Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 2, 1994 TAG: 9403020195
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By JOANNE ANDERSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
A few feet away, senior Will Liu sent an ax, blade over handle, to its mark on a 20-inch target 15 feet away. When he stepped away, Todd Rodgers, also a Tech senior, gripped his hunting knife between his right thumb and index finger and flung it overarm toward the same target.
Knife throwing is fun, he said, and "when you're mad at a professor, it's a good way to unwind."
While these Virginia Tech Forestry Club members were honing their physical skills, others were in the woods testing technical skills such as timber estimation, compass and pacing, and wildlife and tree identification.
All this activity on Sunday afternoon was in preparation for the 37th annual Conclave competition sponsored by the Association of Southern Forestry Clubs. Forty Tech Forestry Club members will travel to Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas in mid-March for the event.
It's the 24th year Virginia Tech has participated, according to club President Chris Harris, a senior from Mathews. When all the schools get together, "it's like one big family."
Virginia Tech club members participate mostly for fun and the camaraderie of getting together with others in forestry. "But some schools award class credit for practice and skill, so they're much more serious about the competition," said senior Chris Bradshaw.
Karen Owens, a junior majoring in industrial forest operations, and Diane Durrell, a junior majoring in forest resource management, are the club's coordinators this year.
There are 21 competitive events, and Tech has a representative in each one. There's a lot of light-hearted competition locally, but "the best person for each skill or technical category enters the contest at Conclave, except for the cross-cut sawing events," explained Owens. The cross-cut sawing contests include a women's team of two, a men's team of two and a Jack and Jill team, a man and a woman.
About half of the Forestry Club members are women, Owens said, and they compete best in contests where technical skill, not strength, is the biggest factor.
Each student going to Texas is responsible for paying the $65 entry fee. The club pays for transportation, and the school also contributes to expenses. The Forestry Club raises money by selling Christmas trees and truckloads of wood. Green wood is now available for $35 per pickup truckload, delivered and stacked. Call 951-1250 for more information.
The club also holds an annual dance called Timber Beast, and members participate in three other competitions with North Carolina State, Pennsylvania State and West Virginia State universities during the school year.
Greg Brown, dean of the College of Forestry and Wildlife Resources, said the club generates a lot of school spirit. It's a very active organization, "socially as well as academically."
by CNB