Penn State Mont Alto Forestry Club

Volunteering at the Klondike Derby

2011-02-27T18:15:00.000-08:00

The forestry club volunteered at the Boy Scout Klondike Derby at the Big Springs Fish and Game Club in Newville on Saturday February 26. We judged the shelter building and fire building competitions for the 75 scouts in nine patrols attending.

Pictured after lunch were: Andy Gundlach, Mike Trisket, Zach Hetrick, Seth Morris, Dr. Linehan, Mitch Oswald, and James Baigmoradi. Not pictured is Gina Berger.

It was a great opportunity for old Scouts to give back to the cause!

Minutes from February 18 Meeting

2011-02-20T18:29:00.001-08:00

Forestry Club Meeting 2/18/11

We will be helping with the Klondike Derby for the Boy Scouts on Feb. 26th. We will helping with the fire burning event. The derby will be from 8:00 to approx. 4:00. We will be leaving from the school at 6:30 am. There will be a sign-up sheet outside Mr. Houghton's office. We need about 10 people to help with this and if you sign up you cannot back out! Mike Trisket, Adam Wentzel, and Grizz Baigmoradi will coming up with the scoring for this event. Fore more info. please see Mr. Trisket.

Fort Indiantown Gap will be doing prescribed burns throughout the month of March. If there is enough people interested we will go see one of these burns. Mr. Wakefield will be looking into a date when we can go.
We will be burning the burn pile this year and this will be on a weekend and we will need people to sit and watch the fire. More information about this will be announced later.

We are looking for people interested in visiting the Harrisburg museum to look at historic logging photos. More info on this is TBA.

The Heli-skiing talk with Mr. Houghton will be on March 1st. at 6:00. The location is TBA.

We would like to have a speaker from Pheasants of America to come speak about introducing pheasants. More info on this is TBA.

We would like to try and have a Fishing Derby sometime this spring. More info is TBA.

More info about the T-shirts is TBA.
Respectfully Submitted by
Your Forestry Club Secretary,
Zachary Hetrick

"By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail." - Ben Franklin

Minutes from February 4 meeting.

2011-02-20T18:28:00.000-08:00

Forestry Club Meeting 2/4/11

The Klondike Derby will be held on February 26th. Registration for the event will be at 8 and that is when Bruce wants us to be there. We will be helping out with the fire building and shelter building events. Each station will be 45 minutes long and there will be 3 teams of 8 kids. We will be taking the bus to the event. At the next meeting we will discuss who is going to help and more details about the event.

Tubing has been rescheduled to this Tuesday at 6:00 pm. Fore members that do not have a free pass, the Forestry club will pay for half of the ticket price and you will have to pay the other $10. There will also be 2 free passes that will be raffle off for people that are not able to come up with the money.

We will be burning the burn pile this year and this will be on a weekend and we will need people to sit and watch the fire. More information about this will be announced later.

The Heli-skiing talk will Mr. Houghton was rescheduled to Tuesday March 1st at 6:00 pm. Location TBA.

The T-shirt design was picked and more information on that will be sent out by Dr. Brantley.

Also some previous items of business:

The forestry club will be visiting the state museum in Harrisburg to view historic logging photographs. This will be on March 19th. More information is TBA.

Tyler Wakefield is looking up information about viewing a prescribed burn on the Fort Indiantown Gap property. More information on this is TBA.

And finally The Allegheny Winter SAF Meeting will be on February 16th-17th. We have picked 7 people to go to the convention and 4 are on the quiz bowl team. The 4 on the team are Mike Trisket, Derek Furry, Tyler Wakefield, and Shane Strommer. The other 3 going to the convention are Mitch Oswald, Andy Gunlach, and Zach Hetrick.

Respectfully Submitted by
Your Forestry Club Secretary,
Zachary Hetrick
Go afield with a good attitude, with respect for the wildlife you hunt and for the forests and fields in which you walk. Immerse yourself in the outdoor experience. It will cleanse your soul and make you a better person. ~Fred Bear

More Tubing

2011-02-20T18:25:00.000-08:00

This year's tubing was extremely cold. I guess it made the course faster than ever before. But what a wind!

First Forestry Club Meeting of 2011

2011-01-21T19:56:00.001-08:00

Hello everyone,

I wanted to send everyone a copy of the minutes of the meeting we had today.

