SWEET HOME — Scio High School senior Jimmie Fotopoulos plans to attend Wyoming Technical Institute to study heavy equipment mechanics next fall.

Wednesday morning, Fotopoulos, who already has a part-time job on an area dairy farm, shared stories with potential future employer Barte Starker, co-owner of Starker Forests Inc., and forestry engineer Kevin VanCleave during a forestry careers breakfast held at the Skyline Inn.

Forestry students from Sweet Home, Scio and Philomath were among the nearly 60 people who attended the program sponsored by mid-valley chapters of the Society of American Foresters. On hand were owners and managers of several hundred thousand acres of forest lands in the mid-valley. They talked about their careers and shared their love of forestry with their future replacements.

Benton County timber manager Marvin Rowley, a 1950 Oregon State University forestry graduate and 2003 Outstanding Alumnus Award recipient, told the young people, “We live in the best timber growing area in the world. There’s still a good future in forestry. We will be in the driver’s seat when the economy turns around.”

There are many high-paying career opportunities within the forest industry, the students learned. A few of the careers mentioned were: forestry engineering — building roads and structures within forest lands; timber sale planning; inventory — cruising timberland to determine board feet and tree growth; watershed management; information technology and geographic information systems; and marketing.

Rick Fletcher with the OSU Extension Service said forestry careers carry with them a “sense of legacy” because what foresters do today will impact future generations.

Peter Matzka, education specialist for the Oregon Forest Resources Institute, has been visiting area high school classes this week with a Careers in Forestry program.

The goal, Matzka said, is to help students learn about high-tech forest sector jobs.