B4
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2022
Students learn forestry skills, gear up for fi re season
By BRYCE DOLE
The Bulletin
The students gritted
their teeth as they pushed
and pulled the cross-
cut saw through a log in
the fi eld behind La Pine
High School . Wood shav-
ings fell to the snow-cov-
ered ground, mixing with
the mud beneath their boots
as they worked hard for the
day’s fastest time.
Nearby, other students
hurled axes at targets.
Even more were high up in
nearby trees, using logging
gear to ascend.
The students — central
Oregon’s only active team
of Future Natural Resource
Leaders — were preparing
for their upcoming compe-
tition in Sweet Home. Stu-
dents will go head-to-head
in forestry-based events,
from cutting through trees
to identifying wildlife.
But for some students
and the group’s leader,
Cameron Salvitelli, this
program meant much more.
As concerns loom over
potential wildfi res this year
amid multiple consecu-
tive years of record-set-
ting drought, La Pine High
School’s forestry and nat-
ural resource program is
teaching students about car-
ing and preserving the for-
ests that encompass their
town. And at least six of
the program’s students are
using the program to help
them prepare for their sum-
mer as wildland fi refi ghters.
“We’re very focused on
fi re as a whole, because fi re
aff ects La Pine immensely,”
said Salvitelli, who has
taught a variety of career
and technical education
courses at La Pine like the
forestry course, including
manufacturing, construc-
tion technology and wood
shop.
Looking out at his stu-
dents as they raced each
other over logs and up
trees, Salvitelli refl ected on
the logging heritage that has
been the backbone of com-
munities across Oregon. He
sees his class as a refl ection
of this industry, which has
fueled La Pine’s economy
and employed the families
of several of his students.
“We want to do our best
to preserve and honor those
traditions here in La Pine,”
he said.
Now, as fi re becomes
a yearly part of life in La
Pine, Salvitelli says that
it’s more critical than ever
for kids to understand the
complexities of forest man-
agement and environmen-
tal issues. He wants them
to know how, and why, they
should care for the land.
Landen Roggenkamp, an
18-year-old senior from La
Pine, came to love the for-
est through hunting, fi shing,
building forts and riding
horses in the woods around
La Pine. But in recent years,
he has grown concerned
about the fi res that surround
his town, saying, “some
summers, you can’t even
breathe.”
That’s in part why Rog-
genkamp wanted to be a
part of Salvitelli’s team: to
learn how he can play a role
in preserving the forests he
loves. He aspires to a career
in natural resources and
land management for the
U.S. Forest Service, and he
said he was proud to be on
Photos by Ryan Brennecke/The Bulletin
Tiernan Ashcraft practices the crosscut saw with a classmate at La Pine High School.
a team of students who care
for the land as he does.
“If they can fi nd the pas-
sion, they can be the change
to keep forests around for
generations to come,” he
said, adding: “This is the
future, right here.”
Salvitelli’s program pro-
vides lessons on tree iden-
tifi cation, fl ora and fauna,
map reading, timber cruis-
ing and the Future Natu-
ral Resource Leaders team
provides hands-on lessons
in ax throwing, crosscut-
ting with old whipsaws,
pole climbing and choker
setting. It even has les-
sons that examine the com-
plicated opportunity costs
between producing timber
and enhancing biodiversity,
an issue that has proven
controversial in communi-
ties throughout the Pacifi c
Northwest.
But one of the program’s
central focuses is fi re. Stu-
dents learn about tree thin-
ning and other practices in
fi re resistance and protec-
tion. And it provides the
training needed to go on
and connect with private
contracting companies that
will get them out fi ghting
fi res in the summer.
Some of Salvitelli’s stu-
dents are already gearing
up for their summer fi ght-
ing fi res.
Among them are Blayze
and Blaire Buell, from
Gilchrist. The brother and
sister duo come from a fam-
ily of fi refi ghters, with their
father, uncle and grandfa-
ther running things over at
Walker Range Fire Patrol.
The 14-year-old Blayze said
he’s been around fi refi ght-
ing since he was 5 years
old. As a volunteer with the
family business, he’s taken
on a number of roles, most
often using the hose. This
summer, he’ll be out work-
ing from when school gets
out in June until it’s time to
go back in the fall.
Blaire, 16, agreed that
fi ghting fi res is part of her
family’s tradition. She
called the adrenaline rush
of fi ghting fi res a blast, add-
ing that, only a few days
prior, they had been out on a
trailer fi re. Though she said
she recognizes the inher-
ent danger of being around
fi res, she feels a certain
responsibility to help her
community stay safe.
“I feel like I need to go,”
she said.
Those were among the
reasons Blaire wanted to
be part of the forestry pro-
gram. That, and: “It’s really
fun to be outside and throw
some axes with somebody.”
The students gathered
around a large fi re in the
back of the school, roast-
ing hot dogs. To fi nish the
day, they took turns racing
each other in setting chok-
ers, an activity that is meant
to simulator cable logging.
They sprinted down a small
hill, leapt over a log while
simultaneously tossing a
choker chain underneath,
pulled the chain through and
around the log, and pulled it
tight as they sprinted back
to the start.
The students are compet-
itive, and everyone laughed
as they fell repeatedly over
the log and into the dirt.
Meanwhile, the Buell
children’s father, Wes-
ley Buell, rolled up in a
company truck. He said
he’s glad to see the kids
involved in the La Pine pro-
gram. He said he’s not con-
cerned about his kids being
out fi ghting fi res this sum-
mer, but conceded that, in
recent years, wildfi res have
gotten more extreme.
“They instantly take
off ,” said Buell, protec-
tion supervisor for Walker
Range Fire. “You’re look-
ing at 100 to 1,000 acre-fi re
in a few minutes. It’s just so
dry.”
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