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by Randy Weckman
For University of Kentucky students majoring in forestry, spending several weeks in Robinson Forest in the middle of summer constitutes a rite of passage.
It is a boot camp of sorts, 23 square miles of it, that provides a thorough indoctrination and inculcation in the field skills necessary to be a professional forester.
Forestry students live and study at Robinson Forest for eight weeks
in the summer before their senior year.
The camp facilities are a mix of rustic cabins and modern teaching facilities. Some students find the experience life-changing, at least for the weeks they spend there. The bath house is up the hill, for instance, and cell phone towers are pretty much non-existent. There is no television, but there is air conditioning in the sleeping area of the cabins, and some cabins have indoor plumbing. Classes are physically rigorous and mentally challenging, but the physicality of the experience and the mental mettle needed to pass the courses serve as stimuli that evoke cherished memories for graduates of the summer camp.
Jeff Stringer, associate extension professor, teaches at the camp.
The site of the camp is a retrofitted remnant of a late-1930s National Youth Administration camp. The camp's buildings were constructed from American Chestnut trees in the forest that were killed by a blight that virtually eradicated the species from the North American continent during the 1930s.
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| Paul Clauson measures tree height. |
Merril Flanary records data. |
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Because the forest's terrain is both immense and mountainous, students generally leave camp in much better physical shape than when they arrived. And because of the topography and remoteness of the forest, the students learn a great deal, really quickly, about self-reliance and cooperation.
The courses--there are five in all--are required for students seeking a B.S. degree in Forestry. They include material about forestry inventory and measurement, silviculture (the growing of forest trees), tree identification, and forest products. And by necessity the students learn to use a Global Positioning System to help keep themselves from becoming lost in the 14,800-acre forest.
Camp Robinson also is used by biology and natural resource conservation students as a classroom each summer and is a major site for continuing education of professional foresters and loggers.
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Josh Frazier (left) and Tony Mount examine a tree's canopy. |
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Chris Reeves (left) and Paul Clauson study forest growth.
Tony Mount takes a tree core sample; Brandon Sarno stands in the background.
Estimating tree width.
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