FORT KENT – Officials at the University of Maine at Fort Kent believe their plans to offer a forest management concentration within the business management major starting this fall will offer students more educational opportunities and keep them in the region.

The forest management concentration within the business management baccalaureate degree program will permit a student to complete the associate of science degree in forest technology, while also enabling students to complete a bachelor of science degree in business management. Both degrees can be completed in four years.

The forestry background will equip graduates with forestry management and field skills, while the business training provides a foundation in business, personnel management and other important business management skills.

UMFK officials said the baccalaureate degree allows graduates greater advancement opportunities within many forestry companies.

“This is something that we heard we needed from the students and employers in the area,” Dave Hobbins, professor of forestry and environmental studies at UMFK, said Tuesday. Hobbins also is the forest management concentration coordinator. “We needed a baccalaureate program because in the past the closest one was at the University of Maine in Orono. Our students said they wanted to be able to have the opportunity to stay here and pursue their education.”

Hobbins added that in the state, the forest industry is actively seeking new foresters, especially those with a baccalaureate degree.

At this point, UMFK graduates are sought for positions as foresters, forest rangers, forest technicians and for positions in forest operations, he said.

Richard Cost, president of UMFK, said he was pleased to see the creation of the forest management concentration.

“The forest industry is a mainstay of the economy in northern Maine, and it also is a key to so many things that we do here at UMFK,” he said. “Graduates of the forest management concentration will play a big role in forestry’s future contributions to the local and regional economies and in preserving the wilderness that we all enjoy so much.”

For information about the program, call the UMFK Admissions Office at 888-879-8635.

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