Forestry Club Meeting 1/21/11

The Allegheny Winter SAF Meeting will be on February 16, 2011. Mont Alto will be sending four students to participate in the quiz bowl event. There will be try outs to see who will be participating in the quiz bowl. They will be held January 28th at 12:00 in 211 Sci/Tech. If anyone missed the meeting and would like to try out please let me know. These will be the people participating in the tryouts: Tyler, Chelsea, Nick, Andy T., Mark, Connor, Shane, Adam, Zach, Mike H., Mitch, and Mike T.

There will be a Klondike Derby on Saturday February 26th in Newville for the Boy Scouts of America. We will be helping with the events. The following people will be participating: Mike H., Mark, Andy T., Andy G., Connor, James, Mike T., Shane, Nick, Tyler, Seth, Mitch, and Adam. If you would like to participate and were not there, please let me know.

On Wednesday February 2nd at 6:30 the Forestry Club will be going to Whitetail Ski Resort to go tubing. There will be a sign up sheet outside of Mr. Houghton's office in Sci/Tech.

On March 19th we would like to go to the State museum and look at historic logging and forestry photographs. If we go on the third Saturday of the month, it will be free entry. I will put a sign up sheet outside of Mr. Houghton's office to see if we have anybody that wants to go.

We also would like to make T-shirts for the Forestry Club. Members are allowed to make their own ideas for shirts and bring them to the nest meeting so we can vote for the shirt we would like to make. The ideas for shirts will be due on February 4th (The next meeting).

Tyler also suggested that we could watch one of the prescribed burns at Fort Indiantown Gap. We will have more details on this later.

The next meeting will be on Friday February 4th at 12:00 in the Weistling Student Center.

Respectfully submitted by
Your Forestry Club Secretary,
Zachary Hetrick

Mountain Lions in Pennsylvania

2010-11-20T07:09:00.000-08:00

On Thursday, November 18, the Forestry Club hosted Tuscarora District Forester Gene Odato for a fascinating presentation on the existence of mountain lions in Pennsylvania. Gene has collected photos and prints that point to the likelihood that the big cats are here among us. The presentation and pizza dinner was sponsored by the Tau Phi Delta fraternity.

Tau Phi Delta brothers introduced Gene and gave a brief overview of fraternity life at State College for the Mont Alto foresters.

We want lions!

Gene Odato

Click here to see links to mountain lion information.

VA Update: May 19

2010-05-19T17:31:00.000-07:00

After days of not getting whimbrel in front of our traps, we finally figured out where they prefer to land for roosting during the current heights and times of high tide. Today we set up one trap at a close location to Box Tree Dock where we had seen a few whimbrel land; one trap in a high marsh area where we had seen tons of whimbrel land; and a third trap in another high marsh area where they love to land during really high tides. Throughout the morning we didnt have much action, but a pair of gull-billed terns provided entertainment.

gull-billed terns

Around 3:30pm, we had about 35 whimbrel land near one of the high marsh trap sites, but they landed out of reach of our nets and never walked in close enough for a shot before they flew. Around 4:30pm we saw birds headed for our second high marsh trap site and Fletcher, Anna, and I tookt he boat in for a closer look. It looked like some birds had landed in our trap zone, so Fletcher and Anna dropped me off at the end of the blasting wire while they took the boat around for a better angle to see the trap zone from. A few minutes later, Fletcher called me on the radio to say that it looked like 5 birds would be caught by the trap, so I charged and fired the net and we raced over in the boat, ran the 100 meters to the net, and found 3 whimbrel safely trapped uner it. We had the birds extracted within minutes and headed back to the dock. We could tell as soon as we saw the trapped birds, that we had three fat female whimbrel. This is exactly what we wanted so we could start putting satellite transmitters on them, which will track their migration northward. If they prove to be the western subspecies (Numenius phaeopus rufiventris), it will migrate from here to Alaska to breed, having already come from Brazil or another Northeastern South American country. The three birds we caught today weighed 630 grams, 555 grams, and 620 grams. The two larger birds are most likely the 3rd and 4th largest whimbrels ever banded, respectfully. The two birds over 600 grams are most likely of the western subspecies.

The first whimbrel we banded today; a large 630 gram potential female, with an unusually short bill for its size.Close-up of the 630 gram whimbrel.

Close-up of the radio transmitter we attached. These transmitters are solar powered.Whimbrel before released; note satellite transmitter.

Anna with one of the three whimbrel before releasing.

Close-up of another of the three whimbrel.
The three whimbrel being released with green Alpha-numeric tag, yellow Virginia band, USGS metal band, and satellite transmitters on all of them!

Hopefully tomorow will be just as productive and we can get some more birds banded and given radio or satellite transmitters!

