Wheeler County Hosts 2025 Middle Georgia Forestry Field Day
Courtesy of Wheeler County Schools
On Wednesday, April 9, Wheeler County hosted the Middle GA Forestry Field Day in McRae at the District Forestry Unit. There were over 150 students, FFA advisors, GA Forestry personnel, Tigercat representatives, school administrators, and a Tidewater representative in attendance.
The day began with the students competing in their respective events. The ten events are designed to mimic training needed for entry level forestry positions. After they finished competing, they had the opportunity to visit the Tigercat simulator where they could choose to virtually operate a feller buncher, processor, or skidder. The simulator not only showed the view across three screens, but it also felt like an actual machine when the seat moved as the students interacted with the simulator. These machines are used to train equipment operators in the forestry industry. Being able to interact with this simulator was an awesome opportunity for the students.
Not only did the GA Forestry personnel help run the contest, but they also graded papers and grilled hamburgers and hotdogs for all the students.
Central Region Forestry Specialist Barry Norris sets up the forestry contests. Norris has been a member of the agricultural education community for over 30 years, working as a high school educator or working in the central region FFA office. He has dedicated himself to educating youth and other teachers about forestry and other areas of agriculture. Norris is retiring this year. We appreciate all he has done for our communities and agriculture education, and we wish him a happy retirement.
All three of the Wheeler County forestry teams had a successful day of competing. The high school senior team and middle school team both won first place. The high school junior team placed second. On the senior team, the following students placed individually: Brody Adams-1st, Aiden Lanier-2nd, and Ruben Pearce-3rd in Reforestation; Lockland Bell & Konner Smith-1st in Forest Management; Shelly Conner-1st, and Kinlee Raiford-2nd in Ocular Estimation; Sadey Cravey-2nd in Tree Identification; Molly Wright- 3rd in Compass & Pacing; Alexis Wooten-3rd in Cord Volume; Lane Connell-1st, Martin Wynn-2nd, and Adriel Collins-3rd in Board Foot Volume.
Individual placings on the middle school winning team were: Kinslee Fowler-1st, Amaria Brown-2nd in Ocular Estimation; Chassity Knight-2nd in Cord Volume; Aiden Rutherford-2nd in Tree Identification; Fisher Thornton-1st in Reforestation; Bryce Conner-2nd in Timber Stand Improvement; Khloe Davis-2nd in Board Foot Volume; Arianna Hilliard-2nd in Forest Disorders; Noah Page-1st in Compass & Pacing; Laylah Clark-3rd in Land Measurement; Kaden Knight & Savannah Purvis-2nd in Forest Management.
Placing individually on the high school junior team was: Ginnie Connell-1st in Tree Identification; Kaleigh Scott-1st in Timber Stand Improvement; Ann Marie Adams-2nd in Land Measurement; Layton Spires-2nd in Reforestation; Ava Dixon-1st in Cord Volume; Layton Johnson-1st in Board Foot Volume; Trandal Stinson & Brannen Ricks-1st in Forest Management; Kyleigh Galloway-3rd in Compass & Pacing.
Other Wheeler County forestry team members were Kaitlyn Morgan, Layla Gibbs, Adrianna Mancini, Isabella Sellers, Paul Harrelson, MacKenzie Johnson, Michelle Sanchez, Brylan Thomas, Raylynn Farrell, Kamrin Clark, and Bricyn Wooten.
Congratulations to all of the teams that competed in the Middle GA Forestry Field Day. Thank you to all who made this event possible. Good luck to the teams as they compete on April 17 in Cochran at the Area Forestry Field Day.
A Tigercat Industries representative shows Superintendent Alvarez how to harvest a tree on a track feller buncher simulator.
Mr. Norris was honored with a retirement plaque presented by Bryant Oliver, Wheeler County CTAE Director.
GA Forestry personnel helped run the contest and provided lunch.
