Moultrie Tech's Walk on the Wild Side
Begins January in Tifton
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With help from MTC Vice President of Economic Development, Dr. Shawn Utley, right, Moultrie Technical College’s new Wildlife and Plantation Management instructor Tyler Clemons, left, takes a sample from a plantation-cut pine tree on the site of the program’s hands-on outdoor laboratory on Perdue Road in Tifton. |
More than 100 acres of donated property on Perdue Road in Tift County will see academic action in January, thanks in part to Moultrie Technical College’s (MTC) new Wildlife and Plantation Management program.
The on-site laboratory environment, appraised at close to $600,000, was a gift to the Moultrie Tech Foundation, Inc. from Tifton’s Clarence Smith in December 2007 and is the Foundation’s largest gift to date.
According to Dr. Shawn Utley, MTC vice president of economic development, “It has plantation-cut pines, a small pasture, rolling hills, ridges, a creek that runs through it…it has all the habitat you would need to have a wildlife program on it. It is a unique place that will allow us to take the program just about any direction we want to go.”
The college has already added storage facilities on the property for the program equipment. A mobile classroom will soon be added as a permanent fixture on the property.
Utley stated that the college conducted a needs assessment survey and determined that there is a call for training for recreational hunting and fishing professionals in the areas of basic forestry, management, habitat maintenance and policy.
Utley says the Wildlife and Plantation Management program is designed to provide skills to the hunting plantation and wildlife organization workforce in the four-county service area of Colquitt, Tift, Turner and Worth.
However, MTC Executive Vice President Jim Glass says the program is only one of two diploma programs among technical colleges in the state of Georgia and could provide graduates to hunting plantations across the region and state. Ogeechee Technical College in Statesboro also offers the program.
Glass touts the earning potential for a graduate of the program as well. “A graduate could expect to earn up to $30,000 in the first year of employment,” he said, adding that many plantations also provide housing, insurance and utilities for their employees. “We feel like we can create a lot of opportunity for our students through this program.”
With courses such as introduction to wildlife management, forest soils, equipment operation, maintenance and safety, and wildlife policy and law, the diploma program can be completed within two years, or six to eight quarters.
Glass says additional courses scheduled will cover global positioning systems, terrestrial ecology, guiding techniques including both canine and equine, client marketing, and dendrology, also known as the study of trees and shrubs.
Utley stated that the long range goals for the program include further development of an automated irrigation systems technical certificate of credit, adding that this goes hand-in-hand with wildlife management in an agricultural setting.
Tyler Clemons of Fitzgerald has recently been hired as the first Wildlife and Plantation Management instructor at Moultrie Tech. As for his aspirations for the new academic venture, “I would like to see the program grow to a place where we have to get more instructors and start a forestry degree program.”
He added that he hopes to include aquaculture in the list of course offerings if the college builds a pond or lake on the 15-acre footprint on the donated property. Aquaculture would cover such areas as commercial and recreational fish production.
Clemons holds both Bachelor of Science and Master degrees in forest resources from the University of Georgia. While a student at UGA in Athens, Clemons was awarded the Outstanding Senior in Wildlife Award and was an officer in the UGA Wildlife Society. He is a member of the Georgia Trappers Association, the Xi Sigma Pi Honors Society and the Society of American Foresters.
He is also certified as a Master Timber Harvester and in areas such as riflery, ATV safety and power saw skills.
His professional credentials include working for the United States Forest Service as a member of field research teams, as a research and teaching assistant at the UGA Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, as a geographic information systems forester with LandMark Systems in Tallahassee, Florida, and as a sustainable forestry initiative forester with Southern Veneer Products in Fitzgerald.
Clemons will begin teaching in the new program when Moultrie Tech’s winter quarter classes convene on Friday, January 9.
Glass added that students must be at least 16 years old, have a high school diploma or GED, and meet the minimum COMPASS or ASSET exam score requirements.
Students entering the program will also be required to complete certain core classes such as English, mathematics, introduction to microcomputers and employability skills courses. All of the core classes are offered on campus in Moultrie, Tifton and Ashburn as well as online and can be taken in conjunction with the Wildlife Management program courses.
Most program applicants will qualify for Georgia’s HOPE Grant and additional financial assistance to help with college tuition, books and fees.
Late registration for winter quarter will be held from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, January 7.
For more information on the Wildlife and Plantation Management program, contact Tyler Clemons at (229) 391-2620 or the MTC Tifton Campus admissions office at (229) 391-2600.