Visiting a Timber Harvesting Operation

2010-05-17T19:11:00.000-07:00

On April 23, consulting forester Mike Waldron showed forestry club members a thinning operation at the Little King's Gap Hunting Club. Designed to create a wildlife opening to attract deer, to earn some income, and to prepare the site for natural regeneration, the planning of the harvest presented many options to consider. Thanks, Mike, for an interesting discussion and visit!

Below is a map of the timber harvest location. Located adjacent to Kings Gap State Park, the hunting club is near farm fields and not far from new housing developments. There shouldn't be any trouble attracting many deer.

View Visit to hunting club in a larger map

2010-05-17T16:15:00.000-07:00

During April, Penn State Forestry Students planted American chestnut and various species of hickories on a fenced plot of land on Waynesboro Reservior property in South Mountain, PA. Here are a few photos taken by Alex Lamoreaux during one of the planting days....

Academic Festival 2010

2010-05-05T15:57:00.000-07:00

Forestry students were well represented in the Penn State Mont Alto Academic Festival on April 14th. Click on the pictures to see a description of each project. The projects ranged from aspen regeneration to forest type mapping. The students are getting quite skillful with GIS to map their work.

April Events

2010-03-23T10:20:00.000-07:00

At today's (March 23) meeting of the Forestry Club we decided on the following events:

April 23 -- There will be an afternoon field trip to a hunting club property near King's Gap State Park followed by pizza!
April 24 -- We will lead tree walks in the campus arboretum for children attending the Pediatric Fair.
April 24 -- We will have an informational table for the Earth Day celebration at Caledonia State Park. This will only take two people.
April 25 -- We will volunteer for tree shelter removal in the state forest plantation near Sand Rd.

Pancake Breakfast. Yum!

2010-02-28T14:46:00.000-08:00

From Penn State Mont Alto Forestry Club

On Saturday February 27, forestry club members Tim Benedict, Sam Bond, Mike Trisket, Tyler Wakefield, and Seth Morris went to a pancake breakfast in Mount Hope. The event was to support the Strawberry Hill Nature Preserve. The members in attendance had a great time. After the breakfast we went to the Nature Preserve and hiked some of the nature trails.

Tubing

2010-02-17T07:28:00.000-08:00

With the huge amounts of snow that have fallen in the last two weeks the students were eager to try out the snow tubing at White Tail again. This year's course has a higher raised ending to prevent crashes into the fence, but the course is still fast. Check out the videos.

Burning the Woodpile

2010-02-06T05:48:00.000-08:00

From time to time the Woodsmen's Team needs to dispose of the accumulated scraps from practice. Also, students in arboriculture have pruned a lot of branches around campus. But it's important to burn the pile safely. It just so happens that this weekend the area is being hit by a huge snowstorm. No chance of the fire getting away! The team members will monitor it overnight, though.

Brush Pile Burn THIS WEEKEND!

2010-02-02T15:01:00.000-08:00

The brush pile burn is now scheduled for this weekend; 5:00pm on Friday till 12:00pm on Saturday, February 5th and 6th. Sign up for time slots with Tim or Ricky.

- Alex Lamoreaux

Brush Pile Burn Postponed

2010-01-19T16:12:00.001-08:00

I am sad to announce that due to predicted weather conditions, the brush pile burn set to occur this Thursday night into Friday has to be postponed. Please check back here for information as to when the new date for this event will be......

- Alex Lamoreaux

Meeting today....

2010-01-14T18:11:00.001-08:00

Today was out first club meeting this semester and basically we made plans for some events for the spring semester. The meeting went well and it seems that everyone is excited for our upcoming events.

To recap, here are some events we planned out:

Brush pile burn : January 22nd and then overnight till the 23rd

snow tubing : February 9th leaving the campus at 6:00pm, we will tube from 7 till 9 pm

Audubon Society meeting (Vernal Ponds) : meet at bus at 6:30pm

Alleghany SAF meeting in WV : February 16th till the 17th

Fishing Derby : April 11th

Be sure to check back often as we will try to make this blog more active.

-Alex Lamoreaux

Snow Tubing Again

2009-02-04T10:33:00.000-08:00

Catch the action at White Tail last night. Everyone likes snow tubing, including the Mont Alto Forestry Club.

Saw-whet owl banding

2008-11-19T18:42:00.001-08:00

Yesterday evening we braved the cold to go to King's Gap Environmental Center to observe the saw-whet owl banding operation. During the owl migration volunteers at several locations in PA participate in trapping birds in mist nets, taking measurements, banding unbanded birds, and then releasing them back in the wild.

