sw international educators institute 2011€¦ · canadian fellow khurram sheikh finished his...
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4033 SW Canyon Road
Portland, Oregon 97221 USA
Phone: 503‐488‐2130
Fax: 503‐228‐4608
http://wfi.worldforestry.org
WFI Staff
Sara Wu, WFI Director
503‐488‐2130
Chandalin Bennett,
WFI Program Manager
503‐488‐2137
Rick Zenn, Senior Fellow
503‐488‐2103
WFI Fellows
Kwangho Baek, South
Korea
Gabriel Salako, Nigeria
gsalako@ worldforestry.org
Chia‐Chen Wu, Taiwan
Tim Sanders, Australia
Ning Hou, China
Volume 10 Issue 4, August 2011
International Educators Institute 2011 home?” This question spurred the dialogue for the rest of the week with participants think-ing and talking about specific work challenges and how to make better decisions regard-ing them. Using a daily struc-tured framework to think about a program, project, or some aspect of their work, participants would break out into teams to discuss and gather feedback from each other. The work teams were the cap-stones of the daily field excur-sions that the group were led on each day. Mt. St. Helens, Warm Springs Indian Reser-vation, Wind River Experi-mental Forest, and other places were visited and tours were provided by the expert professionals who live and work there. Along with seeing the sites and gaining new per-spectives of forests and for-estry, one of the most valuable things that IEI gave partici-pants during the week was time. Time to think and give real consideration to work projects,
evaluation of p r o g r a m s they imple-ment or to the research they do.
For one week of every year, some of the nation’s best envi-ronmental educators gather together along with the nota-ble researchers from the World Forest Institute to learn from each other the best prac-tices in environmental educa-tion. The International Educa-tors Institute (IEI) is a pro-gram developed and hosted by the World Forestry Center and has been running since 1996. IEI has the goal of actively engaging participants to share, learn and understand the role they have with the natural environment and the scholas-tic community. It’s really about ‘teaching the teachers’ and helping them become bet-ter educators. The 6-day work-shop was held in mid-July this year with a dynamic group of people representing 10 differ-ent countries and 8 states around the nation, including three national Project Learn-ing Tree Outstanding Educa-tors of the Year winners. The workshop started with the question “what are you going to do different when you get
Ultimately, this program comes down to the people. “It’s the wealth of knowledge from the other participants that is the reason I wanted to come. Not the trees, weather, tour plans, or coursework, but the people,” commented Sandy from South Carolina. Getting quick responses and new ideas from other partici-pants is the true value of any gathering and this year’s IEI was a huge success in that respect. Ideas and knowledge flowed easily and the knowl-edge gained by the end of the week was obvious. When asked at the end of the week the same question they started the week with – “what are you going to do different when you get home?” – the re-sponses were thoughtful, but immediate; there was no doubt that the time spent for this week had an impact on their lives and will have an impact on the lives of their students and colleagues for a long time to come.
A hike along Eagle Creek helped the group learn more about forests of the region.
The group gathered at Trillium Lake to try to get a glimpse of Mt. Hood.
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Family Forestlands—Big and Small Alumni Updates WFI recently had the oppor-
tunity to visit two different family forestlands in the area. One was the well-known Starker Forests based in Corvallis, Oregon who own and actively manage approximately 80,000 acres throughout Western Oregon. The other visit was to Anne and Richard Hanschu’s Lit-tle Beaver Creek Tree Farm, which is about 200 acres in size near Forest Grove, Ore-gon. On their visit to Starker For-ests, Fellows were treated to an introduction of the com-pany by owners and opera-tors Barte and Bond Starker. They are a company of 21 employees, many of which have been working there for over 20 years. With a trans-parent business model and property that is completely open to public use and en-joyment, Starker Forests encourages community in-volvement and input into their business. “No company secrets” is one of their keys to success.
Silviculturalist Mark Gour-ley took the group on a tour of the property. The first stop was to a stand harvested last year that was replanted in an experimental fashion with nursery stock from sev-eral different locations. They are trying various nutrient
treatments on different seedlings (species and stock) to test what might grow best on this site. Mark, who is encouraged by the Starkers to think creatively and try new things on the land, says that they should be “…on the bleeding edge of technology, rather than the cutting edge.” In fact, the tour was full of visits to exciting new trial sites within their forest. One stop was to a site that was one of three plots where 16 different conifer spe-cies were planted and are being monitored for their growth and response to environmental vari-ables. This was done in part as a response to threats from Swiss needle cast disease in the Doug-las fir plantations.
