CHILLICOTHE, OH - More than 250 students and teachers are expected to attend a sawmill demonstration that will benefit their schools as part of Chillicothe's 2004 Arbor Day celebration.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Forestry and Huntington Hardwoods will conduct a sawmill demonstration as part of the Chillicothe City Parks & Recreation Department's Arbor Day celebration in Yoctangee Park on Friday, April 30, 2004, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
This will be the eighth annual event for fourth-grade classes from the Chillicothe City Schools. The event culminates with the planting of new trees in Yoctangee Park, and an Arbor Day proclamation by Chillicothe Mayor Joe Sulzer.
State Service Foresters Lee Crocker and Mark Rickey will lead students in a discussion of wood products as renewable and vital natural, environmental and economic resources. Travis Grubb, owner of Huntington Hardwoods, will saw logs on his company's portable sawmill. The Division of Forestry's Scioto Trail State Forest and Tar Hollow State Forest, both located in Ross County, are providing the logs. All boards sawn on Arbor Day will be donated to the Chillicothe City Schools Industrial Arts program, directed by Bob Recko. The boards will be used for student projects at the junior high & high school. As the fourth-graders look on, some of Mr. Recko's high school students will also observe the sawing process, and then help in stacking the wood, raking sawdust, and discussing the final product (boards) and the growth factors that influenced them. Last year's sawmill demonstration with Huntington Hardwoods yielded about 800 board feet of lumber for the schools.
The ODNR Division of Forestry manages 20 state forests on more than 185,000 acres, spanning parts of 21 counties. Using Best Management Practices (BMPs), state foresters demonstrate proper timber management within these forests and assist private landowners with sustainable forest management on their woodlands. Benefits of these properly-managed forests include timber, improved forest health, biodiversity, wildlife habitat, aesthetics and recreational opportunities.