Monday, August 7, 2017

Arkansas Team Earns Top Honors at National 4-H Forestry Invitational

Arkansas placed first among 15 states that competed in the 38th annual National 4-H Forestry Invitational from Sunday July 30 through Thursday August 3. Teams from Florida and Louisiana placed second and third, respectively.  Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia also competed in this year’s Invitational.

The invitational was held at West Virginia University Jackson’s Mill State 4-H Camp and Conference Center near Weston, West Virginia. The event is sponsored by Farm Credit System, Sustainable Forestry Initiative, Inc., USDA Forest Service State and Private Southern Region, West Virginia University Extension Service, American Forest Foundation, Southern Regional Extension Forestry, Association of Natural Resource Extension Professionals, National Woodland Owners Association, and Black Diamond Resource Conservation and Development Council.

While at the Invitational 4-H members competed for overall team and individual awards in several categories. Events included tree identification, tree measurement, compass and pacing, insect and disease identification, topographic map use, forest evaluation, the forestry bowl and a written forestry exam.

The Arkansas team members were Samantha Clanton, Curtis Sellers, CJ Morman, and Logen Williams all from Hermitage.  The team was coached by Taylor Gwin from Hermitage.

Samantha Clanton from Arkansas won the high point individual award. The other Arkansas team members also had high scores in the event.  Logan Williams was the fourth high scoring individual, CJ Morman had the seventh high individual score and Curtis Sellers tied for the eighth highest individual score in the competition.

4-H is a youth education program operated by the Cooperative Extension Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the state land grant universities. More than six million youth, 540,000 volunteers, and 3,500 professionals participate in 4-H nationwide, and nearly 100,000 are part of the 4-H Forestry Program.

The event would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors; Farm Credit System (FCS), The Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI®), Inc., USDA Forest Service State and Private Forestry, Southern Region, West Virginia University (WVU) Extension Service, The American Forest Foundation® (AFF) ,Southern Region Extension Forestry, The Association of Natural Resource Extension Professionals (ANREP), The National Woodland Owners Association (NWOA).

For more information on the National 4-H Forestry Invitational, go to: http://4hforestryinvitational.org/.

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