Learning tools of the trade

Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Joseph Cyr
BUILDING BRIDGES — Region 2 students Hugh Farrar, left, and Caleb McGary drill holes in a timber as part of a temporary bridge construction workshop held Thursday in Oakfield.
By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
    OAKFIELD — Students in the Region 2 forestry class gained some valuable hands-on experience Thursday as they participated in a workshop sponsored by the Maine Forest Service.
    According to Dan Jacobs of the Maine Forest Service, his group partnered with the Maine Sustainable Forestry Initiative and Katahdin Cedar Log Homes to build portable bridges to be used by loggers harvesting wood. The bridges can used by loggers to help get lumber out of the woods on skidders, Jacobs explained. The mobile bridges are used to cross over streams on skidder trails.
    Students built a 16-foot bridge out of 8×8 timbers for a private landowner, while loggers constructed a 20-foot bridge made of 10×10 timbers as part of the workshop. That bridge will be available to loan out by Katahdin Cedar Log Homes in Oakfield.
    “These bridges are portable and can be reused,” Jacobs explained. “They can be used on multiple harvest operations. We work with the Region 2 program throughout the year on different forestry projects. Whenever we have a workshop, I invite the Region 2 class to come and gain some valuable experience.”
    Jacobs said a large number of the students in the Region 2 program go on to either study forestry in college or move directly into the forestry industry.
    “These types of workshops give students the skills they will need to use in the workforce,” he said.
    Pat Sirois of the Sustainable Forestry Initiative said the goal of the workshop was to provide information on ways to preserve the land to those who are working in the woods.
    “Our goals are to provide education and information to those in the woods on best practices,” Sirois said. “One of the best practices they can use is using temporary bridges to cross streams instead of permanent bridges. These are far more environmentally friendly.”
    “It was a lot of fun,” said Caleb McGary of Houlton, a student in the Region 2 program. “It was a good hands-on lesson. I learned quite a bit from it.”
    Other Region 2 students who participated in the project included Sam Dunbar, Hugh Farrar, Marshal Elwell, Dylan Howland, Sal Cloukey and Timothy Stubbs. The instructor is Ted Wright with assistance from Forest Cummings.