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Alabama Forestry Invitational 2023 Contest

Little River Canyon June 2-3

Little River Canyon Center

Fort Payne, Alabama

Registration

  • Due May 2.
  • Complete in 4HOnline at v2.4honline.com.
  • $50 fee for participants and coaches includes food and t-shirt.
  • $30 fee for guests includes food.
  • No on-site registration. All attendees must register online.
  • Payment must be received no later than May 16.

Contest Preparation

The Alabama Forestry Manual and Study Guide and attached 2022–23 Club Year Information and Guidelines Addendum are used to prepare for the contest. This year, we will use the updated official species scoresheet for the Tree Species Identification portion of the contest. As a reminder, Junior division participants will not participate in the Forestry Quiz, Forestry Knowledge Bowl, Insect and Disease Species Identification, or Forest Evaluation. In addition, Junior division participants will receive a different scoresheet than Senior division participants with fewer trees for Tree Measurement.

Forms

A parent or guardian of each participant must complete and sign an Alabama 4-H Youth and Parent Consent Form. Completed consent forms may be submitted online or to the county Extension office.

Eligibility

4-H events are open to either active members of a chartered Alabama 4-H or FFA club that has experiential learning in regularly scheduled and planned meetings or 4-H members who wish to participate as an individual. Participation is limited to those members who are actively participating in the 4-H program and have been a member for a minimum of 90 days.

The Alabama 4-H club year begins on August 1 and ends on July 31. Eligibility is based on age prior to January 1 of the Alabama
4-H club year. To be eligible for 4-H, young people must be 9 years old and no older than 18 years old prior to January 1. The Alabama 4-H Age and Eligibility Chart will help families, volunteers, and staff to determine the divisions of 4-H membership.

Counties and clubs may bring as many individual competitors and teams as they choose for the junior and senior divisions as long as the teams within the same division are coached by different coaches, and at different times and locations.

Tentative Contest Schedule

Friday, June 2

  • 10:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. – Check-In
  • 10:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. – Contest and Lunch
  • 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. – Dinner

Saturday, June 3

  • 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. – Breakfast
  • 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. –  Education Program
  • 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. – Awards Program

Code of Conduct

All participants will be expected to follow the 4-H Code of Conduct.

Team Selection

The three- or four-member teams for each county or club must be designated prior to the state event. You must provide this information on the registration form, due May 2. Participants without a team may participate as individual competitors.

National Forestry Invitational

The winning senior team is eligible to represent Alabama at the 2023 National Forestry Invitational Contest in Weston, West Virginia, July 23 to 27.

Questions

For more information, contact Emily Nichols, state Extension specialist, at (334) 844-5509 or ekn0001@aces.edu.


Alabama 4-H Forestry Program 2022-23 Club Year Information and Guidelines

Read these contents carefully to best prepare for the 2023 Alabama 4-H Forestry Invitational State Contest.

Introduction to Alabama Forestry

The Alabama 4-H Forestry Program is designed to teach youth about native tree species, forest ecology, and how to manage forests. Youth ages 9 to 18 are eligible to participate in Alabama 4-H Forestry through independent study or as part of a club. In addition to learning natural resource management, youth benefit from developing life skills and meeting other people and professionals who have interests in natural resources.

The information in the manual is designed to teach concepts of forest habitat management and to prepare youth participants for the annual statewide Alabama Forestry Invitational competitive event. By learning how to identify species, read maps, traverse ground, and measure timber, we are building the foundation for problem solving and everyday decision making in the forest management field. Before making recommendations about forest management it is important to know all possible information about the landscape. On a designated site, we need to know how to navigate the area of land using a compass, how to interpret its features by looking at a map, how to estimate the volume of its trees by measuring its height and diameter, assess its health by identifying forest insects and/or diseases present, and evaluating its conditions by examining the soil, slope, damage, and types and ages of trees.

