UMaine Students Win, Place Third at National Collegiate Game of Logging
Contact: Media contact: Nick Houtman, Dept. of Public Affairs, 207-581-3777; Chuck Simpson, University Forests Office, 207-581-3626.
ORONO– For the third time in the last four years, a University of Maine student is the National Collegiate Game of Logging champion. Josh Bubier, a junior in forestry from Monmouth, Maine, won the competition held October 18 at Penn State University’s Mont Alto campus.
Bubier’s teammate, John Fogarty of Old Town, Maine, finished third in the competition that focuses on safe and exacting chain saw techniques used in timber harvesting.
The students stood #1 and #2 respectively after a series of arena events that determine ten finalists who then fell a tree to complete the competition. UMaine Forests Office staff members Francis and Robin Avery trained the students who work in the UMaine forests. Francis Avery accompanied the students to Pennsylvania for the competition.
A total of 15 competitors from eight colleges were involved in the eleventh national finals. Maine has had six first place finishes over that time, and 15 of 21 UMaine competitors have finished in the top five.
Bubier and Fogarty work with other students on forest management activities while attending school. They harvest timber and perform other activities on the 15,000 acres of forestland owned by UMaine and University of Maine Foundation.