’s pioneering private foresters. We are an integrated, full-circle forestry company, working in land management, forest landscaping, firewood sales, lumber milling on our handset circular sawmill, small cabin and furniture construction, and tree planting and transplanting. All of our work currently takes place on private land. Students will have the opportunity for frequent interaction with Len to learn and to contribute to the development of a new type of integrated and community forestry business. We are finding ways to create jobs and viable businesses that make use of the abundant natural resource we have nationwide -- small diameter timber. Instead of cutting only the largest trees in the forest, we cut what is good for the forest, mimicking the natural process and thinning to protect homes from wildfires. This work produces a mix of sizes and irregular wood, which our mill crew makes into rough lumber, logs, poles, firewood, and value-added rustic wood products.

Internship

Please send a letter of interest and resume by email as soon as possible.

Len Lankford, President and Forester

Greenleaf Forestry and Wood Products, Inc., is announcing a seasonal paid internship opportunity for two or three forestry students or graduates that offers a practical and varied learning experience. We need seasonal Forestry and Wood Manufacturing Crew Members to help in our environmentally focused rural Colorado company.

The forestry work involves manual labor using chainsaws and other logging machinery and hand equipment. We welcome both graduate and undergraduate students, and offer experience and training in the most basic parts of all forestry businesses – applied and practical forest management planning, project layout, tree selection, cutting, wood removal, and slash treatment, along with equipment operations. Tree planting and transplanting may be included seasonally.

We also round out an integrated forestry experience with wood product breakdown in our sawmill/ pole peeler facility and with value-added secondary product creation and marketing, and match the work with student interests as much as possible. See our website for other internships and apprenticeships. All of our forestry work is done in a sustainable manner, much of it for either forest health or wildfire hazard mitigation. Forestry student crewmembers will learn how to perform and help manage this work, and will have the opportunity with experience to advance to crew leaders with demonstrated ability. The work season is variable, with 40-hour weeks and 10 to 12-week minimum in fall, spring, and summer, depending on college schedules. We have a responsible, non-smoking, drug-free work and lodging environment.

Pay is hourly and dependent on experience and demonstrated skills, starting at $8/hr.

A seasonal job with Greenleaf will also better qualify individuals for our apprenticeships and for permanent forestry jobs with others or us. Shared cooperative mountain-home lodging for single students available at $75/week.

Open until filled