Students from Michael Floretta’s class at O’Hara Catholic School paused to pose at the end of their ‘tour’ of the Outdoor Equipment Show at the 72nd Oregon Logging Conference held in February.
Students learn about the machinery used in today's harvest operations during the equipment show..
Board members Bill Wynkoop and Danny Bivens at the FT&F exhibitor booth during the recent Oregon Logging Conference.
Talk About Trees facilitator Val Kime teaches about trees and the many products they provide.
For many years Oregon Women in Timber, Forests Today & Forever and the Oregon Forest Resource Institute have partnered annually to provide hundreds of local fourth and fifth grade students with an educational tour of the Oregon Logging Conference (OLC), held each year at the Lane County Fairgrounds in Eugene.
This year, more than 675 students were scheduled to “travel” to the OLC, where the tiny tourists would have learned a little about our state’s timbered past, its present and its future. But, for the first time in the program’s history, the tours — and area schools – were cancelled due to heavy snow.
In 2012, we are again inviting Lane County fourth and fifth graders to take “the tour” on Thursday, Feb. 22, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information, please contact Program Coordinator LaRae Ash at (541)767-9078 or by emailing coordinator@foreststodayandforever.org.
Adding to the lessons, professional foresters give the students a glimpse into their role in utilizing and protecting our woodlands, while providing an up-close and personal look at the tools of the trade. The foresters talk about their daily duties and share their cruiser’s vest with its compass, clinometer, D-tape, increment borer, maps, aerial photos — and of course — the essential rain gear and heavy caulked boots.
The field trip concludes with a tour of the outdoor equipment show, where students learn about some of the scientific and technological innovations that are used in the practice of forestry today. The “tourists” get to examine the massive logging equipment, see chainsaw artists at work and watch a logger scale a tall tree. One year, when the wide-eyed youngsters were asked what they thought one particularly huge piece of equipment might cost, the guesses ranged from “a quarter” to $900,000!
Our goal in presenting this program is to further understanding of sustainable forest management and its practice, while fostering appreciation for one of our abundant natural resources. This program is particularly pertinent to classes studying the state of Oregon, its history and its resources. It is free of charge and transportation costs are reimbursed for participating schools.
To further its mission of promoting forest stewardship through education, Forests Today & Forever also hosts an exhibitor's booth at the conference. We provide the visiting public with information on our goals, our programs and some of the main issues facing the public and the forest sector in the coming years.
The next Oregon Logging Conference will take place on Feb. 22-25, 2012. For more information, or to reserve space, please contact Program Coordinator LaRae Ash at 541-767-9078.