Louisiana was among the 14 states that participated in the 29th annual National 4-H Forestry Invitational from Sunday, July 20, through Thursday, July 24, 2008.
At the Invitational 4-H members compete for overall team and individual awards in several categories. Events included a forestry written exam, tree identification, tree measurement, compass and pacing, insect and disease identification, topographic map use, the Forestry Bowl and forest evaluation.
The event was held at West Virginia University’s Jackson’s Mill State 4-H Camp and Conference Center near Weston, WV. The Farm Credit System and the Cooperative Extension Service sponsored the Invitational.
Representing Louisiana were Julie Barrios of Converse, Leah Delahoussaye of Erath, and Kristen Hippler of Many. The team was coached by Keith Hawkins.
Alabama won the event. Illinois and Pennsylvania placed second and third, respectively.The Louisiana team placed seventh.Steve Franklin of Alabama received the high-point individual award. Second place individual award was given to Jennifer Colbert of Illinois and third place individual award went to Robert Franklin of Alabama.
The Joe Yeager leadership award was given to Traci Byers of Texas. This award is presented to the individual who demonstrated excellent communication, management, decision-making and interpersonal skills at the Invitational.
4-H is a youth education program operated by Cooperative Extension Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the state land grant universities. More than five-and-a-half million young people participate in 4-H, and nearly 100,000 are part of the 4-H Forestry Program.
This event is sponsored by the Farm Credit Systems (FCS), a government-sponsored enterprise created by Congress in 1916 to provide American agriculture with a dependable source of credit. The FCS is a nationwide network of cooperatively organized banks and associations that are owned and controlled by their borrowers. It serves all 50 States and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The FCS provides credit and other services to agricultural producers and farmer-owned agricultural and aquatic cooperatives.
For more information on the National 4-H Forestry Invitational, go to: http://www.aces.edu/n4hfi.