Forest managers must be able to inventory and evaluate the present condition of a habitat at a particular site and then be able to explain the condition to landowners and other interested individuals. Once the inventory is complete, a decision must be made as to how to manage the environment to improve the condition of the area. We define and detail relevant management practices in the manual that can be implemented to improve the habitat for certain forest management objectives. The forest evaluation activity (also known as senior site evaluation) provides experience with this decision making process.

Youth who participate in Alabama 4-H Forestry are equipped with the knowledge and skills to pursue natural resources career pathways and engage in citizen science and act as stewards of the environment. Participants are divided into two age divisions: Senior (ages 14 to 18) and Junior (ages 9 to 13). Senior participants may be eligible to participate in 4-H Forestry at the national level.

Learning the Material

The Alabama 4-H Forestry program and contest is organized into components that we refer to as activities: Tree Species Identification, Tree Measurement, Compass Traverse, Insect and Disease Species Identification (Senior division), Topographic Maps, Forest Evaluation (Senior division), and Forestry Knowledge Bowl (Senior division). In addition, Senior division participants participate in a Forestry Quiz at the contest to test their overall knowledge of forest-related content.

Learning the Forestry material requires time, dedication, and practice. This learning should take place through independent study and/or local forestry club practices. Participants should first read about and understand the Alabama forestry facts section of the manual. This section is important because it provides background information and a bigger picture of why forestry is so important in our state.

Once the basic concepts of forest environments are understood, you can proceed to learn about the different tree species, how to take their measurements, the different insects and diseases that can damage them, and identifying land features from a map perspective and on the ground estimates. At the senior level of participation, youth should be able to evaluate a forest site and make management recommendations.

Learning the forestry material should be fun. Youth leaders of clubs, parents, and assisting subject matter experts may use research-based videos, field guides, and other teaching materials to further learning. State foresters, Extension specialists and agents, and private industry professionals make good resources for helping to teach background knowledge and skills to youth participants.

Outside resources often aid in learning, but the Alabama 4-H Forestry Invitational state contest content will come from this addendum and the state manual and study guide. Please keep this in mind as you learn the material and prepare for the contest.

Alabama Forestry Contest Rules and Guidelines

Participants should review this 2022-23 Information and Guidelines addendum, study the manual, and be prepared before coming to the state event. Questions will not be allowed during the contest except for those related to contest procedure.

Contestants and Eligibility

The Alabama 4-H Forestry Invitational State Contest is open to active members of Alabama 4-H who have been a member for a minimum of 90 days. Any youth in Alabama can sign up for 4-H for free in their county of residence (or an adjacent county) and may choose to participate in Alabama Forestry as an individual participant or through a chartered Alabama 4-H club that has experiential learning in regularly scheduled and planned meetings.

The Alabama 4-H club year begins on August 1 and ends on July 31. Age eligibility is based on the age of the youth prior to January 1 of the Alabama 4-H club year. To be eligible for 4-H, the youth must be 9 years old and not older than 19 years old prior to January 1 of the Alabama 4-H club year. The Alabama 4-H Age and Eligibility Chart will help families, volunteers, and staff to determine the divisions of 4-H membership.

Please Note: An individual or team may win the Alabama 4-H Forestry Invitational State Contest only once during his/her 4-H and FFA career. For example, a team (or individual) may not compete as a 4-H team one year, then come back another year as an FFA team or individual.

Team Selection

Youth participants may participate in the state contest on their own as an individual representing their 4-H county, or as part of a team representing their 4-H county. The Tree Species Identification, Tree Measurement, Compass Traverse, Topographic Maps, and Insect and Disease Species Identification contest activities are all performed individually (not working together as a team), and therefore, youth participants are able to earn individual 1st through 5th place awards for each. The Forest Evaluation and Forestry Knowledge Bowl are the only contest activities performed together with team members.

An official team consists of three or four youth participants. A county may have as many individual participants or teams as they choose as long as teams within the same age division are coached by different coaches and at different times and locations.

Code of Conduct

All participants are required to follow the 4-H Code of Conduct.

