Tanglewood Hosts Inaugural UMaine Forest Resources Camp
Contact: Corey Pickett, Tanglewood, cpickett@umext.maine.edu, (207) 789-5803
Lincolnville, ME – Tanglewood 4-H Camp and Learning Center, a statewide program of the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, recently continued the momentum of Tanglewood’s 25th year anniversary programming with a new program designed to give the future forestry workers of Maine a head start on their education.
Tanglewood, which is devoted to teaching sustainable living to more than 4,000 Maine young people and adults each year, opened its doors Aug. 27-31 to UMaine’s incoming Forest Resources majors. The students participated in a hands-on immersion experience that consisted of woodlot surveys, hiking trail maintenance, wildlife habitat identification and a sawmill tour, all while living together for five days on the Lincolnville campus.
“This program is very beneficial for incoming students,” says Bill Livingston, UMaine associate professor of forest resources. “It’s a great way for these students to get to know each other before the hectic first week of classes.”
Livingston, with the help of two current forestry students, helped the newcomers explore and conduct experiments in the Tanglewood Yankee Woodlot in hopes of giving them an initial understanding of their upcoming classes.
“I feel like now that I have a grasp on the basics in many areas so that it will be easier to choose classes of interest in the future,” says Daniel Perkins, one of the first-year students who participated in the program. “I realized that this is the type of degree that would lead to a career I could enjoy.”
Overall attendance in the natural science fields, including forestry and agriculture, has dropped in recent years all across the country, Livingston says. He worries that this trend could drastically affect Maine’s future economy.
“My goal is that this program will create interest in Forest Resources and give these students a better chance to complete their education and finish their degree,” he says.
Through a service learning activity, the students teamed up with Tanglewood’s facilities coordinator Rich Bouchard to clear three dilapidated wooden foot bridges along the Ducktrap River trail. Bouchard and his crew can now begin working on restoring the bridges and improving the overall condition of the trail, which is filled with young campers during the summer and fall seasons.
Livingston hopes to build on the program’s success in the coming years by inviting high school students to attend Tanglewood’s unique experience.
For more information on Tanglewood 4-H Camp and Learning Center call (207) 789-5802.