While we toured site to site via 4-wheel drive vehicle at Starker Forests, we toured the Han-schu’s property all on foot, walking from site to site. The entryway to the Hanschu’s property, complete with a cov-ered picnic area, is next to a stand of 75 year old timber that came up from natural regenera-tion. There were however sev-eral areas on their farm that have been planted. Stands of
western red cedar and Pon-derosa pine were present – the cedar for the current market and the pine for the hopeful ‘futures’ market. There was also a very healthy 9-year old Douglas fir stand with underplanted cedar to keep the Phellinus at bay – something all West-ern Oregon foresters must deal with. One of the inter-esting projects they are working on is growing tim-ber for the pole market. The specifications for a pole tim-ber are very specific. Rich-ard explained having to make sure they grew very straight and that they needed to have two inches of sap-wood on them. Lots of work they said, but definitely a good market if you can grow them right. The Hanschu’s very obvi-ously love what they do and are passionate about being good stewards of their land and good forest managers. Much like the Starker fam-ily, the Hanshcu’s aim to have a healthy and produc-tive forestland that can also be enjoyed by visitors. Re-gardless of the size of the land base, it is obvious that both families take pride in forest ownership and ‘keeping it in the family’ is a business model that is work-ing for the family and for the forest.
Mark Gourley from Starker For-ests (right) toured WFI around their property.
WFI and the Hanschu’s enjoyed a great day in the woods.
We were happy to hear from Nor-wegian IEI Alumnus Bjørn Helge Bjørnstad (2004) after the awful terrorist attack there in July. He reported that him and his family are safe, but were deeply saddened by the event. “A mad man made this possible, but we will stand up for our values and continue the efforts to make the peoples voice to be heard. And we will continue to support positive learning activi-ties all around the world!” Bjorn is the International LEAF Coordinator for the Foundation for Environmental Education within the Forest Extension Institute in Norway.
From left: Tim Sanders (Australia), Chia-Chen Wu (Taiwan), Gabriel Salako (Nigeria), Rainer Hummel, Maki Shiina, Susan Parsons, Ning Hou (China), and Sara Wu.
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WFI Director Sara Wu and current Fellows visit with alumni Maki Shiina of Japan (1995) and Rainer Hummel of Germany (1995). Also visiting for the day was former WFC employee Susan Parsons, who worked in Merlo Hall for many years.
Richard Hanschu explains how to harvest and extract pole timber from his forest.
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Whirlwind Tour of Private, Public, and Community Forestry Recent Events
Canadian Fellow Khurram Sheikh finished his program in late August. Here for six months, Khurram focused his research on learning about the practical manage-ment of invasive species control in the urban environ-ment. Interviews with city, county and state land manag-ers along with site visits all helped inform Khurram of the latest issues and manage-ment techniques for the top invaders of our region. He returned to Toronto in hopes of putting his new found knowledge to work back home.
Pakistani Fellow Ghazala Yasmeen also departed at the
end of August. Ghazala was here for a year and studied the relationship between forest fires and climate change. Her focus was in trying to determine if there was a corollary effect of increased incidence and se-
verity of forest fires with in-creased temperate over time. Ghazala leaves WFI for a full time position as an environ-mental manager - a position we know she will succeed in.
We wish Khurram and Ghazala the best of luck and much success in the future.
A visit with Bill Lecture, forester for The Nature Conservancy, proved to be an exciting event as the WFI group was led to a stand of old growth cedar trees that are estimated to be between 800 and 1,000 years old. The cedar grove is within TNC’s Ellsworth Creek Preserve, a 8,000 acre preserve, near Willapa Bay. Nestled next to a national wildlife refuge, Bill explained to the group the forest management strategies for both TNC and national wildlife refuge land.
As massive as a redwood, these old growth cedar trees were impressive to see amongst the much younger forest grown up around them. From left: Bill Lecture (TNC), Gabriel Salako (Nigeria), Chandalin Bennett (WFI), Ning Hou (China), and Tim Sanders (Australia).
Tim Sanders (Australia) stands by one of the massive western red cedars, providing scale on the size of the tree. Ghazala Yasmeen (Pakistan)
WFI alumnus Rainer Hum-mer led Fellows through a spectrum of forest manage-ment regimes on a one-day tour in the Columbia River Gorge.
The first stop was a mill in Bingen, WA, SDS Lumber. They produce lumber and plywood products on site and have been operating since 1946. They currently own about 70,000 acres of land in Oregon and Wash-ington that they source much of their timber from, al-though they do buy from some private and state enti-
ties as well. Along with producing high quality prod-ucts, they also have a stream plant which generates en-ergy for use at the mill and is also sold on the open market.