Return to Oak Road

2008-10-01T07:46:00.000-07:00

From Oak Road Cleanup

The Forestry Club worked on the Oak Road cleanup again this fall (9/16). With the large freshman class there were more than enough people to help out. The work was followed with pizza at Arturo's.

Photos by Taylor Freeman

Snow Tubing (At Last!)

2008-03-02T18:58:00.000-08:00

The third time was the charm (after ice storms forced us to cancel two previous dates) last Thursday (2/28) as the forestry club finally went snow tubing at White Tail Resort It was cold enough, but not too cold, as eleven forestry club students braved the slope. The tubing area seemed more crowded this year with several school groups there for the first hour. They added an inflatable barrier at the bottom of the hill this year so that there was no need to slow down at the bottom! Will Darren Krebs ever get his hat back?

Tubing is a great way to let off steam after all the labs and tests of the forestry courses. Thanks to White Tail for the free passes for the members of the Woodsmen's Team. We can't wait to come back next year.

Mont Alto Students at the Allegheny SAF meeting

2008-02-15T12:09:00.000-08:00

P1020940
Originally uploaded by P_Linehan.

Fifteen forest technology students from Penn State Mont Alto attended the Winter meeting of the Allegheny SAF in Carlisle on Thursday.

The quiz bowl team of Frank Grano, Chance Yeckley, and Eric Monger won the Quiz Bowl after an exciting match agains Penn State University Park.

John Schwartzer (Mont Alto alum and UP forestry senior) leads a student discussion on issues in forestry education.

Among the issues discussed at the meeting were bio-energy from forests in PA, carbon markets, wood pellet systems for heating school buildings, forestry education in the Allegheny region, and advances in biological controls of invasive plants.

Burn Pile Service Project

2008-02-08T18:56:00.001-08:00

P1020885
Originally uploaded by P_Linehan.

Penn State Mont Alto forestry students are lighting the burn pile on the nursery field. Volunteers will work shifts all weekend to guard the fire. Much of this material came from the ice storm last December that cut power to campus over a whole weekend. Bring on the hot dogs!

Find more of the pictures on Facebook or Flickr.

Spring 2008

2008-01-28T06:50:00.001-08:00

The forestry club's first meeting of the semester was gavelled in to order by President Tiffany Roddy last Thursday evening. Twelve students and club advisor Dr. Linehan were there. On the agenda was getting ready for the Allegheny Society of American Foresters winter meeting in Carlisle on Feb. 14-15. The Mont Alto quiz bowl team will consist of Eric Monger, Kevin Braun, Frank Grano, and Chance Yeckley.

The forestry club will go tubing at White Tail Ski Resort next Thursday, weather permitting. The club will also volunteer to help Waynesboro High School's Envirothon Team prepare for the forestry part of the competition.

The meeting ended with a short video on the Tillamook firest in Oregon during the 1930's and 40's. Legacy of Fire: The Story of the Tillamook Burn had some fabulous images of the catastrophic fires with first hand accounts from some of the people who lived through the fires and fought to suppress them. More inspiring was the story of how the forest was successfully replanted with the help of thousands of school children. For more information see: http://www.tillamookforestcenter.org

A Hotshot's Return

2007-12-27T15:14:00.001-08:00

Rich Briggs
Originally uploaded by P_Linehan

Rich Briggs '07 addressed the Forestry Club on December 11 on his experiences working this past summer on a hotshot firefighting crew. Rich was based in Arizona, outside Phoeniz, and also worked on fires in Georgia and Idaho. Firefighting is incredibly hard work. You have to be able to climb a mountain and spend all day digging fire lines in smoky, hot conditions. Although the crews do everything to work safely, danger is always present. Yet, Rich really enjoyed the challenge and plans to return to firefighting next summer.

Sunshine Visit

2007-11-30T12:51:00.000-08:00

Penn State Mont Alto alumnus Paul "Sunshine" Shogren spoke to the Forestry Club today. In his talk "Past is Prologue", Paul talked about his days at Mont Alto in 1947/48 and his early years working as a forester. In the top picture Paul shows his spiked cork boots he used on logging jobs in the West. The bottom picture shows a closeup of the boots. The box they are in was his laundry box while at college. Each week he would mail home the box with his dirty laundry and his mother would return the clean clothes with a care package. In the middle Paul poses with forestry students.

