Full Tuition Scholarship for Women to Attend this Year’s Yankee Woodlot Forestry Camp
Contact: Leslie Hyde, Cooperative Extension, 1-877-944-2267 (toll free in Maine) or 207-789-5868, lhyde@umext.maine.edu
ORONO, Maine — The 2004 Yankee Woodlot Forestry Camp will be held September 27 through October 1 at the Tanglewood 4-H Camp and Learning Center in Lincolnville. Full tuition is being offered this year to any woman who wishes to take the program.
Funding is being provided by the “Woman and the Woods” program of the Maine Forest Service and the Woman’s Agricultural Network (WAgN) of the University of Maine Cooperative Extension. Vivianne Holmes, Extension Educator and WAgN Director, says, “we are providing this support as an incentive to get women enrolled in Forestry Camp. Attending Forestry Camp is a great way to develop networks with others involved in caring for forestland and a place to gain a wealth of knowledge about forest management.”
This is the twenty-first year for the annual program which is attended equally by men and women. It is the first year that incentive funding is being provided exclusively for women.
The goal of Yankee Woodlot Forestry Camp is to increase the acreage of land in Maine that is managed for long-term sustainability. Sustainable forest management is the practice of meeting forest resource needs and values of the present without compromising the similar capability of future generations. To achieve this goal, not only do landowners need to be clear about their own needs and desires, they must also be knowledgeable about forest ecology, biodiversity, wildlife, best management practices and they must be thinking about future generations.
According to forester and Extension Educator Leslie Hyde, Forestry Camp provides landowners with hands-on experience in getting to know the Maine forest and how to manage woodlands. The program is orientated for the landowner, woods worker, land trust volunteer, town forest personnel and others who have responsibility to care for forestland.
Hyde points out that the course is helpful for those who are working with a professional forester and wish to better understand what the forester does and why. The Yankee Woodlot Forestry Camp is sponsored by the University of Maine Cooperative Extension in collaboration with the Small Woodland Owners Association of Maine (SWOAM) and the Maine Forest Service.
Each day of the weeklong program seeks to answer basic questions that a landowner typically asks about his or her forestland: where is it? what’s on it? what’s under it? what is it worth? how can I best care for it?
On the first day of the program, participants are given a mock deed to a 20-acre parcel of the Tanglewood forest and then, working in groups, challenged to answer these questions for this plot of land. Participants locate their parcel by learning to use a compass, pacing distances, making a map, marking boundaries and locating it on aerial photographs. Learning about forest ecology and then identifying trees, plants and wildlife reveals what’s on their parcel.
“What’s under it” is discovered through the use of soil maps and then a shovel and soil auger to dig into the forest floor. To figure out “what its worth,” a full day is devoted to woodland cruising. Cruising involves using tools to measure tree height and diameter, taking plot samples and using current price tables to calculate the dollar value of the trees growing on the parcel.
To determine “how to best care for it,” students learn a variety of silvicultural methods and hear from professionals with years of experience. On the last day of the camp, each group presents their plan for managing their study parcel.
The days of forestry camp are filled with an exciting blend of presentations, discussion and fieldwork. Evenings include special guests and plenty of time for discussions, time for viewing videotapes or just relaxing. Faculty and foresters are available for personal consultation throughout the week.
Since Forestry Camp began in 1983, more than 300 graduates have completed the annual course. They include about an equal mix of men and women ranging in age from 17 to 87.
Participants live in separate wood-heated cabins. Showers and wash facilities are located a short walk from the cabins. Hardy, well-balanced meals are served family-style in the main dining hall. The registration fee is $400 for Maine residents, $450 for non-residents, and includes meals, lodging, cruising stick and educational materials.
To register contact Tanglewood 4-H Camp and Learning Center, One Tanglewood Road Lincolnville, ME 04849, call toll free in Maine 1-877-944-2267 or 207-789-5868. website: http://www.umaine.edu/umext/YankeeWoodlot