I remember being driven to my first forestry practice. I was in 7th grade, and knew I wanted to major in animal science. I asked why I had to go and learn trees because I was gonna work with animals. The answer I got was "because your dad was good at it." I was irritated. I didn't do that well that year, and I didn't see spending the time studying something I was never going to use. I made friends with my team and others at the competition and it became bearable. I even came back the next year!The next year came and my dad and I went on hikes and made flash cards to study. That year I fell in love with this, and it was enjoyable. I place first high individual at our regional competition and my team placed something like 5th at state. It opened my eyes to what all was around me. Trees were no longer just trees, they were red oak, silver maple, flowering dogwood, and so on.
When it came time to start college I gave up forestry and left it behind me, but the knowledge of trees that I know were stuck in my brain. I started into the animal science program at the University of Tennessee - Knoxville. So many people asked why I didn't go into forestry or wildlife, and were surprised to findout that animal science had always been the plan. I had no idea that the two fields would cross paths one day.
Well here I am in Arkansas, doing an internship at Riddle's Wildlife and Elephant Sanctuary. I was surprised to find out that tree id was somehting that I would get to learn here and have an oppurtunity to use. How? We go out everyday and cut browse for elephants and they can only eat certain tress, so your tree id needs to be good.
So thanks to my 4-H judging team I have been able to cut the right trees and feel confident about my capabilities to correctly identify trees! That skill I never thought I would use in my career field has come in super handy!
Comments
Post a Comment