Among the interesting stories Paul told was how it was common to travel by hitchiking when he was in college. He travelled to Arizona and Oregon for summer jobs using his thumb. After graduation from Penn State in 1951, Paul served as a U.S. Marine in Korea. On one of his final jobs he was assigned to teach officers to pack horses in Quantico to use in operations in Korea. The Marine Corps learned that Paul had worked with burros at the Philmont Boy Scout Reservation in New Mexico.

Paul worked for many years for the U.S. Forest Service and eventually worked on strip mine reclamation in Maryland for the Soil Conservation Service. Retired, he now lives with his wife in Garrett County, MD.

SAF Convention in Portland

2007-10-29T17:20:00.000-07:00

The SAF Convention was a good time! We competed in the Quiz Bowl and attended talks on issues in forestry. The Keynote Speaker, Richard Louv, was very interesting. He wrote the book "Last Child in the Woods," which is about how children today are not as in touch with nature as they should be. I bought the book and it is a very good read!
I attended some talks on silviculture and the Pinchot/Muir debate. There were also booths for businesses and schools, and the Mont Alto crew hijacked the University Park booth. There was and abundance of free merchandise and finger foods. The highlight of the trip, however, was the day we took off from the convention to go sightseeing. We drove out and saw a few waterfalls and wound up at Mt. Hood. The scenery in Oregon is amazing!
All-in-all, it was a great trip.. and seeing hobos is always a bonus!

SAF Convention

2007-10-29T17:01:00.000-07:00

Hello all! I am back from Portland, it was a great time and I had lots of fun. We spent most of our time at the convention center in Portland. We attended information sessions, browsed an exhibit hall, and networked with potential employers. On Friday we spent that day visiting Mt. Hood and the Columbia River Gorge. It was a fun time and a great experience. i learned a lot about what is happening in forestry today. All in all it was an awesome trip and I would like to return to Oregon someday. That's all for now, See ya around.

SAF Convention

2007-10-24T22:32:00.000-07:00

At the end of a long day, the Mont Alto delegation: Adam Luther, Chance Yeckley, Andrew Baker, Ryan Thrush, and Tiffany Roddy.

Dr. Linehan with the pendulum in the background.

The registration area outside the exhibit hall.

Quiz Bowl

2007-10-24T22:23:00.000-07:00

Mont Alto fielded a team for the Quiz Bowl for the SAF Convention in Portland, OR. Tiffany Roddy, Chance Yeckley, Adam Luther, and Andrew Baker participated. Mont Alto went down in the first round to Colorado State. Between the jet lag and fatigue it was hard to get to the bell in time. We'll be ready for next year!

Penn State (UP) went on to win the competition.

2007-10-19T12:18:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone in forestry club.

Mont Alto Cross Country Race

2007-10-14T11:41:00.000-07:00

On the first circuit Ryan Thrush is in the center followed by Riley Wingert.

Riley Wingert on the second lap, looking strong.

Ryan in the second lap. Is he trying to smile?

Mont Alto hosted a Commonwealth Campuses cross country race yesterday. The track, laid out by coach Mike Doncheski circled the campus and included a run in the Michaux State Forest around the water tower on the new logging road. About 5o runners competed from all over the state. Forestry student Ryan Thrush came in sixth overall. Mont Alto's Riley Wingert came in seventh. Thanks to the forestry club members and all the other volunteers for making the meet a success.

Cardboard Canoe Race

2007-10-01T08:28:00.001-07:00

P1020218
Originally uploaded by P_Linehan

Four Mont Alto forestry students participated in the Cardboard Canoe Race sponsored by the Forest Products Society of the School of Forest Resources.

Dr. Linehan ran in the first heat with "Titanic" and was just glad to finish relatively dry!

Mike Wagaman and chance Yeckley came in second for the fastest race.
Tiffany Roddy and Kevin Braun won for the quickest sinking.

Here are the rest of the pictures:

Forestry Day 2007

2007-09-23T13:05:00.000-07:00

Will this be a new tradition? The Woodmen Team gave a great demonstration of the different events as members qualified for the North Carolina meet. It was great to see the alumni who came back to see the current team and show how it's done. Next year will be bigger and better!

Forestry Picnic Pics

2007-09-14T17:42:00.000-07:00

Oak Road Cleanup

2007-09-14T17:12:00.001-07:00

P1010924
Originally uploaded by P_Linehan

Twenty Mont Alto forestry students participated in the Oak Road cleanup in the Michaux forest near campus yesterday. The most unusual item we found this year was a small truck hood and two tires.

