Carmichaels students tour tree farm
Recently, students from Carmichaels Area participated in a “Three Tree Farm Tour” of Southwest PA Woodlot Owners Association, guided Russ Gibbs and retired service foresters, Bill Wentzel and Arlyn Perkey.
The whole idea of the tour began this past summer when Kevin Willis, Carmichaels Area science teacher, was asked to present one of the stations of the National Tree Farm National Convention Field Day hosted at the John and Maureen Burnham woodlot in West Finley.
“The Burnham Tree Farm was the perfect fit for our students,” Willis explained. “We have American chestnut trees growing in our Native Plant Greenhouse and the Burnham Tree Farm has an American chestnut restoration project on their tree farm.”
Gibbs actually used some of the oak trees that were grown in the greenhouse for his station during the Field Day this summer. In return for the oak trees, Gibbs gave Willis some Kentucky coffeetree seeds to grow in the greenhouse along with about 3,000 white oak acorns.
The tour began at the John and Maureen Burnham woodlot. The Burnhams took the students to their Purdue walnut plantation and discussed the Purdue Walnut genetically superior stock.
Students made their own forest management decisions by selecting the best trees of the plantation to maintain, along with choosing the trees that should be removed to provide additional resources to the selected trees. The students then walked to an American chestnut restoration location on the tree farm, learning about the history of this tree and the research that is being done to restore it to Pennsylvania’s forests.
The students also had the opportunity to sample walnuts and chestnuts. At the last station, Bill Wentzel discussed tree identification and physiology. He used an increment borer to show the students the tree growth over the last 10 years to determine if that tree should remain growing or if it was overmature and should be harvested.
At the Perkey woodlot in Center Township, Greene County, Arlyn Perkey discussed how his tree farm was originally a working dairy farm that reverted back to a forest through the process of succession. The students hiked to various areas of the woodlot where they saw how to properly manage a crop tree, discussed stand structure and composition, along with wildlife habitat. Perkey took the students to one area and gave the students the opportunity to choose which trees to manage and which to cut using various silvicultural techniques for regeneration.
The tour ended at the Harold and Gay Thistle woodlot, also in Center Township near Rogersville. The students visited a walnut plantation where they got to see the effects of microclimate on tree growth and development. The students visited an established red oak plantation, identified invasive species that are affecting PA forests, including mile-a-minute weed, and engaged in various aspects of forest ecology. Gibbs talked about his involvement with TreeVitalize, a DCNR partnership to restore tree cover in Pennsylvania communities.
“My students weren’t sure what to think when I told them we would be participating in the Tree Farm tour,” said Shane King, gifted education instructor, “but they were amazed at how interesting this trip really was!”
“All of us (woodlot owners) were amazed how engaged the students were throughout the day,” said Gay Thistle, SWPWO president. “We all felt that this was a worthwhile experience – exposing 30 or so young people to our local forest ecology and the work it takes to manage it.”
“Every one of these students is potentially going to own a woodlot someday,” said Willis. “It is very important that they know how to manage that valuable resource. This tour gave these students real-life examples of three groups of people who have done different things to manage their woodlots successfully.”