{"id":23812,"date":"2025-01-30T01:10:12","date_gmt":"2025-01-30T08:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/pcc-southwest-to-offer-introductory-forestry-and-fire-mitigation-classes-again-in-2025\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T22:42:57","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:42:57","slug":"pcc-southwest-to-offer-introductory-forestry-and-fire-mitigation-classes-again-in-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/pcc-southwest-to-offer-introductory-forestry-and-fire-mitigation-classes-again-in-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"PCC Southwest to offer introductory forestry and fire mitigation classes again in 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pueblo
Pueblo Community College Southwest will be offering two introductory forestry classes in February, as well as its Wildland Fire Academy in June. (Journal file photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Pueblo Community College Southwest again will offer forestry classes at its Mancos campus, citing growing workforce demand in these areas.<\/p>\n

The two forestry classes, Foundations of Forestry and Forestry Field Techniques, will start on Monday, Feb. 17. The college\u2019s Wildland Fire Academy will be held June 2-7.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese classes will prepare people for high-demand careers in which people can serve their communities by stewarding our natural resources,\u201d said Laurel Smerch, coordinator of natural resources at PCC.<\/p>\n

The forestry classes are funded through the Forestry and Wildfire Mitigation Workforce Development grant, which the school also received for these classes last year.<\/p>\n

Each class will have a capacity of 25 students, and any adult with a high school diploma is able to register. High school students can also participate.<\/p>\n

\u201cHigh school students as young as 14 can take these classes as a way to get a head start on college,\u201d Smerch said.<\/p>\n

Interested high school students will be required to work with PCC\u2019s Go!Zone, concurrent enrollment staff and their high school to register.<\/p>\n

Smerch added that individuals who are interested in an outdoor, nonprofit land or wildlife conservation career would find a great \u201cstarting point\u201d in these courses. She added that programs like these can lead to a plethora of career paths and opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome industries and job types that this program can lead to include forest products, timber, manufacturing, fire mitigation, forestry technicians, private forest management and land use consulting. There are also natural resource agencies at all levels, local, state, federal and tribal, that need workers,\u201d Smerch said.<\/p>\n

Smerch also noted that forestry programs can teach students how to steward public land and natural resources, which also contributes to public safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would imagine that with the wildfires in Los Angeles going on, there would be folks thinking about how we can better manage our natural resources,\u201d Smerch said. \u201cLand stewardship is a matter of public safety and infrastructure. This program could be an essential starting\u00a0point if this is something you want to dedicate your career to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Foundations of Forestry will teach students the \u201cprinciples of forest science, ecology, tree identification, forest fire behavior\u201d and more, while Forestry Field Techniques will \u201cfocus on technician-level skills such as forestry surveying, navigation, GPS software\u201d and other aspects.<\/p>\n

The Wildland Fire Academy, which will be held in June, will teach the skills students need to apply for a red card and work as a wildland firefighter.<\/p>\n

More information about the classes can be found by contacting Smerch at laurel.smerch@pueblocc.edu<\/a> or by calling (970) 564-6218.<\/p>\n

Registration and financial aid information questions can be directed to gozonemancos@pueblocc.edu<\/a> or by calling PCC\u2019s Mancos campus at (970) 564-6201.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

classes are open to adults with high school diplomas and high school students<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23813,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[156,21,44,155,2487,28,83,29,572,691],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-23812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-adult-education","tag-cortez","tag-dolores","tag-education","tag-forestry-and-timber","tag-headlines","tag-mancos","tag-newsletter","tag-pueblo-community-college","tag-pueblo-community-college-southwest-campus"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23812"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78273,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23812\/revisions\/78273"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23813"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23812"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=23812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}