Annual Family Forestry Expo open to public on May 9
Daily Inter-Lake | UPDATED 2 days, 7 hours AGO
Carolyn Clark, with the Glacier Institute, gives a presentation on owls at the wildlife station at the Family Forestry Expo on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
Casey Kreider
The Family Forestry Expo is an annual, weeklong event that offers hands-on exploration of the role forests play in everyday lives.
This year, the Family Forestry Expo runs through May 9 with the theme, “Forests - Landscapes of Many Uses.”
Over 1,300 local fifth-grade students from 29 schools, from Eureka and Charlo, across the Flathead Valley, visit the Expo to learn about natural resource topics. The students visit stations that provide educational presentations about fisheries, aquatic/riparian systems, archaeology, wildlife, fire, backcountry ethics, plant identification and forest management. The program is curriculum-based and the field stations complement the students’ classroom study.
Sixteen classes will tour either the F. H. Stoltze Land and Lumber Company mill or the Weyerhaeuser mill. The remaining classes will have the opportunity to take part in a portable sawmill demonstration and visit stations representing lumber manufacturing and forest products.
On Saturday, May 9, families are invited to expo activities from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. at the Trumbull Creek Educational Forest, located about 2miles north of the junction of U.S. Highway 2 and Montana 40, just west of Columbia Falls.
The Saturday family-oriented event features a short forest walk with educational stations and demonstrations along the way. Each station provides information and hands-on activities that allow participants to learn about the many uses of our forests, private and public. Various exhibits will also be on display featuring local organizations, businesses and agencies that care for natural resources.
From 10:30 a.m. -1:30 p.m., there will be grandstand demonstrations of logging equipment, Forest Service Spotted Bear Ranger District mule pack string, and logging sports by the Flathead Valley Community College Logger Sports Team.
A free logging camp lunch, compliments of Family Forestry Expo, is available from 11 a.m.-1 p.m.
For more information, visit familyforestryexpo.org and facebook.com/familyforestryexpo.