Biologist Paul Larson from the Iron River National Fish Hatchery takes the "driving" portion of the exam to become certified to operate a forklift. - Photo Credit: USFWS

The class waits for their turn for seat time on the forklift, skidsteer, or agricultural tractor. - Photo Credit: USFWS

April 2013 marked a hallmark event for the staff at the Iron River National Fish Hatchery. The hatchery hosted a region-wide heavy equipment training session for service employees on forklift, skid steer and agricultural tractor.

Prior to the three-day session, students were to complete the appropriate training on DOI Learn. The training consisted of classroom instruction on policy, safety, and tie down procedures with practical examinations, followed by hands-on demonstrations with a detailed walk around of each piece of equipment. The final phase for certification was the successful completion of the one-hour driver’s test.

While Iron River boasts two forklifts, two tractors and a bobcat, an additional forklift with a boom was brought in for seat time. Concurrent sessions where run with students alternating between classroom sessions and seat time. The hatchery library was turned into a lecture hall and several obstacle courses were set up on hatchery grounds. Piles of snow were used to simulate loading a dump truck and pallets of fish food were available for forklift certifiers to transport and stack.

The hatchery was excited to be able to host an important training session such as this. We would like to thank Dale Pitman and all of the instructors for all the hard work that was put into making the event possible and successful.