Betty K. Munsey

Sixth-graders are searching for
the largest tree in the county

Bland County sixth-grade 4-H members are on a mission! They are trudging through the woods with tape measures in hand hoping to find and measure the largest tree in Bland County. It's all part of their sixth-grade 4-H project on forestry.

Bland County 4-H is part of a select group of 4-H clubs throughout Virginia who are piloting the new 4-H forestry materials. The materials correlate closely with their 6th-grade Standards of Learning for science. Each month during their regular 4-H meetings, they will learn about various aspects of forestry.

As would be expected, tree identification was the first lesson. They learned to identify the 12 most frequently found trees in Bland County which included pine (white and Virginia), tulip poplar, oaks (white, red and pin), dogwood, maples (red, silver, sugar), hickory, walnut, sweet gum, sassafras and holly. They also received information on how to press leaves using a leaf press or the old standard telephone book method.

Later in the year guest speakers will tell the young people about forests as one of Virginia's natural. resources. They will learn about tapping maple trees, planting pine seedlings as well as guidelines for helping the seedlings survive.

In the meantime though, the 4-H'ers continue their search for the biggest tree. You could help them tremendously by allowing them to measure your largest tree. The only information required from the tree's owner is their name and the circumference of the tree (to be measured by the 4-H member). Prizes will be awarded to the 4-H member finding the largest tree both on the club and county basis. The information will be entered into a data base to determine Virginia's largest trees.

For More Information about this special unit of study, contact the Bland County Extension office at 688-3542

Betty K. Munsey is a Virginia Co operative Extension agent in the Bland County office