The Dabney S. Lancaster Community College Forest Management Technology Program is excited to finally be celebrating its Semicentennial on Friday and Saturday, April 1-2, with two days of event’s for the program’s more than 550 alumni, as well as activities for the public to join in on the fun, says Scott Reigel, Program Head.
The highlight of the event is Saturday’s 2022 Mid-Atlantic Woodsmen’s Competition, hosted by DSLCC on the Clifton Forge campus and featuring teams from five colleges. The lumberjack contests – from axe throwing and pole climbing to crosscut sawing and archery – begin at 8:30 am and continue through the day until 3:30 pm. Spectators are welcome.
Friday’s activities for alumni will include a trip for a private tour of the historic Bunker and roam the grounds at The Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, WV; a day being coached by nationally ranked local shooting sports competitor Makayla Scott; and learning sporting clay skills and having a 75 “skeet”/clay competition at the training facility for the Mountaineer Clay Crushers near White Sulphur Springs, WV.
Cliff View Golf Club is hosting a charity scramble golf tournament for Friday called “Forestry Fools’ yell FORE!” also open to the public. Team registrations will begin at 8:00am and Tee Time drawings at 8:30am. More information for the event can be found on the DSLCC Forestry Semicentennial Celebration website or by calling Cliff View Golf Club directly.
Friday will end with an Alumni Social event hosted at the Cliff View Golf Club Brewhouse. “A custom ‘logger’ menu, games, drinks, and a lot of good old fashioned story telling will be the theme for the evening,” says Reigel. Live music will be provided by Nashville-bound, Lexington, VA, native, Will Reid, a former DSLCC forestry student.
“Saturday’s activities are a must-see day trip to the main campus for everyone,” says Reigel. DSLCC Forestry will be hosting the 2022 Mid-Atlantic Woodmen’s Competition, with five schools competing in collegiate lumberjack sports.
“Even though college teams are in the process of rebuilding their programs after being shut down during COVID, it will be an intense competition, as always,” says Reigel. Contest events will begin at 8:30 am in the sports field area of the Clifton Forge main campus and will run through 3:30 pm. “DSLCC is one of the college programs competing in the woodsmen’s meet, so come out and cheer them on. Admission to the event is free and spectators are welcome.”
“I think it appeals to people because you’re seeing things being done the way they used to be done,” says Reigel. “It’s a bit of history on display.”
He added: “It’s exciting to watch the timed events, like the horizontal speed chop and the crosscut saw, as well as the accuracy events, like the axe throw and archery. Then there is the water boil competition, and who doesn’t like a little race with fire? The students really enjoy practicing and participating against own self as well as other teams.” There is also a dendrology contest, where the students must identify a variety of tree species.
The DSLCC team – composed of men and women, and not all of them are forestry students – will compete against teams from Alleghany College of Maryland, Haywood (NC) Community College, Penn State Mont Alto, and West Virginia University.
Reigel says the DSLCC team has performed well in past woodsmen’s competitions, and this year should be no exception. The last year that DSLCC hosted the woodsman’s event was in 2014. DSLCC was scheduled to host the event in April of 2020, but it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The DSLCC forestry program is celebrating 50 plus two years, noted Reigel.
Saturday’s festivities will include a variety of vendors, Log A Load For Kids Charity, Healing Waters Veterans fly fishing program, K9 officers from the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources and the West Virginia Division of Forestry, Island Wheels food truck, and much, much more!
DSLCC Forestry Notes 50th Anniversary
“We are excited to be celebrating 52 years of the Dabney Forestry program,” says Reigel. “It was established in 1969, and is the only two-year program in the state of Virginia accredited by the Society of American Foresters. We’re very proud of that and to have earned our 10 year reaccreditation as well.”
Reigel noted that DSLCC is uniquely situated to offer convenient field labs in hardwood forests, pine plantations, wetlands, and even urban locations. “Our students are exposed to a wide range of environments, they learn to run all the equipment, including our sawmill, and they learn about forest products, too. We are blessed to be able to be close to forest nature and forest products industry. It provides an unbelievable opportunity for our students.”
There are an estimated 556 graduates of the DSLCC forestry program; Reigel is hoping that many will be able to join in the celebration including the many past instructors and staff. To close out the celebration, there is a honorable alumni banquet schedule within the Moomaw Center on main campus. “It is surely going to be a celebration of the milestone,” says Reigel.