Pacific Forest Foundation “This is My Office” Recruitement DVD Wins The Telly Award

The Story of “This is My Office!”

The Pacific Logging Congress and its Pacific Forest Foundation have a long history of involvement in educational projects designed to assist loggers, foresters and the public.

When PLC was founded in 1909, its main missions were logger safety and logging camp sanitation – critically important goals that put the newly minted organization at the educational forefront in the lumber industry’s westward expansion. 

PLC’s members have always worked on the leading edge in the evolution of both logging and reforestation methods. They continue to embrace new ideas and new technologies, and to encourage regulations that protect the environment and ensure the long-term productivity of the Pacific Northwest’s great forests.  

“This is My Office!” is the latest in a long line of educational tools the storied logging congress has produced over the last 100 years. Its purpose is to encourage young people to consider careers in logging and forestry, two challenging fields that offer a wealth of opportunity for young men and women who love the environment and don’t mind getting their hands dirty every day.

The project got underway in 2007 under the leadership of PLC President, Jim Petersen. Petersen, who was also the co-founder of the non-profit Evergreen Foundation, was only the second journalist in PLC history to serve as president. The first was George Cornwall, a PLC founder and publisher of The Timberman, an early industry trade journal.

At their first planning meeting, PLC’s Board of Directors made a fortuitous decision: to hire the best filmmaker their money could buy. They hired Bob Perna, a 20-year-veteran whose credentials include Billy Graham’s televised ministry. Among his other clients: Bank of America, Hewlett Packard and Wyeth.

But Perna had never filmed the logging industry before, so he spent weeks discussing his ideas with PLC members – all of them novices in the big time world of film and digital technology. The result is “This is My Office!” a fast moving DVD that bridges the gap between leading edge technology and an industry whose roots are biblical.

“I remember telling Bob that he would be very surprised by the level of sophistication he would encounter in the logging industry,” Petersen later recalled. “And I recall telling our members that I didn’t care if the youngsters who appeared in our DVD had long hair and rings in their ears. In fact, I said I thought it might help us reach the next generation in a way we’ve never reached them before. Bob did a spectacular job for us.”

Perna premiered “This is My Office!” at PLC’s 100th anniversary celebration in Palm Springs, California in November of 2009. Both he and his project got a well-deserved standing ovation. In turn, Perna had high praise for the organization’s vision.
“PLC and their Pacific Forest Foundation deserve a lot of credit for recognizing the pressing need to recruit a new work force,” Perna said. “They defined exactly who they wanted to reach and they found a way to visually speak to the next generations of loggers and foresters who will work in the west’s forests. This is a good story – and thanks to PLC’s vision – it’s well told.”

“This is My Office!” was filmed on location in northern California, western Oregon and Washington and British Columbia. DVD’s are available free of charge to educational organizations from the Pacific Logging Congress. It can also be downloaded from several Internet venues including the non-profit Evergreen Foundation, the PLC-Pacific Forest Foundation and YouTube.