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Association News

Pacific Forest Foundation Starts a Forest Scholarship Program

The Pacific Forest Foundation — a 501 c3 charitable foundation and the education arm of the Pacific Logging Congress (PLC) — set up a scholarship fund of $10,000 for the 2013-2014 year. This year, they awarded funds to five worthy students pursuing careers in the forest industry.

PLC Executive Director Rikki Wellman says, “These students are top notch and are very excited about furthering their education in our industry.”

Each student will receive a $2,000 Pacific Forest Foundation scholarship.

The recipients are:

• Bijan Sametz-Asgari - Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo, B.C.; Forest Resources Technology
• Renee Womack - University of Idaho; Forestry Operations and Fire Management
• Mychal Westendorf - Oregon State University; Forestry and Civil Engineering
• Nathaniel Melcher - Oregon State University; Forestry and Surveying
• Rachelle Raines - Humboldt State University; Forestry with an emphasis in Forest Operations and Production Management

The organization plans to award five to ten scholarships annually. Applications are accepted starting in January and must be submitted by April 15. For more information, visit pacificforestfoundation.org.

Double Victory

The AFRC (American Forest Resource Council) reported that, in June, District of Columbia federal district court Judge Richard Leon ordered the BLM to sell more timber and stop using a flawed computer model to predict owl use on the forests.

The Judge ruled that the BLM violated the O&C Act by failing to sell timber on its Medford and Roseburg (Oregon) Districts at the level specified in its existing resource management plans (RMPs).

For the Medford District, the declared annual sustained yield is 57 million board feet (mmbf), rather than the FY13 target level of 19 mmbf. For Roseburg, the level is 45 mmbf, not the FY13 target of 29 mmbf. The sustained yield numbers come from BLM’s 1995 RMPs.

The increase of 54 mmbf annually would create or retain nearly 500 forest sector jobs and an approximately equal number of indirect jobs, such as teachers, grocers, and car dealers.

ODF Honors Hagedorn Logging & TAT

At the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) Board of Forestry Public Meeting, George and Vanessa (OWIT President) Hagedorn of Hagedorn Logging in La Grande, were recognized as the Eastern Oregon Operator of the year.

The program recognizes operators who have excelled in effort, innovation, cooperation, consistency, and prevention to achieve or surpass the standards of forest resource protection.

At the same ODF meeting, the Mary Rellergert Forest Education Award, which recognizes three exceptional forest education programs, was presented. The recipients were Oregon Wood Magic, Marj Glass Forestry Education Program, and Talk About Trees for their excellence in education.