Into the woods

By Alex Northard, Grand Rapids, Minn.
photos

Imagine spending seven weeks of your summer among the trees and wildlife in Montana. You may even have a nice view of snow-capped mountains from the window of your home away from home. If you are a forestry student at Oklahoma State University, you may experience this during forestry camp.
      The founding fathers of the OSU Department of Natural Resource Ecology and Management developed this summer "field camp" in 1948 to give forestry students hands-on experience while learning in a team environment, said Thomas Kuzmic, forestry camp director and professor at OSU.
      "The faculty have just embraced it from that day forward," Kuzmic said.
      Forestry camp is required for all forestry students at OSU.  Students prepare for it early in the forestry program by taking prerequisite classes such as dendrology (tree identification), forestry measurements, algebra, trigonometry and statistics. Students usually go to forestry camp the summer between their sophomore and junior years at OSU, said Caysie Taylor, NREM senior and past forestry camp participant.
      As a camp director for 29 years, Kuzmic has a long history with forestry camp. During each of those summers, he has spent seven weeks with his forestry camp students. Multiple faculty members participate in the camps, but Kuzmic is the only faculty member who stays for the entire seven-week period.
      "[Forestry camp] is a part of our culture in the department," Kuzmic said.
      Forestry camp is a "roving camp" with its location changing every year. The camp was conducted in a variety of locations across the country but more recently has settled to four specific locations that cycle every four years: Colorado, Minnesota, Michigan and Montana.
      "[Camp] gives students a broader view — a broader aspect of what forestry is," said Keith Owens, NREM department head. "Quite a few of our students go back to those same areas the following summer for summer jobs."
      Forestry camp may feel like a summer job to the forestry students, though.
      "It's kind of like an 8-to-5 job in a way," Taylor said.
      The forestry students get in a routine of waking up early, eating breakfast at 7 a.m. and preparing their sack lunch for the day, starting in the field or classroom by 8 a.m. and working for the rest of the morning.
      "We didn't spend that much time in the classroom," Taylor said. "Instead, we were out working in the field. We spent a great deal of time hiking around to evaluate aspects of the forest and driving to different areas to learn from different agency professionals."
      The forestry students get a half-hour lunch break and are back to work for the rest of the afternoon. Then, they enjoy dinner at 6 p.m. and complete any unfinished fieldwork, write reports and socialize. Finally, the students get to sleep and prepare themselves for the day ahead.
      "The bottom line is, you call it a day and get up in the morning and do it again," Kuzmic said.
      A day's work can include activities such as cruising timber stands (measuring and inventorying), observing differences in ecosystems of different elevations, meeting with professionals in the field, and learning about management techniques and ecological relationships.
      "One cool experience was when we started down in a canyon and hiked all the way up to the alpine tundra," Taylor said. "We talked about the different ecosystems with different elevations — how they have different plants and have different temperatures."
      Forestry camp consists of three parts. Taylor said her first two weeks at camp focused on measurements of trees. The next two weeks were spent on ecosystems and the practice of silviculture, which focuses on tree growth. The remaining three weeks focused on fire ecology, wildlife, hydrology and recreation.
      Taylor said one of her best memories from forestry camp was when she went backpacking into Rocky Moun-
tain National Park with classmates Shelby Williams and Kyle Hesse. She said when students go to summer camp, they form a close bond with each other.
      "It's amazing how much you kind of accept each other once you spend the seven weeks together," Taylor said.
      Kuzmic said he strongly encourages his students to explore on the weekends. In earlier years, forestry camp students had to work on the weekends but now are allowed to relax and spend the weekends doing what they enjoy.
      One of the more noticeable differences in forestry camp through the years is the number of women participants. In its 60 years, the number of women in the program has increased. When forestry camp began, women were not involved. Today, about one-third of the students are women, Kuzmic said. 
      Two of the biggest concerns students have today about forestry camp are the financial obligations and the extended time commitment of seven weeks.
      Forestry camp costs vary depending on the location of the camp. For example, the 2008 forestry camp in Alberta, Mich., cost each student $1,732. This price included lodging, transportation to different activities while at camp, some supplies, camp operational costs and food (17 meals a week). Students also have to pay tuition for the seven-credit-hour camp, transportation costs, weekend meals and personal expenses they incur while at camp.
      Because of the big financial commitment, every student receives at least one scholarship, Owens said. The Brown Foundation awards each student $600 toward for-estry camp expenses. Additionally, one student receives a $1,200 scholarship from OSU alumna Carolyn Foutch.
      "That's important, of course, because when our students go to summer camp for seven weeks, they are losing essentially a summer's worth of earnings' time in outside jobs," Owens said. "Any scholarships we can get to help them are very important."
      Forestry camp is not only a financial investment for the students, but also it takes them out of their comfort zone, Kuzmic said. In addition to leaving potential sum-mer jobs, the students leave their families and friends for seven weeks. However, the forestry students know how important forestry camp is for their educations and future careers, Owens said.
      "Summer camp is important enough that after students go to summer camp, we have more than a 90 percent retention of students in the program," Owens said. "It kind of defines what they want to do. After summer camp, they know if they want to go into forestry or not."
      Taylor said she had her doubts whether forestry was the right major for her during her first week of summer camp in 2007. However, talking to Kuzmic and her classmates and giving summer camp the benefit of the doubt helped set her on the right path. She said summer camp had a lasting effect on her.
      "It made me realize 'I really do like my major, and I am really glad that I am here and glad that I got this experience,'" Taylor said. "For me, I grew up a lot."
      Most students look back on forestry camp as a great experience, Kuzmic said. Forestry camp has helped develop a reputation for OSU forestry students. Multiple employers specifically want an OSU forestry graduate to work for them.
      "We think it gives them an edge in the job market," Kuzmic said.
      Forestry camp has not only made an impression on its student participants and future employers, but also it has made an impression on the faculty members involved.
      "It has been an education for me," Kuzmic said.
     
      After 60 years, forestry camp is still going strong and touching lives in different ways. The memories of the sev-en busy weeks at forestry camp will linger in the minds of OSU forestry alumni forever.               

A forestry camp tradition . . .
    After camp each year, the students are expected to create a photo board of their camp experience. The photo boards adorn the halls of NREM, located in the southwest basement wing of Agricultural Hall. The photo boards date back to 1960; therefore, the hall is full of forestry camp photo boards. The photo boards draw attention to themselves because of the  creativity used to make them.
   "A lot of alumni come back to look at their boards," Owens said. "When there is a game day or they are in town for something, they will come through the halls and try to find the board where their pictures are."             

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Jessie Martin (left), Ryan Oberst and Robert Nix show OSU spirit during an ecological field exercise on the alpine tundra during the 2007 Colorado camp.

Erick Warren measures a tree in a Montana forest during the 2004 camp.

Laura Dunn (left) and Shayla Highfill paddle down the Pine River in Minnesota during a program at the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in 2006.