20 Four-Person Teams	Jeremy Solin jeremy.solin@uwsp.edu 715-346-4907

• To prepare individuals and teams to competitively participate in the National FFA Forestry Competition.

Event Format

Contestants must come to Madison prepared to work in adverse weather conditions, since the contest will be conducted regardless of weather. Contestants are advised to bring jackets, rain gear and adequate footwear.

All written materials will be furnished for the contest. Contestants must provide clipboards and No. 2 pencils (no pens, please). Calculators are allowed. Each four-person team is required to bring a Silva Ranger compass or one of comparable quality. All other tools and equipment will be provided.

Knowledge and Skills Needed

1. Ability to work in teams.
2. Ability to define and correctly use forestry terms.
3. Working understanding of the terms and principles of forest biology, forest ecology, forest pathology, forest management and silviculture, forest measurements and urban forestry.
4. Familiarity with forestry in Wisconsin, especially the size and types of forest industries located here, types of forest communities and common forest practices in the state.
5. Ability to identify major trees found in the Lake States forests. This includes the ability to identify trees from foliage, stem and seed samples as well as by bark and growth habit.
6. Ability to identify forestry hand tools and equipment and their uses. This includes tools in measurement and scaling, harvesting, planting and safety.
7. Ability to take a forest inventory. This includes map reading, using a compass, pacing, and cruising standing timber for diameter, height, species and volume.
8. Familiarity with forest operations, contracts, and ability to compute profit, loss and taxes.

The contest is organized into 2 sub-tests. One of these is a written exam conducted inside and one field exam conducted outside. Transportation to the outdoor site will be provided as needed. We anticipate that it will take 2 hours to complete both sub-tests.

There are two indoor exams.

General Knowledge (75 points): This is a multiple choice, true/false exam of between 50 and 75 questions. It will emphasize silvics, forest ecology and silviculture. Secondary emphases will include forest economics, measurements and forest health.

Forest Business Management (75 points): This exam asks teams to complete typical forestry-related calculation. This exam will use a timber harvesting, reforestation, or other forestry example to calculate per-acre, per-total area, and per-event values based on typical forestry measurements (e.g., total board feet, survivability, total cost per acre, etc.). These calculations will be used to select andjustify between different management alternatives. In completing this exam, short answers knowledge questions related to the specifidc forestry topic will also be included (e.g., What is the difference between forwarding and skidding?).

Each year, one of three possible field exams (tree and shrub identification, timber cruising, compass course) will be selected. Teams should come prepared in all three skills as they will only learn of the skill area to be tested on the day of the event. With the exception of the tree and shrub identification, contestants can work individually or as a group. The tree identification exam will be scored individually. Scores are evaluated individually and team scores are a summation of the individual scores. Consequently, participants are cautioned that common answers will have a triplicate effect on the scores. Participants should be encouraged to record the answers they believe are correct.

Tree and shrub identification: Contestants will be shown 15-20 trees and shrubs in a forested and/or landscaped settings. Contestants will be expected to identify each plant by common name. Only species found in the publication, Forest Trees of Wisconsin , will be selected for identification.

Timber Cruising: Using a Biltmore tree-scale stick (provided by contest supervisors), each contestant will measure between 10 and 13 pre-numbered trees for cord volume, board foot volume or both as specified by the contest superintendent. Each contestant must record the species, DBH, merchantable height and board foot or cord volume of each tree. Field identification of tree species is required. The hypsometer reading will be to the nearest 1/2 log (8 feet) for saw log and nearest stick for pulpwood. Volume tables will be provided for both saw timber and pulpwood.

The following minimum diameters will be in effect:

Compass Course: Contestants will use a hand compass and pacing to determine "property lines" on a tract of land. The compass course will have 7 to 10 marked stations. Contestants will start at point 1 and record the compass reading and distance to point 2. The procedure will be the same between all stations, i.e., 2 to 3, 3 to 4, etc. While most compass readings will be recorded in azimuths, contestants should be familiar with the notation of bearings and should know the relationship between bearings and azimuths.

General knowledge

Primer on Wisconsin Forests (from UW-Extension Basin Education website) http://basineducation.uwex.edu/woodland/primer/index.htm

Frequently Asked Questions about Wisconsin 's Forests (from the Wisconsin Forestry website) http://www.wisconsinforestry.org/webtemplate.php?section=10&linkname=faq

Wisconsin's Governor Council on Forestry www.wisconsinforestry.org/council.php

Tree Identification

LEAF Tree Identification Key www.uwsp.edu/cnr/leaf/treeid.htm

Forestry Tools

Forestry Suppliers – Forestry, Firefighting, and Tree Planting Equipment and Tools www.forestry-suppliers.com/drilldown_pages/mast_cat.asp?mc=1

Compass Course

Navigation with Map and Compass (from Geocities Outdoor Recreation Resources Directory) www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Falls/9200/navigation_map_compass.html

Forest Management and Measurements

Bring on the Biltmore (from Purdue University ) www.agriculture.purdue.edu/fnr/stoutwoods/act_biltmore.html

Forest Fact Publications http://forest.wisc.edu/extension/forfact.htm

No. 38 “What Will a Forest Tree Earn?”
No. 39 “What's a Forest Tree Worth?”
No. 42 “What is a Board Foot?”
No. 43 “What is Basal Area?”
No. 44 “What is a Cord?”

Tree Planting

Forest Fact Publication No. 41 “A Brief Look at Tree Planting” http://forest.wisc.edu/extension/forfact.htm