McCreary County has three lumber yards and 29 active certified Master Loggers. During the Covid-19 Pandemic, I was able to provide continuing education training to 14 Master Loggers in collaboration with McCreary Hardwoods. Since March of 2020, the McCreary Extension Office has not been permitted to use our rented facility for in-person programming. McCreary Hardwoods generously offered their meeting room to accommodate any Master Logger who needed continuing education training in order to renew their certifications, whether they were directly employed with the lumber yard or not. Their meeting room was large enough to space everyone at the appropriate distance of six feet apart, and maintain the health and safety of all participants. With the use of their facility, McCreary County was able to be a host county for the Logger WebTV program in February which provided six continuing education credits to all attendees who completed the program. I provided the technology setup so that everyone could have an active and engaging program while also being virtual, and I provided aid in completing all paperwork and getting licenses renewed in a timely manner. All reviews were positive, and all 14 loggers in attendance are now renewed for three years. 

The Kentucky Master Logger WebTV Program was hosted in 30 Kentucky County Offices spread out throughout Kentucky to reduce drive time and travel for the logging workforce by providing relevant and timely information delivered close to home. All of the content was delivered live from the UK Forestry and Natural Resources Departments Webinar Studio housed in the Thomas Poe Cooper Building on Campus and streamed to the 30 participating county offices. 376 Master Loggers were dispersed throughout the 30 participating county offices in strict masked and distanced protocol to county office covid-capacity limits allowing the loggers to recieve their mandatory 6 hrs of continuing education to maintain their Master Logger Designation. This took extensive time and communication to generate, film and prepare the technical content for delivery in the program as well as coordination with the county agents participating to ensure that the program ran properly and to the strict guidance's required to put on this program and protect the safety of participants. I want to thank the county agents that participated to ensure that the loggers in our communities can remain legal and operational within accordance to the Kentucky Forest Conservation Act KRS 149.330 to 149.355. The master logger program requires the continuing ed programs to be proctored and delivered face to face which required strict masking and distancing to participate. Feedback from the Loggers indicated that this was program was successful and even somewhat enjoyable to listen to for a continuing education program. One participant said " The content and segments were great, this was the best master logger program I have attended in all my years going to these." Another participant said that they could hear better during this program as there were fewer people in the room due to the capacity limits allowing them to hear better. The logging workforce is critical in the harvest of private woodland owners forests and accomplishing their land management objectives as well as supporting the forest sectors $14 billion economic contribution.