Upon leaving the mill, WFI made a quick stop at Condit Dam along the White Salmon River. This dam is in the process of being re-moved, which will provide critical fish passage to upper watersheds. Yakama Nation fish biologist Greg Morris chatted with the group about monitoring efforts and all the benefits this dam removal
will bring.
A short stop at family-run Husum Tree Farm, was followed by a visit to Mt. Adams Resource Stewards (MARS), a community forestry group in Glenwood, WA. Formed in response to concern over the future economy and sustainabil-ity of the community and
its natural resources, MARS hopes to protect the land base in the region, which is one of its’ greatest assets. The MARS Director gave fellows a tour of a patch of forest that is part of the first 100 acres that was purchased by the non-profit organization. “You don’t hear about community forestry too much in the United States,” stated Nigerian Fellow Gabriel Salako. He went on to say that it is a model that works well in other countries and was impressed by the start up here.
Khurram Sheikh (Canada)
WFI Says Goodbye to Two Fellows
WFI Program Manager and Fellows meet with MARS Director Jay McLaughlin in Glenwood, WA.
A short break along Rattlesnake Creek on Husum Tree Farm gave the group a change to talk with fish biologist Greg Morris.
week-long forest study tour in the Pacific Northwest. The hands-on exchange of “best practices” was paramount. Later, to strengthen the con-nection between the education and research programs at the World Forestry Center, all WFI international fellows were invited to participate in the tour. By 2011, more than 200 leaders from 35 countries and 36 states had benefited from the type of experiential training Paul envisioned. Paul McCracken was also the leading advocate for develop-ing high quality educational materials that could be used by teachers and students who might not visit the Northwest. In 2008, in a ground breaking partnership with the American Forest Foundation Project in Washington, D.C., the World Forestry Center published a comprehensive 150-page book
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In Memory of Paul McCracken Recent Events It is with great sadness that we
report long-time director and friend Paul N. McCracken passed away on July 25. He was 83. Paul’s passing is one of many among the World Forestry Center’s Board in recent years, including John Hamp-ton, Ned Hayes, Sam Wheeler, and Donna Woolley. All were key members of our organiza-tion who were pioneers of industry and supporters of their communities. Paul and his family have been active at the World Forestry Center for three decades. Paul served as Chairman of the World Forestry Center Execu-tive Board in the 1990s and later as chairman of the Cen-ter’s Education and Tree Farm Committee. Paul and his col-leagues at the Tumac Lumber Company were always gener-ous with their time and advice and sponsored WFC programs, espe-cially those involving children and educators. Paul and his brother Robert McCracken were both honored by induc-tion into the Center’s prestigious Memorial Hall. Paul also served as chair of the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commis-sion and was recognized earlier this year with the Allan Kelly Award from the Oregon Wildlife Heritage Foundation. With Paul’s support in 1996, the Center hosted the first International Educators Institute (IEI). The original idea was to bring together a select group of scientists and leading teachers from around the world for a
called Global Connections: Forests of the World. Ten thousand copies are now in print and more than 30 states have reported using the World Forestry Center maps and materials in training programs for educators and natural resource profession-als. For many years, Paul and sons John and Peter McCracken personally guided tours for IEI and WFI visitors through the McCracken Woodlands for-est properties in the Oregon Coast Range. Always dem-onstrating their love of the land, commitment to science-based management, and passion for conservation, these trips proved to every-one present that the McCrackens were “walking the talk.”
From the board room to the class-room, and from the urban jungle to his beloved lakes, rivers and streams, Paul was the consummate teacher. We ap-preciate the entire family’s generous support over the years, especially from Paul’s gra-cious wife Sally McCracken, and we will all miss Paul’s quiet lead-e r s h i p a n d thoughtful guid-ance.–Rick, Sara and Chandalin
Several Fellows take advantage of the summer months by taking vacations to popular destinations in the western US.
The WFI Speaker Series starts up again as we have many Fellows nearing the completion of their programs.
Save the dates below and be sure to join us for great presentations and thoughtful discussion on a variety of forestry-related topics.
Thursday, October 13 Gabriel Salako, Nigeria Wednesday, October 19 Tim Sanders, Australia Thursday, October 27 Chia-Chen Wu, Taiwan
Paul McCracken on the North Fork Nehalem River with IEI teachers explaining cooperative fish inventory projects in the summer of 1997.
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Top: Chia-Chen Wu (Taiwan) vis-ited Yosemite NP - one of seven national parks he visited. Bottom: Kwangho Baek (Korea) and his family visited Redwood NP in N. California - also one of seven na-tional parks he visited.