After the work was done everyone went to Arturo's for pizza!

Click here for more pictures.

picnic party

2007-09-07T06:56:00.000-07:00

The picnic was a mix of fun and business.

2007-05-27T17:45:00.000-07:00

Use A Map

This is a new tool I found on the Ogle Earth Blog . Simply put, use a map lets you create a map location with a simple link address. When you click on the link you then have the option of viewing the map in Google, Yahoo, or MS Live. With new features you can also add pictures and other annotations.

Here is a map I made for Peaks Island, Maine: http://useamap.com/peaks
Here is another for the Penn State Mont Alto campus: http://useamap.com/MontAlto

It's easy to use and a great way to send maps to someone.

Another tubing picture

2007-02-07T20:17:00.000-08:00

Who says the forestry faculty don't know how to have fun? (Brantley, Houghton, and Linehan)
Thanks to Matt Groves for this picture.

Zooming towards the fnish

2007-02-06T08:27:00.001-08:00

Zooming towards the fnish
Originally uploaded by P_Linehan.

I'm not sure who this was? But it was definitely sub-zero on the tubing course last night (2-5-07). You really needed to dress up. What a great stress reliever! We should do it before exams all winter long.

Here's a link to Whitetail in Mercersburg, where they have more pictures. http://www.skiwhitetail.com/index.htm

The track

2007-02-06T08:25:00.001-08:00

The track 2
Originally uploaded by P_Linehan.

Here's a view of the tubing track at Whitetail Ski Resort

First Forestry Club Meeting of the Spring 2007 Semester

2007-01-25T07:58:00.000-08:00

UPDATES FOR TUBING:

For those who were unable to attend the Forestry Club meeting there are some updates to the activities calender.

On February 5th, there will be a trip to Whitetail Area to use the Tubing passes that some Forestry Club members have obtained. Being a Forestry Club Member is not a requirement to go, and if anyone else wishes to attend the night of fun to go tubing, passes can be purchased at the time of arrival to the Whitetail Area. The cost for 1 hour is $12 and 2 hours is $16. The bus will depart from the commuter lot at 7pm, so if you decide to go at the last minute, just meet in the commuter lot. We will be tubing for 2 hours, but not everyone has to tube for 2 hours. Those who do not want to tube for the full 2 hours can check out the lodge and hangout until we leave. There is no need to R.S.V.P. just show up at the time of departure in the commuter lot.

On February 8th, the Forestry Club will hold their next meeting at 7:30pm.

On February 10th, the Forestry Club and Woodsmens Team will be teaming up to cut firewood to raise money for the clubs. The time is unknown at this point, but updates will be coming soon.

The last topic discussed at the meeting was the Allegheny SAF 2007 Winter Meeting to be held February 13-15. Those who are SAF student members and would like to attend the SAF Meeting please see Doctor Linehan for a Schedule. For any other questions feel free to email, and your questions will be answered as well as possible.

Angela G. Kellert
Forestry Club Secretary

2006-12-15T05:26:00.000-08:00

Eric Straley, a 2002 Mont Alto forestry graduate, spoke last night on his work with the Forest Service in coastal Alaska doing forest inventory work under the FIA program.

SAF NATIONAL CONVENTION 2006 – Mike McCormick

2006-11-20T07:21:00.000-08:00

Prior to the national SAF meeting in Pittsburgh, I experienced what the world of technology had done for the forestry industry. The use of GPS and GIS is a common place as well as the use of electronic measuring devices and digitalized computer programs for recording data in the field. But, I hadn’t realized the use of web-based GIS programs were becoming extremely popular within the industry. Many of these GIS programs, both web-based and software based, go beyond the capabilities of traditional GIS systems. In the new programs, inventory data can be entered in a GIS database for an entire forest. The interesting thing is that you have the ability to select a portion of forest through the GIS land map, the program proceeds to calculate statistics about inventory data for that particular stand within the forest. Technological advances have allowed forest managers to become for efficient and the revolution will continue for years to come.

2006-11-12T20:27:00.000-08:00

I thought that the national convention in Pittsburgh was a
good experience, especially since I am a freshman.  I hope
I can go to next years convention in Oregon.  I learned about
possible career options in forestry. I got in touch with a
possible employer(s) with the USDA forest Service and even got
interviewed for a summer position in the Black Hills National
Forest in South Dakota. Ryan Thrush

SAF Convention

2006-11-12T20:23:00.000-08:00

Ten students from Mont Alto attended the Society of American Foresters national Convention in Pittsburgh in October.