General Contest Rules

Alabama 4-H Forestry Invitational State Contest rules vary from year to year and are specified at the time that the contest for that particular year is announced. Youth participants should know and understand all contest protocols and rules prior to participating in the state contest. The following are general contest rules and are subject to change:

  1. All participants must provide their own pen or pencil and clipboard.
  2. No electronic devices of any kind are allowed at the contest site.
  3. No talking by participants will be allowed during the contest, except when working on the designated team activity or as directed.
  4. Anyone caught cheating may be disqualified at the discretion of the State 4-H Forestry Planning Committee.
  5. All adults, except contest officials, will be separated from participants at all times while the contest is in progress.
  6. Participants will work independently on Tree Species Identification, Tree Measurement, Compass Traverse, Topographic Maps, and Insect and Disease Species Identification; the Forest Evaluation and Forestry Knowledge Bowl are team activities.
  7. Participant contest scoresheets will be submitted to a contest official immediately after completion of each activity.
    • Official committee members and helpers will grade the contest scoresheets and analyze the results. Their decision is final.
    • The team score will be the sum of the scores in the individual activities, plus the team score for the Forest Evaluation and Forestry Knowledge Bowl.
    • After the event, individual and team scores may be made available to team leaders.
  8. Distribution of awards is determined by the Alabama 4-H Forestry Planning Committee. Junior and Senior Division 4-H and FFA participants will typically be recognized as follows:
    • Team Awards: 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places by age division
    • Individual Awards: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th places for each individual activity by age division, as well as 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places for overall high individuals by age division
    • All participants will receive participation ribbons.

Tree Species Identification

Tree Species Identification 2022-23 Scoresheet

Tree Species Identification 2022-23 Scoresheet

The 2022-23 Alabama 4-H Forestry program and state competitive event will use an updated official species scoresheet for the Tree Species Identification portion of the contest. This scoresheet was used in the 2022 state contest. This list replaces the Practice Tree Identification Scoresheet in the state manual and study guide. Both Junior and Senior division participants will use the scoresheet to complete the event activity. This allows the participant to select the correct species from a list of names rather than record the name from memory.

The objective of Tree Species Identification is to test participant ability to identify tree species within various forest ecosystems in Alabama. This is an individual contest activity. The species represented in this activity are selected from the species list found in the state manual and study guide and on the updated scoresheet found on the following page.

Tree Species Identification Contest Rules:

  1. Participants are provided with a scoresheet containing the common names of each species on the official tree identification species list and are required to identify the tree species based on visual observations.
  2. Participants are allotted a specific amount of time to identify each species and provide their answer by recording the number of the corresponding tree on their scoresheet. They are not required to write out the name.
  3. Four points are awarded for recording the correct answer.

For practice, participants are encouraged to use credible field guides, websites, and resources to study each species.

General Reminders

Forestry Quiz This Senior Division quiz consists of true/false and multiple choice questions about trees and the forested environment. The questions are derived from the contents of the State Manual & Study Guide and the National 4-H Forestry Trees and Forests trainings: http://4hforestryinvitational.org/training/unitA.pdf and http://nrem.okstate.edu/Extension/Judging/UnitB.pdf/. The scores on this quiz determine the bracket seeding in the Forestry Knowledge Bowl.

Tree Measurement This activity requires all participants to identify trees, measure their diameter and height, and make necessary volume calculations. Junior and Senior Division participants use different scoresheets. Participants are required to identify and record the tree species from memory (no list provided).

Topographic Maps This activity requires all participants to interpret topographic maps. The questions ask them to identify symbols and land features, calculate the change in elevation between two points, measure the distance between two points, and determine the line of travel between two points (using their compass flat on the map). All symbols and features are selected from the official list.

Compass and Pacing This activity requires all participants to estimate ground distances between two points (by using the pacing method) and determine the direction of travel using a compass (azimuth). Each participant should determine the number of paces they take per 66 feet prior to the contest.

 


Emily Nichols, Extension Specialist, Auburn University

Revised February 2023, Alabama Forestry Invitational Contest, 4HYD-2423

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