Rediscover a valley tradition
Fifth-graders from Whitefish Central School move from station to station Tuesday afternoon at the Family Forestry Expo. Chris Jordan//Daily Inter Lake
17th annual Family Forestry Expo scheduled this weekend
There will be birds, there will be fish, there will be logging sports and pack mules and much more at the 17th annual Family Forestry Expo this weekend west of Columbia Falls.
The expo has been under way all week for fifth-graders from across the Flathead Valley, with family events scheduled for the weekend.
"The neat thing about Expo is that this is a tradition in the valley and there are some very committed folks and organizations that have organized this for 17 years," said Denise Germann, Flathead National Forest public information officer, who chairs the Expo committee.
Planning for the event has been under way for months, led by a core group of about 15 people, she said.
"But then when you add in the volunteers that prepare the site and guide the children and do the demonstrations and share their expertise, I'm guessing we have over 100 volunteers," she said.
Expo's main attraction - a .7-mile "Forest Walk" - is a series of educational stations about fisheries, birds of prey, fire ecology, hunter education, backcountry ethics and other natural-resources subjects.
The main exhibition area offers demonstrations, including the Spotted Bear Pack Mule team and the Flathead Valley Community College Logging Sports Team.
There are static displays of logging equipment, and an exhibit tent will include new displays this year.
"We try to showcase the traditional aspects of forest and resource management, and we try to showcase some of the newer technology," Germann said.
The expo is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.
Tours of the Plum Creek Timber Co. plywood plant are offered from 9:15 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, with a free shuttle from the Expo site. Participants must be at least 10 years of age.
Demonstrations are held from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday and starting at 1 p.m. Sunday.
A free logging camp lunch, put on the by Sunriser Lions, is offered from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. both days.
Expo is held at the Trumbull Creek Educational Forest, two miles north of the junction of U.S. 2 and Montana 40.
More information about the Expo is available on the Internet at: