I was in my hometown, Montesano, last week and marveled that the dentist’s office was next door to where I spent my first eight years on this planet.  The homes are much the same, and even the trees are the ones that leaped out to attack my brand new Schwinn ca 1952.  It felt good to be somewhere that is largely the same after fifty five years.

Much the same can be said about the College of Forest Resources.  Anderson Hall’s mangy old bull elk still glowers down on students.  Winkenwerder and Bloedell Halls still are far too modern to be in the same plaza with Anderson and I wonder why Dr. Driver’s Fomes annosus infected beams in Bloedel Hall haven’t collapsed. 

After that, however, little remains the same.  Computers replace slide rules and Wang calculators.  Cell phones replace hip-carried personal calculators.  Students are from urban areas where many past students were raised with cows and the deep woods.  LiDAR and GPS replaced the compass and level rod some time ago.  Students speak a different language than we did.  Professors teach subjects with a complexity that I wouldn’t have a prayer of mastering. 

Fifty five years is a very short time span, roughly one rotation of Douglas fir.  If we think change has come quickly over the past half century, where will it lead in the next?  Where do we all fit? 

There is a place in all this for young and old.  The real danger is that we “elders” will fail to embrace new directions and therefore remove ourselves from the discussion of how best to guide change.  That doesn’t mean we have to agree with, or even understand any given change, but we should give it a chance while we work to ensure change is made for the right reasons. 

There is a tendency for those my age class and beyond to look for the nearest foxhole to hide while change rolls over us.  I know the feeling.  No matter how painful, however, we owe today’s students more than that.  We own them our experience, the good, the bad and the ugly, so that maybe they won’t make the same mistakes we did.  And, remember, the mangy old bull elk still watches from his lofty perch.

Garb Day
Garb Day is alive and would benefit from more support by alums.  It is interesting to note that for all the change (see President’s message) we encounter, some things from the past still are important to today’s students.  This year’s Garb Day is on 19 May, at Pack Forest.  You will see more details elsewhere but I encourage one and all to partake in this long-standing event.  What a perfect way to celebrate our centennial!

Gala
Our centennial year, is upon us, and plans are being laid for a major celebration that will include the annual banquet, demonstrations of the College’s various functions and rooms set aside for those of us who might want to come early on Thursday night or stay over on Friday night.  Plans for the Gala are currently set for Friday, November 2nd . 

Our College is incredibly rich in history and we have every right to be proud of that history.  If you don’t believe me, go outside and look at the Olympics or Cascades.  Most of those trees are there because someone planted them, nurtured them, protected them from fire, pestilence or disease.  Along the way, many of those trees were harvested to make products used by people across the world, then replanted for the next crop. 

Those same forests are home to thousands of plants and animals that need the same nurturing.  Foresters and land managers trained by our College are learning the latest methods of doing better what was done in the past, just as future generations will do an even better job of nurturing our forests.  But for now, it’s time to celebrate the last one hundred years.  Come join us as we do it in grand style.

Board Profile: Alicia Robbins
Alicia arrived at CFR in the fall of 2001 to pursue a M.S. in forest economics. After completing her M.S., and a M.A. in international studies at the UW’s Jackson School, she took a staff position at CFR, becoming program manager for the Center for Sustainable Forestry at Pack Forest. One of her favorite projects was working with the alumni association on the Arbor Day Fair. Realizing the importance of participating in the alumni association, she now serves as a trustee, representing the 2000-2009 cohort.

This past fall, she left her staff position to return to student status, beginning work toward a PhD in the sustainable resource management program at CFR. She is also a fellow in the UW Multinational Collaborations on Challenges to the Environment IGERT program. She has eight years of experience working in international and domestic natural resource management issues; prior to coming to CFR, she held a position at the World Resources Institute. She also sits on the board of directors for the Northwest Natural Resource Group. Her interest is in incentives-based mechanisms for natural resource management and hopes to contribute to the development of markets for ecosystem services. Alicia received her B.A. from Columbia University.

Silvicultural Challenge
On March 9 and 10 a Silvicultural Challenge was held at Pack Forest between teams of students from the School of Forestry, University of British Columbia and the U.W. College of Forest Resources.   The idea was to provide a real life practical problem, to encourage students to work in teams to obtain an effective solution, to have some fun and increase contact between students from UBC and UW and, oh yes, to WIN!  The Alumni Association has provided a trophy that will be competed for alternate years in Washington State and British Columbia.  The judges were Joe Kane, Nisqually Land Trust, Jeff Madsen, Port Blakely Tree Farm and Tim McBride, Hancock Forest Management.

This year’s problem was provided by the Nisqually Land Trust who manage a tract of steep land at … along the edge of Mount Rainier National Park.  The forest comprises mixed species much of it in 40-50 year stands.  The challenge was to develop a silvicultural plan to provide forest conditions suitable as northern spotted owl and marbled murrelet habitat and, at the same time, provide revenue over successive years for management of the land and to contribute to the local forest industry.

Students were in teams of three, two teams from both UBC and UW.  Background information and details of the question were given to the students early in the week so that there had been opportunity for them to gather important information.  Students from UBC traveled from Vancouver in time to gather at Pack at 2pm and the rest of the Friday afternoon was spent walking and cruising the forest.  Teams developed their solutions in time to make presentations to the judges on Saturday afternoon.  Much of the work was in identifying those stands that might provide yield and those that would provide effective habitat, deciding how timber might be extracted, and ensuring a plan that would be visually acceptable in an area extensively used by visitors to the Park. 

And the winners were … UBC!  The judges were particularly impressed with the winning team’s schedule for providing a revenue stream, but all teams were complimented on their innovative approaches to the range of problems that were posed.  UW will need to go and win this trophy from the Canadians next year.