Chainsaw safety classes

Chainsaw Safety Certification courses are returning to Cattaraugus County in 2026!

Training will be conducted by Bill Lindloff’s ProCuts through Game of Logging and hosted by CCE Cattaraugus. Each class is a full day of hands-on experience and will be held at the Pierce Whitney Forest in Machias, NY. 

Level 1 will focus on basic maintenance for chainsaw users:

• Safe felling
• Notching and bore-cut methods for property management/tree removal
• Cutting a tree under tension
• Limbing and bucking and other techniques for handling a tree in less-than-ideal situations.
• Participants will perform various cuts and notches and take down trees.

All classes are open to the public and are appropriate for wood lot owners, people who use chainsaws through their work and volunteers who assist in clean-up projects. 

Participants are required to wear protective equipment and provide their own lunch during each course.

Select one of the two days offered: 

Register for May 27 - $170 per day/participant
https://reg.cce.cornell.edu/Chainsaw1May27_2026_258

Register for May 28 - $170 per day/participant
https://reg.cce.cornell.edu/Chainsaw1May28_2026_258

“I attended the Game of Logging Levels I & II trainings with Bill Lindloff’s ProCuts hosted by Cattaraugus County Cornell Cooperative Extension. Lindloff was a great trainer who provided every participant with hands-on training experience felling live, standing trees. Lindloff also took the time to have each member take chainsaw apart, service, and put chainsaw back together properly and demonstrated how to sharpen the chain by hand, extending its lifespan. By learning proper felling techniques, I feel that I am a safer and more confident woodsman. 

The knowledge I acquired from these trainings I have applied in my professional career where I work as a District Technician with the Cattaraugus County Soil & Water Conservation District and my personal life as I frequently spend time in the woods cutting firewood, cleaning trails, and being a steward of the land. I can confidently say that Cattaraugus County Cornell Cooperative Extension’s Game of Logging training with Bill Lindloff was the most informative, hands-on educational courses I have taken in my career thus far. I look forward to taking advanced level classes. I would recommend any woodsman to attend these trainings.” 

--Tyler Paar