Wisconsin's Lieutenant Governor was crossing the state this week talking about the Walker administration budget.
Rebecca Kleefisch told the Great Lakes Timber Professionals Association in Green Bay that their industry is a heavyweight in Wisconsin's economy....
"....they have a $22.9 billion impact on Wisconsin's economy and they support 59,000 Wisconsin jobs...."
It's the third largest growing industry in Wisconsin.
Kleefisch says those figures aside, timber professionals are concerned...like other sectors of business.... about what is called the 'silver tsunami' of Baby Boomers about to retire. She says the timber professionals told Kleefisch they need a training program beyond what is currently being offered...
"...and so what I think we are going to see is getting more forestry programming and education both into K-12 and perhaps one of our technical colleges...."
Timber products are the third largest growing industry in Wisconsin.
