When fire ecology major Walter Schroth joined the University of Idaho Student Logging Crew in May, he quickly discovered his favorite part of the job – the challenge of using a chainsaw.
“But the most important thing is understanding how logging works,” Schroth said. “How production comes about, how we get paper, chairs, books – it all starts out in the woods with somebody with a chainsaw.”
Schroth, one of three students on the UI Student Logging Crew last summer, put his forest management skills to good use by felling, thinning and scaling trees, as well as learning to operate equipment in UI”s Experimental Forest.
The forest is a collection of eight properties in and surrounding Moscow that were gifted to the College of Natural Resources for teaching opportunities such as the logging crew. The crew works full-time in the summer and part-time in the fall.
Applications for the upcoming summer are accepted through the end of January. Experimental Forest Manager Robert Keefe said revenue from timber harvested from the Experimental Forest is put toward scholarships for College of Natural Resources students.
Schroth, a native of western Pennsylvania, said he had experience in the logging industry prior to applying for the crew. But to junior Nick Winner, experience is not necessarily a requirement when applying.
Winner, a double major in fire ecology and forest resources, joined the logging crew the summer after his freshman year.
Winner had no prior logging experience when he joined the crew, but said he became comfortable with operating a chainsaw through the summer.
“At the beginning, it would take us each like 10 minutes (to fall) a tree because you were just focusing on getting everything right,” Winner said. “It went from that to, at the end of the summer, three to five minutes to fall a tree.”
Brian Austin is the assistant manager of the Experimental Forest and was a member of the logging crew in the summer of 1999.
The crew first began in the summer of 1972 under the operation of Franklin Pitkin, the namesake of UI”s Pitkin Forest Nursery, Austin said. Pitkin saw the opportunity for a crew to utilize the forest as an educational resource where students could exercise what they were learning in the classroom.
While other institutions, such as Oregon State University and Montana State University, have similar experimental forests, Austin said student-logging crews are not as common.
“We”re not alone as one of these entities, but we have a for-hire student crew working on us, which is unlike many of the others,” Austin said.
Harold Obsorne | Courtesy
From left to right: Assistant Manager of the Experimental Forest, Brian Austin, stands beside members of the 2015 summer logging crew, Walter Schroth, Zach Mohr and Connor Rainey. Crew members work-full time schedules in the summer and part time in the fall.
Austin said he spends the majority of his time in the Experimental Forest guiding students through their technical training.
Although some don”t have much experience, he said students hired onto the crew are treated as professionals.
“They are expected to perform,” Austin said. “We ask all of them to push that limit, their own personal limit.”
While some can do 50 trees a day, for others, that target is five trees, Austin said.
“Everyone has a different target,” Austin said. “And all that I ask is you pursue that target.”
Although students are encouraged to challenge themselves with new techniques, Keefe said safety is the logging crew”s top priority. He said the crew allows students to gain hands-on experience in the forest – something that is difficult to teach solely in a classroom.
“For safety”s sake it”s really important that the team dynamic is there and people work well together,” Keefe said.
Schroth said the extensive safety training is not something he”ll soon forget.
“The No. 1 thing we are taught is to never be in a rush, whatsoever,” Schroth said. “No. 2 is if it starts to get bad, walk away, leave the tree standing.”
Students on the crew are paid $9.50 an hour, Keefe said. And while summer forestry jobs outside the university may pay more, they lack the research-based learning environment, he said.
“There”s things we have to offer that many others don”t,” Keefe said. “That can be a real advantage for students depending on their career goals or if they want to go to grad school.”
Despite the smaller paycheck, Winner said he found working with the UI logging crew well worth the educational experience.
Austin said during their time on the crew, he hopes students not only learn how to fall trees, but also that they acquire an understanding of the politics, communications and business operations that come with forest management.
“You”ll not only have figured out how to sharpen and use a chainsaw, but you understand more of the process about the landowner, the watersheds, the endangered species and how these all interact,” Austin said.
Austin said it feels good to work in a green industry, and that he goes home each night feeling good about what he and the crew accomplish.
“We”re in it for the long-term – as a university, as natural resource professionals and in developing the student body to be successful in their later years,” Austin said.
Lyndsie Kiebert can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @lyndsie_kiebert