Alexis Keller, 11, of Lakeside Elementary School struggled to carry the full weight of a professional smokejumper’s water, pack, helmet and other equipment on Friday, an experience she described as “embarrassing.”

But there was no doubt about the highlight of the annual Family Forestry Expo’s fire station.

“I liked when that [display] caught on fire — it was cool to watch,” she said.

Lesson learned: “Don’t live near trees!”

The expo is a six-day event, hosting more than 1,200 fifth-graders from 30 schools who participate in hands-on activities and demonstrations covering every aspect of forests and how they’re used, both by humans and the flora and fauna that reside there.

Teresa Wenum, a Flathead National Forest education specialist who helped coordinate the educational activities, said the expo’s planning committee is made up of representatives from 20 local businesses, organizations and government agencies who begin [planning] the elaborate event in January.

“It’s a big volunteer effort to help kids and families learn about their area forests,” Wenum said. “The last day is a great way for families to have the opportunity to come talk with local resource specialists.”

In its 26th year, the Family Forestry Expo adopted the theme of “Forests — Landscapes of Many Uses,” and the range of activities available to the fifth-graders underscored that point.

Stations scattered through the 40-acre Trumbull Creek Educational Forest, owned by F.H. Stoltze Land and Lumber Co., included backcountry camping tips and presentations, a plant identification wildlife exhibits.

John Fraley from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks helped operate the fisheries station, helping youths pick up crawdads, snails and — for the more daring students — leeches.

“Don’t worry, these aren’t the kind that suck your blood. They might try to grab on to you, but they can’t,” he explained to a skeptical-looking little girl as she held out her hand.

Conveying the role of snails in a creek’s ecosystem, Fraley described the gastropods as “kind of the vacuum cleaners of the stream bottom.”

Nearby, kids watched a small “Aqua-Vu” television screen that displayed the underwater goings-on via a waterproof camera on the streambed. Particles flowing by offered a chance to learn about currents and the tendency of fish to wait in slower-moving water for bugs to pass by.

Trinity Schlegel from North Wind Resource Consulting co-led the archaeology station, challenging the students to find clues in old trash. A tin can and a whiskey bottle, excavated from a can dump, narrowed down the timeframe that a nearby log cabin in the woods would have been occupied.

“I’m really passionate about archaeology, so I like to get them to relate to it, get them to ask questions and think about what they’re leaving behind for future archaeologists,” said Schlegel, in her eighth year working at the event. “One of the biggest things is to get them to think about where they came from and how they relate to their parents and grandparents.”

Outside near the grandstand, students were quizzed on their math skills as local mill workers operated a portable sawmill. The youths were challenged to calculate board-feet and the number of planks a given block of wood would yield.

Other local experts taught groups about riparian habitats, plant identification and aspects of forest management from pine beetles and tree disease to fire prevention and suppression.

Dave Pemble and Nathan Basford from the Tally Lake Ranger District gave a show-stealing presentation, wrapping up their talk on fire suppression with a table covered in kitty litter mountains and miniature matchstick forests.

Pemble used a lighter to demonstrate how different management styles and growth patterns affect the likelihood of forest fires. In a dense, unmanaged forest, a tiny crown fire flared up, leaving a hillside of blackened “snags” in its wake.

“Now your camping trip just cost you a lot of money,” Pemble told the riveted audience.

“Do you get fined for that?” asked one boy, to whom Pemble replied, “If that was a big mountainside, you could be paying for that for the rest of your life.”

Taking a moment to reflect on her favorite exhibit, Alexis Keller nominated the wildlife station featuring three species of owls.

“The ears on top of the long-eared owl isn’t actually his ears, it’s really his hair and his ears are lower on his head,” she said, grinning proudly.

Visitors of all ages are welcome today from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. as the Forestry Expo wraps up with a public day featuring many of the same educational activities and a number of extra demonstrations.

Grandstand shows are at 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m., including logging equipment demonstrations, a Forest Service pack-mule string and a competition by the Flathead Valley Community College logging sports team. From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., attendees can grab free logging camp lunches.

For more information call 758-5218 or visit www.familyforestryexpo.org.

Reporter Samuel Wilson can be reached at 758-4407 or by email at swilson@dailyinterlake.com