Forestry Expo open to public Saturday

About 1,200 fifth-graders have marched through the Trumbull Creek Educational Forest this week, but on Saturday the 22nd annual Family Forestry Expo will be open to everybody.

In past years, the event has been held on Saturdays and Sundays, but this year it will be held on Saturday only.

The Expo features a .7 mile forest walk that offers educational stations and demonstrations along the way.

Each station provides information and hands-on activities related to fisheries, aquatic ecosystems, archaeology, wildfire, backcountry ethics, plant identification and much more.

Grandstand shows will feature logging equipment demonstrations, the U.S. Forest Service’s Spotted Bear Ranger District mule pack string and a Flathead Valley Community College Logging Sports Team competition.

The shows will be held 10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Students visited the experimental forest throughout the week as a complement to classroom study on natural resource topics. The students also got to tour sawmills at Plum Creek, Stoltze Land and Lumber and RBM Lumber.

The event is put on by volunteers from organizations, state and federal agencies and local businesses.

The Trumbull Creek Educational Forest is owned and managed by Stoltze Land and Lumber and is located north of the intersection of Montana 40 and U.S. 2 just west of Columbia Falls.