October 19, 2009

Entering the Final Stretch
by Cori Stanek

It’s been another full week at Northwest Connections as Landscape & Livelihood starts to wind down. With just over a week left we’ve spent the last few days wrapping up courses and tying up loose ends.

Monday and Tuesday marked the final push for Forests & Communities. On Monday the L&Lers had the opportunity to spend a day with three independent logging and restoration contractors that live and work in the valley: Paula Walsh, Kvande Anderson, and Mark VanderMeer. It proved to be an inspirational day, and helped place faces with local economies that are built and supported by timber management. Meeting with such admirable individuals also provided students a glimpse of the true grit required when establishing a livelihood on small-scale resource management.

Local logger Kvande Anderson answers student questions while out on a sale he has been contracted for.

Paula Walsh, another local logger explains her methods to the L&Lers.

The following day we continued with our theme of small-scale timber economy headed north to RBM Lumber in Columbia Falls. It was a cold and rainy day but spirits were sparking and minds were reeling as Ben Thompson, part-owner of this family-run business, gave a tour of the mill and talked with students about the ethics that drive RBM’s logging and milling practices.

On tour at the RBM Lumber mill in Columbia Falls.

Evelyn Thompson runs the head-rig at RBM.

With Forests & Communities drawing to a close, we turned back to Biogeography on Wednesday for a day out in the field with David Cronenwett. The day’s theme was Ethnobotany and students spent the afternoon learning about traditional and medicinal uses of local flora as well as picking up a few handy holiday skills—making cattail dolls, grass rings, and medicinal salves.

Cattail Ring	Will Bennington pours Oregon Grape-Yarrow-Usnea salve into tins for cooling.
Cattail Dolls

After a few days of final words, review, and discussion it was time for evaluation!

On Saturday the students were broken into pairs and sent off for their final in Biogeography, Field Skills, and Watersheds. It was Field Practicum day! The practicum is an all day course through six different stations that tested the L&Lers’ skills in navigation, stream typing, timber cruising, first aid, field journaling, and orienteering. Everyone did swimmingly assessing landscapes, saving lives, and finding their way around the surrounding property.

Asha Bienkowski and Dan Murphy run through their ABCs (Airway, Breathing, Circulation) at the first aid station on the Field Practicum.

The wrap-up continued yesterday with a mock community meeting for Forests & Communities. All 12 L&Lers were given a specific role (and secret agenda) to play out in a mock planning meeting for newly acquired community forest lands. As moderated by instructors Melanie Parker and Mo Bookwalter, the role-play brought issues of livelihoods, ecology, and forest management to a head and gave students the space to sort through all of the stakes involved in collective land management. It was a draining, invigorating, and resounding perfect end to Forests & Communities.

With just over a week left, the students are turning their full attention to their independent Community Conservation Research Projects. For a brief introduction to their projects and the CCRP project as a whole see Northwest Connections’ latest Eye on the Environment article in the Seeley-Swan Pathfinder:

“Students Get the Opportunity to 'Dig Into' the Valley”