The Gilmer County Forestry Field Day sponsored by the West Fork Conservation District and hosted by Glenville State College was held on Thursday, May 14th. Two dozen students from Gilmer County High School, South Harrison High School, and Lincoln High School spent the day on the campus of GSC learning about forestry.
During the morning the students were split into small groups who rotated between learning stations with faculty members of the GSC Land Resources Department. Dr. Milan Vavrek, Associate Professor of Natural Resource Management, discussed plant propagation techniques. The students were taught compass use and how to operate hand-held GPS monitors by Rick Witte, GSC Instructor of Land Surveying. The students learned about plant identification, reforestation, and herbicides from GSC instructor Tom Snyder and retired Professor of Forestry Dr. Ed Grafton.

After lunch at Mollohan’s Restaurant in the Mollohan Campus Community Center, the students took a tour of the GSC campus, watched a video on Forest Technology, and learned about careers in Natural Resource Management.

“This is a great educational program which gives the high school students an opportunity to learn about natural resource management. The annual Forestry Field Day is also a nice recruiting tool for GSC that allows us to highlight our Land Resources Department to prospective students,” said Rick Sypolt, Glenville State College Professor of Forestry and Land

 Surveying and Department Chair.

This was the fourth consecutive year that the event was hosted by GSC. The West Fork Conservation District serves Doddridge, Gilmer, Harrison, and Lewis Counties.