The 2007 Forestry Challenge
Looking for the Ultimate Outdoor Education Experience?
Bring Your Students to The California Forestry Challenge!
For the past five years, the California Forestry Challenge has been one of The Forest Foundation’s most successful programs. This event exposes high school students and teachers to the complexity of forest management issues by turning the forest into a classroom. Students value the real-world learning environment, interaction with forestry professionals and often become inspired to pursue a career in natural resources.
The 2007 Challenge welcomed a diverse group of 80 students and 20 teachers from 9 counties. During the four day Challenge, students worked side-by-side with forestry professionals on restoration efforts, field training, and analysis of current forest issues. This year’s Challenge brought students to the site of the Angora Fire in the South Lake Tahoe Basin, where they saw an active salvage operation, planted seedlings, and learned about conditions leading up to the fire.
At the end of the Challenge, teams demonstrated their forestry knowledge by developing and presenting problem-solving plans to a panel of judges. These presentations included forest management plans to restore the Angora Fire burn area, as well as prevention of future catastrophic fires in the Tahoe Basin.
An exciting outcome of this year’s Challenge is the opportunity for the winning team to take part in forest policy. The team from Napa New Technology High School will be presenting their forest management plan before the California-Nevada Tahoe Basin Fire Commission.
The Forest Foundation looks forward to expanding our program, and bringing quality outdoor education to students throughout the state. If you are interested in having your school attend next year, please contact our office at 1-866-241-TREE.
The Forest Foundation congratulates
all of the teams of the 2007 Forestry
Challenge!
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Sacramento New Technology Students mark their school location on the map while registering for the 2007 Forestry Challenge in Pollock Pines, CA
CDF Forester, Robert Little, teaches students how to use an increment borer to look at tree rings.
Students learn about a restoration project near Heavenly Creek from Ray Machado, USFS.
Forestry Challenge participants place contouring logs to mitigate erosion in an Angora Fire burn area.
These students are very excited about the pacing contest.
More restoration work in the burn area.
Lake Valley Fire Department Fire Fighters talk with students about an area burned by the Angora Fire.
One stop on the field trip was this site where hazard trees were being removed after the fire.
Napa New Technology Posing with their awards.
Tom Eustis Memorial Award winner Katie Alling is congratulated by Forest Foundation Education Director Shaney Emerson.
Nevada Union High School science teacher Katie Alling was honored for her exemplary efforts in support of Nevada Union’s participation in the highly competitive Forestry Challenge. Ms. Alling’s dedication to her students is outstanding. She and her teams have arrived well prepared and have won many awards over the past five years.
The Tom Eustis Memorial Award for Teaching Excellence was established to honor Thomas McLoughlin Eustis, a C.K. McClatchy High School (Sacramento) teacher who died in a tragic accident in July, 2006. Mr. Eustis had worked as a firefighter for the U.S. Forest Service until he earned his teaching credential through project pipeline. He taught at C.K. McClatchy High School from 1999 to 2006. He was the coordinator of their Fire Science Program for five years, and participated in the California Forestry Challenge as a Team Advisor.