Date:     12/10/02
Contact:  Eric Flemming (864) 656-0606; erikf@clemson.edu
Writer:   Susan Bedingfield (864) 656-3876; sbeding@clemson.edu

Clemson will offer 
forestry/harvesting workshops 

	COLUMBIA   Timber harvesting professionals and landowners in 
South Carolina will have three opportunities over the beginning 
months of 2003 to attend educational workshops.
	Clemson Extension is offering the South Carolina Forestry 
Association Timber Operations Professional (TOP) Refresher workshop in 
conjunction with the Streamside Management workshop. 
 	All programs will be held at the South Carolina Forestry 
commission Headquarters in Columbia. 
	Registration is required for both programs. The fee for each 
workshop is $125, which includes lunch and classroom materials. 
     	The TOP refresher workshop is one day and will cover a variety 
of topics from sustainable forestry updates to trends in business 
management. The workshop starts at 8 a.m. and runs until 4 p.m., and 
will be held Jan. 7, Jan 14, and Feb. 11.
     The Streamside Management Zones (SMZs) workshop is also one day 
from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. It will be held Jan. 8, Jan 15, and Feb. 12.
     SMZs are areas of vegetation adjacent to both sides of a stream or
surrounding other areas of open water. It is the cornerstone of South
Carolina's Best Management Practices for Forestry, used to improve 
water quality from harvesting operations located in one of the eight 
priority watersheds in the state.
     The SMZs workshop is part of collaboration with the U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency and the South Carolina Department of 
Health and Environmental Control. The workshop is funded through the 
Section 319 grant from the Clean Water Act. 
	The TOP program is a collaboration of Clemson Extension, South 
Carolina Forestry commission, South Carolina Forestry Association and 
the Forestry Industry. 
     Forest industries in South Carolina require that loggers meet the
American Forest and Paper Association's Sustainable Forestry Initiative 
(SFI)training guidelines. 
	To be recognized as fully SFI Trained, you must complete all 
three days of the TOP Program, the Refresher workshop and maintain 12 
hours of SFI approved continuing education every three years.
	For more information, contact Erik Flemming at (864) 656-0606 
or register online at 
http://www.clemson.edu/extfor/courses/onlineregistration.htm. 
                              END