Green Horizons

Last year, MU Forestry Extension conducted two forestry workshops for high school agriculture teachers. This coming summer the program expands statewide and participants will learn basic forestry concepts as they are guided through each section of the FFA Forestry Career Development Event (aka FFA Forestry Contest). Information will also be provided on the Forest Management Proficiency Award. This award recognizes individual excellence in what FFA calls a supervised agricultural experience. Not many field foresters are aware of this award because in the past the Missouri Forest Products Association has handled judging these individually-submitted projects. But, now that the Missouri State Tree Farm Committee is more involved (through the Forest and Woodland Association of Missouri), MU Forestry Extension looks to better support students wanting to learn more about forestry through this program.

We have sent out workshop invitations to every agriculture teacher in the state and registrations are beginning to come in. If you know of agriculture teachers in your area, please encourage them to attend. The cost is $40 per person and covers lunch, breaks, and educational materials including reference materials, a USGS topographic map, and Biltmore sticks (to take back to their team). Here are the workshop dates and locations:

July 10 (Tuesday)	Jefferson City	MDC Runge Nature Center
July 12 (Thursday)	Blue Springs	MDC Burr Oaks Nature Center
July 17 (Tuesday)	Springfield	MDC Springfield Nature Center
July 18 (Wednesday)	Winona	MDC Twin Pines Education Center
July 19 (Thursday)	Cape Girardeau	MDC Cape Girardeau Nature Center
July 31 (Tuesday)	Spickard	MU Thomson Research Center
August 2 (Thursday)	Eolia	Malinmor Hunt Club

The doors will open at 8:00 AM for each workshop will and teachers will be on their way home by 3:00 PM (unless they stick around for questions). We will cover Tree ID, TSI (The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly), Map Reading, Timber Cruising (Just what IS merchantable height?), and General Forestry Knowledge (Jeopardy-style!). For more information, contact Hank Stelzer, stelzerh@missouri.edu.