Into the Forest... and beyond

Forestry and Wood products day is almost always cold and wet! At least it didn't snow (too much) this year. We went with Dennis Carlson (Hood River County Forestry Dept.) to some county land that had been clear cut several years ago. We talked about how the county manages its land. Most of the money from timber sales goes into the county's general fund to pay for things like roads, schools, and other infrastructure needs. Dennis explained the way the county "harvests" trees on an 80-year cycle. After an area is clear cut, they plant seedlings so that in 80 years they can come back and harvest again!

We used an increment borer to determine the age of a tree without cutting it down! We also discussed the diversity of the forest... grand fir, noble, fir, douglas fir, cedar, ponderosa pines and a variety of deciduous trees make for an healthier ecosystem than a proliferation of a single type of tree. The HRC Forestry Dept.'s biggest challenge is managing the lands for "mixed use" - hiking, mountain biking, dirt biking, horse back riding and other human activities in addition to timber harvesting raise very interesting issues and often intense discussions.

After our trip into the forest, we went to Krieg Millworks to see what happens to the trees after they're cut and milled. Krieg's sells dimensional lumber and other wood products for home construction. We learned all about plywood, chipboard and oriented strand board (OSB) and their various uses. It was raining pretty hard at this point so we tried to stay undercover... and everywhere we went smelled like forest - fresh, piney and a little wet!

Lunch was provided by Quizno's Subs (which was a huge hit) and we got it delivered to Don Nunamaker Realtors where we learned about real estate markets. More than that we learned about the importance of having and maintaining good credit! Don Lariza, of Financial Center Mortgage, gave a presentation on the current sub-prime lending crisis and explained how and what happened to create such a mess! We asked some pretty tough questions but, he answered them all with expertise.

On our way back to HRVHS, we stopped a several new homes in various states of completion. A few of the places where built with "green" building standards - using solar water heaters, energy efficient appliances, etc. That was pretty interesting due to the fact that some of the students are studying the impacts of human development on the planet! A BIG thanks to Risa Wonsyld, of Don Nunamaker Realtors for setting up the day and for driving with us! By the time we got back to school it was sunny and beautiful -- Aaaah, Hood River!