Auburn, August 15, 2002 --- A string of bad luck did not prevent the Tuscaloosa 4-H Forestry Judging Team from winning its seventh national championship at the 2002 National 4-H Forestry Judging Competition.

In fact, this year’s team won by one of the largest margins of any forestry judging team that has ever competed for the national title. And this occurred in spite of the fact that one team member almost did not make it because of a ruptured eardrum, while another was recovering from the recent removal of four wisdom teeth and another from laryngitis.

If this wasn’t bad enough, the events took a turn for the worse shortly before the competition when one recovering team member suffered a relapse and almost had to be brought home.

"For a while, I didn’t even think we would have a team," says Wayne Ford, Tuscaloosa County Extension coordinator, who has coached all of Tuscaloosa’s winning teams since 1984.

Even so, none of this prevented three of the team members -- Lisa Shaw, Amy Farnsworth and Kate Greene -- from placing first, second and third respectively in individual scores at this year’s competition, held July 28 through August 1 in Westin, West Virginia.

The other team member, Brandon Ligon, placed seventh. More than 120 kids representing 15 state teams participated in this year’s competition.

Indeed, despite all of the challenges the young people faced, they never wavered from the intensive study required to compete in the event.

"Every year, when you work with a team, you have to coach a little differently," Ford says. "And sometimes you’ve got to push a little harder."

"But with this team, I didn’t have to push them once. They really wanted it."

In fact, Ford says on several occasions, he literally had to order a few of the team members to bed who otherwise would have stayed up all night preparing for the competition.

"A couple of them made flash cards on everything they did," he recalls. "They even prepared study guides for the books they were studying to compete in the forestry quiz and knowledge bowl."

Preparations for national forestry judging competition require months of rigorous study covering topics as diverse as tree identification and measurement and using a compass for navigation. Team members are also required to be able to identify tree species throughout the United States.

They also are required to identify forestry pests both by their physical appearance and the type of damage they cause in trees.

Site evaluation is another important facet of the competition: Team members must demonstrate how well they can evaluate and manage a forest based on the needs of the forest landowner.

Contestants are also required to develop an understanding of topographic maps – a component of competition that was added only last year.

If this isn’t challenging enough, they must also master a wide array of forestry books and manuals to compete in a knowledge bowl that tests their skills in forestry and natural resources – small wonder why many forestry professionals equate participation in forestry judging with completing a college-level forestry course.

Jackson’s Mill, where this year’s national competition took place, holds historic significance for 4-H’ers. In addition to being the boyhood home of Civil War General Stonewall Jackson, it also was the site of one of the first 4-H camps in U.S. history.

This year also marks the eighth state championship for the Tuscaloosa Forestry Judging Team. Ironically, this year’s statewide victory came by the narrowest margins over second-place winner Clay County.