ATHOL — Cruising around a tall pine with a small measuring tape, Ava Stone examined the numbers and wrote them down on a paper secured to her clipboard.

"It's the diameter, and then you take a clinometer from the 66 foot back and then the 100 foot back, then you look up and get the height to find out the board foot volume," she said Thursday morning.

This was the Lake City High School junior's second time participating in the Idaho State Forestry Contest.

"I'm definitely leaning more toward an environmental major because I really care about advocacy," she said. "Doing this has made me feel a lot more connected with my local environment. Knowing Idaho nature is so plentiful and mostly untouched, I think it would be really nice to work in a field like this. I know that I could do a lot of careers within the environmental field."

Ava was one of 220 Idaho students to participate in the 42nd annual Idaho State Forestry Contest, again held at Farragut State Park in Athol.

Sponsored by the Bonner Soil and Water Conservation District, Idaho Department of Lands, and Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation, the contest gives students opportunities to explore forestry and natural resource professions through activities such as timber cruising, log scaling, tree and plant identification, and map reading.

"It's going good, I'm thinking we're doing decent," said Kaitlyn Erickson, a sixth grader at Forrest M. Bird Charter School in Sandpoint. 

She said she participated because the contest sounded much more enjoyable than writing a 10-page paper on forestry.

"Also, I thought it would be a great learning opportunity, and great to be able to meet other kids around here," she said.

Log scaling, however, "not my thing," she said.

"All the math you have to do for it, it's fun and everything, but they don't give you any branches or anything to identify the tree, so it's strictly off one piece of bark," she said. "You have to identify it, measure it and then you have to see how wide it is and how long the boards are and how much wood you can get out of it because that's what logsmen do."

The contest also offers cash prizes and University of Idaho College of Natural Resources scholarships to support students who wish to pursue education in natural resources and forestry. Visit idl.idaho.gov for details.

This year's winners:

Individual winners

Senior Division: Jonathan McComas

Junior Division: Samuel Webster

Rookie Division: McKenzie Stevens 

Team winners 

Senior Division
Whistle Stop 4-H: Jonathan McComas, Jared Cramer, Samantha Guadagnini and Maria Guadagnini

Junior Division
Whistle Stop 4-H: Samuel Wenstrom, Caitlyn Cramer, Andrew Guadagnini and CJ Wetzel

Rookie Division
Selle Valley Carden School: Emilia Hixson, Amalia Nemeth, Jace Tuttle and Camille Burrows

    Boundary County Middle School eighth grader Aryanna Beyers uses a clinometer to measure trees Thursday morning during the Idaho State Forestry Contest at Farragut State Park.

    Selle Valley Carden School fourth grader Caleb Butler writes down measurements at the rookie log scaling station Thursday morning during the 42nd annual Idaho State Forestry Contest.
  

    Homeschooled seventh grader Gabriel Otis of Sandpoint inspects a ninebark shrub Thursday morning during the Idaho State Forestry Contest.

    Compasses dangle from a pole at the start of the compass and pacing station Thursday morning at Farragut State Park.