FAWN returns

WINSTON COUNTY - The Forestry Awareness Week Now (FAWN) program is coming back for Winston County sixth graders this spring. Planning the FAWN program was a major focus of the monthly meeting of the Winston County Natural Resources Council on Thursday, Feb. 17.

Two sets of tentative dates have been determined for FAWN, April 18-19 and April 27-28, and schools will get to weigh in on the final decision. The second set of dates might then be used as a rain date.

In a departure from past years, FAWN’s tentative location is a property owned by a private citizen in Arley.

Bankhead District Ranger Andy Scott said that while the U.S. Forest Service would love to host FAWN at the Houston Recreation Area as it has previously, getting the approval required for such an event takes time and the council needed to move forward with its plans.

“It’s very possible we could have received approval,” Scott said, “but it’s also possible we could have been denied approval, and the WCNRC needed a definitive answer more quickly than I could provide.”

The council hopes to hold FAWN a second time in 2022, in the fall for a new group of sixth graders.

There is already plenty of funding to be used for FAWN, but members of the council are in the process of finding volunteers to staff FAWN stations, serve as guides and more.

Regional Extension Agent Dylan Gilbert said that he was also seeking volunteers who were knowledgeable about cows, pigs, goats and sheep to help with a March 3 4-H livestock judging event.

In other business, the council decided to work toward hosting a landowner field day for students of area schools in the fall.

Other events

Council members also shared information about upcoming events. On May 10-11, a training session for non-profits led by Haley Burns, Alabama A&M University extension specialist, will take place at Bevill State in Jasper. Several council members plan to attend.

Other events that were shared with the council included two chainsaw safety workshops, one on March 9 in Double Springs and another on March 10 in Fayette, and an Arbor Day tree giveaway.

According to Casey Hammack, forestry specialist, and Jamie Segroves, forester, the Winston County office of the Alabama Forestry Commission had received a variety of trees, mostly hardwood, for the giveaway.

Arbor Day is April 29, and this year is its 150th anniversary.

The trees were being stored in a cooler in Lauderdale County at the time, but they have since been distributed.

A free Logging Equipment Operator training program will start March 28; however, as of this week, the maximum class size of eight has already been reached.

Held in Double Springs by the Forest Workforce Training Institute, the free four-week Logging Equipment Operator Training program will give participants all necessary safety certifications, plus Professional Logging Manager (PLM) status.

Not only was there no cost to participate, the institute will be paying participants a $30/day stipend to help them cover the cost of travel to and from the classroom.

Allison Cochran, chair of the WCNRC and U.S. Forest Service wildlife biologist, said that she thinks the institute will be able to provide employment contacts to those who complete the program.

The program will consist of both classroom instruction in the principles of sustainable forestry, which leads to the PLM status, and field training that will include actual equipment operation at an active logging site.

Attendees at the council meeting included Vice Chair Mike Henshaw, Winston County Extension Coordinator Zack Brannon, Northwest RC&D Executive Director Lauranne James, John Creed, Cochran, Hammack, Gilbert and Segroves.

The WCNRC will meet on the property that may host FAWN for planning purposes during its next monthly meeting at 9 a.m. on Thursday, March 17.