| Southwest Chapter Report Aug
2006
Southwest Chapter
Conducts Three Day Teacher Workshop
 The Southwest Virginia Chapter conducted the Trees
to Products teachers’ tour on
July 18, 19 & 20 th in the Wise and Scott
County Virginia and Kingsport, TN. Five teachers
and one student received instruction on forest
management, harvesting, timber stand improvement,
and information on wildlife from professional
foresters and biologists during a tour on
the USDA Forest Service’s Clinch Ranger
District. The teachers participated in a
timber cruising exercise and learned how
to measure tree DBH and height to determine
volume and how to determine tree age and
evaluate tree growth. The teachers observed
residual damage to trees from fire scars
and logging. And, the program covered the
importance of management plans and forest
health and how forest operations impact the
forest.
Day two included scaling and grading hardwood
logs at Indiana Hardwoods where the teachers
were able to see some of the internal defects
in logs that impact grade and value. After
a lesson in scaling logs, a tour of Powell
River Lumber Co. showed how the logs were processed
into lumber. This tour stop also showed the
many by products of the manufacturing process
and how they are all marketed in order to maximize
utilization of the resource. After lunch, the
teachers toured Mullican Flooring to see how
low grade lumber was manufactured into high
value hardwood flooring. They got to see the
green lumber sorted, visit the pre-drier, go
over to the kiln and follow the lumber onto
the production line in the flooring plant.
Day three began with a tour of Weyerhaeuser’s
paper mill in Kingsport, where the teachers
got to see the most up to date paper machine
of its kind in the US. Down the street in the
Sheeting Division the large rolls of high quality
paper are processed into packs of 8.5x11 copy
paper and packaged for shipping to markets.
The final tour stop was at Gilbert NS Lumber,
LLC where we toured the grade mill and tie
mill operation. Again, utilization and recovery
were important steps in their manufacturing
and the teachers got to see a slab saw that
was being used to recover lumber from the slabs.
One of the main themes that kept being addressed
along the tour stops was the importance of
forest management planning prior to timber
harvesting and how harvesting begins the process
of regenerating the next stand. Another theme
at every tour location was the importance of
utilizing the forest resource and recovering
every possible product that could be marketed
into another sector of the forest industry.
The teachers gave great reviews of the tour
and the Southwest Chapter greatly appreciates
the support of this program through the award
of a Forester’s Fund grant to the program.
The chapter has already began the planning
process for 2007 summer teacher program and
look forward to this new annual event!
The Chapter is planning its next meeting in
October. The meeting will be held at a local
High school environmental education center
and will feature a presentation on a wetlands
project maintained by the school. Chapter elections
for 2007 will also be held during the business
meeting.
The Chapter is participating in the re-measurement
of Virginia big trees in cooperation with Jeff
Kirwan. Several chapter members have been given
information on the location of trees in Southwest
Virginia and will begin to re-measure the trees
early this fall.
Membership continues to be a goal within the
Chapter. We hope to reach out to several possible
members with the goal of two more joining SAF
before the end of the year.
-- Submitted by: Mike Hincher, Chair - SW
Chapter
Bill Worrell – Vice Chair - SW Chapter
Southwest Chapter
wins Membership Award
The Southwest Chapter was down in membership
but turned it around. They came up to their
2005 starting numbers, and added two more members.
Since the beginning of the 2006 year they have
added three more members and have a goal of
five new members by the end of the year. They
received the Membership Award in 2001. Congratulations
Southwest Chapter members and Chair, Michael
Hincher!
-- Submitted by Charlie Huppuch, Chair – VASAF
Membership Committee
(Note from the Communications Committee
Chair: It wasn’t many years ago that
the SW Chapter had requested “inactive” status.
Since that time, the Chapter has grown in
membership, developed new initiatives, and
recently conducted the 2006 VASAF Summer
Meeting. These are impressive accomplishments,
and your award is well-deserved! DG)
Southwest Chapter Report April
2006
By Mike Hincher - Chapter Chair
The Southwestern Virginia Chapter held it
first quarter meeting in Abingdon, Virginia
on February 23 rd. Dr. Rich Oderwald presented
an interesting program on new technology available
to assist field foresters with data collection
and field measurements. The Chapter submitted
a Foresters’ Fund grant proposal for
assistance in funding the summer teachers’ tour.
The Chapter has been notified that the grant
request will be funded by SAF. The three day
tour will be held in July with the title and
theme being “Trees to Products”.
The Chapter has plans to turn this three day
tour into an annual week long tour in the coming
years. The chapter’s “speakers’ bureau” has
received requests for presentations from a
local Lions Club and a local Master Gardeners
Club. Our “speakers’ bureau” was
a project started last year where the Chapter
mailed out information to several local civic
clubs offering to be guest speakers at civic
club meetings. The Chapter has decided to continue
this program and several members have signed
up to be willing to provide a presentation
on Forestry when requests are received. The
Chapter has agreed to participate in the Big
Tree survey updates. Chapter members will try
to involve local 4-H clubs in the re-measuring
of some of the dated Virginia Big Trees. Several
Chapter members will participate in the Arbor
Day celebration on April 7 th. Kids from local
schools will attend the Arbor Day celebration
in which part of the program will include planting
several trees. The Chapter has handed out several
SAF membership applications and we are pleased
that we have added some new members. The Chapter
remains excited about our up coming teachers
tour and our other projects mentioned above.
Quote: May you always be strengthened by yesterdays
rain,
Always walk straight into tomorrow’s
wind
And remember to always cherish each moment
of the sun today.
Indian Blessing author unknown.
Southwest Chapter Report Jan
2006
By Mike Hincher, Chapter Chair
The Southwestern Virginia Chapter held its
winter meeting in Abingdon Virginia on November
29 th 2005. John Baker of the Virginia Department
of Game and Inland Fisheries presented a very
interesting program on the health and population
numbers of local black bear, deer and turkey.
The Chapter held elections of officers for
2006. The nominating committee of Ed Stoots,
Steve Lindeman and Lou Brossy nominated the
following candidates: Chair–elect – Bill
Worrell; Secretary/Treasurer – Greg Gambrel.
Current Chair-elect – Mike Hincher moved
to Chairman. Additional nominations were solicited
from the floor and none were mentioned. A poll
was taken and Hincher, Worrell, and Gambrel
were elected to office.
The Chapter has hit the ground running in
2006 with several of the local chapter members
attending the APSAF meeting in Charlottesville.
The next Chapter meeting is scheduled for February
23 rd and will feature a program presented
by Dr. Rich Oderwald on new technology available
to assist field foresters. The Chapter is planning
a three day teacher’s tour in July with
the title and theme being “Trees to Products”.
The goal is to expose public school teachers
to local forest management and to local forest
products industry with the hope they will come
away with a positive attitude toward forestry
and pass this attitude on to the students they
are teaching. The tour and programming will
be structured to allow the teachers to receive
continuing education credits and to tie in
with state SOL requirements. The Chapter has
also set membership as a goal for 2006 with
the goal of recruiting five new members. The
Chapter is looking forward to an active and
rewarding 2006.
Quote: “They are beautiful in their peace,
they are wise in their silence. They will stand
until after we are dust. They teach us, and we
tend them.” By, Galeainip Alteiem Macdunelmor.
|
