June 4, 1997
COLLEGE SUMMER CAMP: SEEING THE FOREST FOR THE TREES
Writer: Kathleen Davis (409) 845-2872, [email protected]
Contact: Dr. Mike Messina, (409) 845-2547, [email protected] Dr. Mike Fountain, (409) 468-2489, [email protected]
Photo
LUFKIN -- A calculator and a clipboard aren't enough for this college-level summer course. Backpacks slung over the shoulders also contain the necessities -- insect repellant, a canteen of water and perhaps a roll of biodegradable toilet paper.
This summer, classroom learning has been converted to outdoor experiences for about 50 forestry majors from Texas A&M and Stephen F. Austin universities in a cooperative camp at SFA's Piney Woods Conservation Center on Lake Sam Rayburn.
"This has been an experience. I'm not too much an outdoorsy kind of girl, so it has been new and exciting. It has given me a new sense of confidence," said Christy Karlovetz, a Texas A&M senior from Tyler, after emerging from dense woods where the students had been left, each with a compass, and told to "find the way out." They all did.
Beyond learning how not to get lost in the woods, the forest camp, a requirement for forestry majors at both universities, teaches lessons on many levels. Foremost, perhaps, is the fact that for at least a part of the camp, two universities work together for the good of students -- each providing top forestry researchers and educators.
"There have been a lot more opportunities for cooperation between SFA and Texas A&M in recent years," said Dr. Mike Fountain, SFA forestry professor and camp instructor. That had not always been the case. Texas A&M started its forestry program in the 1960s, stirring some of the long-held SFA forest college turf which traces its roots to 1946.
Providing hands-on experience is vital for the students, many of whom did not grow up near forests, according to Dr. Mike Messina, Texas A&M forest science professor.
"Students benefit greatly from this opportunity not only because of the ability to live and learn in the forest for five weeks, but also because of the opportunity to interact with their peers and to see A&M and SFA professors simultaneously teaching," Messina said.
Students also benefit from the variety of expertise. Fountain and Messina are joined in the teaching by Dr. Monty Whiting, SFA forestry and wildlife professor, and a variety of other forest researchers from both universities. The camp lasts for several weeks, so professors are scheduled throughout the session to cover topics from silviculture to ecology to measurements in both pine and hardwood stands.
And ultimately the invaluable lessons of seeing and being in the forest -- witnessing the beauty, fending off bugs and sizzling in humidity -- emerge in the student who melds book learning with reality.
"It is opening my eyes as to how hot it can be out here, and to what the first few years of my career probably will be like," said Benjamin Ballard, a Texas A&M senior from Plano. "I'm seeing that all the classes I've taken are fitting together out here in the woods."
Karlovetz agreed. "We are actually able to apply what we've learned in classrooms and see how silviculture fits with ecology, for example. I know that I actually am being educated," she said. Karlovetz plans to use her knowledge of forestry, and the hands-on experience, for a career in education and public relations, teaching children and other groups about forests.
Who could help but learn in such a setting? Lectures are done as the students squat on a cushion of pine needles, bracing their backs against pine trunks. A morning of walking through flora where no trails have been previously blazed is interrupted by sudden pop quizzes to measure the students' absorption of the material. But as effective are the impromptu exchanges about the natural setting that brings ecology into focus: Whiting stops the group to point out the remains of a virgin pine stump, showing evidence of how it was cut about 60 years ago with a crosscut saw so that the lumberjacks didn't have to bend over; Fountain lifts his hand to direct eyes high in the canopy where witch's broom -- a tree pathogen -- hangs in a loblolly pine.
For Texas A&M graduate student Wayne Masur of Rockdale, forest camp has solidified his decision to study forestry after getting an undergraduate degree in management/finance.
"Mainly, the fact is that you find out fairly early if it is something you want to do. This experience has been very challenging for me and helped me to decide that this is what I want to do," said Masur.
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