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Story, Photos & Video by Don Backman
“Keep going. You’re almost there!” teammates shouted encouragement up at the girl climbing the tall high-tension powerline-sized pole. High up on the pole standing at the west end of the football field area at Tillamook High School, the high school competitor made one more push up the rope, bracing her legs on the climbing pole, she reached out and slapped the painted yellow ring in victory. She had made it.
At the same time, on the other poles, students were in the process of climbing them or gearing up to climb them. Chainsaws sounded across the field. At another station, competitors ran across a field to wrap cable chokers around a big log. Next to them, teams wrestled with misery whips, old-time two-man crosscut saws, to slice the end off of a suspended log faster than anyone else. Along the end of the field, competitors used tape measures and other tools to scale a load of logs.
“These events are called Career Development Events,” Lori Loeffler explained. Tillamook High School teacher and the Envirothon and Forestry Team/FNRL advisor, Loeffler is a member of the FNRL state board of directors and is the Oregon Natural Resources Educators Chair. “The expectation is that each FNRL member school will host a Career Development Event during the school year. They can be in any variety of areas – from the forestry sector like we did on Saturday, or the recreation sector, or even the environmental science sector like Envirothon.”
These events give kids the opportunity to demonstrate their skills. “So, you have kids demonstrating the skills they have learned in their programs earning ribbons and awards, and you also have the opportunity for students to learn how to improve by working with industry professionals that you have as “judges” for the events,” Loeffler explained. “There is a combination of trying things out or competing.
We had “novice” and “open” categories in some of the events where those with less experience could still earn ribbons yet get more instruction from the industry professionals to help improve in the future.”
“I am getting credit for being here,” one high school girl standing at the choker setting competition explained to anyone close enough to hear. “But this is fun.”
“I wish I was getting credit,” a competitor from another school responded, before walking over and reaching for a choker.
“The forestry program in Oregon started as a club-type program back in the late 1990s with about 10 schools participating,” Loeffler reported. “In 2015, ODE started working with high school and community colleges to bridge the gap between those two and prepare students to enter community colleges in various fields, the CTE movement. The natural resources program became the first program of study partnership between high schools and community colleges, and Tillamook was one of the first 6 schools to become a program of study with designated courses related to natural resources.
The program requires students to be involved in a student leadership organization. “This led to the creation of FNRL (Future Natural Resource Leaders) as a state student leadership organization. FNRL is the organization that is behind the career development events that were here on Saturday.” Loeffler continued. “The Tillamook High School Forestry Team is one of the 36 schools that are official members of FNRL at the state level, and thus are able to participate in these types of events. Tillamook hosted our first career development event here on our field in 2018.”
Inside the school building, competitors were busy competing in many other activities. Some were identifying forestry tools and equipment; others were identifying various plants arranged in pots on the desks.
Some were doing presentations and job interviews. Out in front of the building, retired forester Dave Wells oversaw a precision compass skills competition, where competitors had to locate precise points in an event where being off by six only inches would cost points.
Loeffler repeatedly expressed her appreciation and thanked the community for their support. “Our field was built with the help of several groups/people. Hampton Lumber Tillamook has been the major player in providing the field, logs for us, climbing poles, and equipment. PUD is who installed the poles and helped get us going climbing. As far as judges on Saturday, Hampton Lumber, Hopkes Logging, PUD, Tillamook Bay Community College, Tillamook and Bay City FD, TEP, Tillamook High School, Tillamook Forestry Team Alumni, and some individuals helped with the event. The Class of 2024 SAFE parents organization provided food, and the metal awards were made by the Tillamook High School Metal Shop.” This FNRL competition is clearly a community event.
Loeffler has won awards, even though she preferred discussing the students’ successes. “I won the ONREA Rob Waibel Teacher of the Year award in 2023,” she confirmed. “Our chapter won the Outstanding new chapter award for FNRL in 2018. Over the years we have won several awards in the FNRL division at Envirothon (another CDE) – 1st Place Team, 2nd Place Team,3rd Place Team, 1st Place on the Wildlife Test overall in 2020.
The nine competing teams were: Waldport High School, Clatskanie High School, Yoncalla High School, Sweet Home High School, Scio High School, Neah-Ka-Nie High School, Helensview High School, Sabin Schellenberg High School, Tillamook High School, and Sandy High school.
“The Tillamook Team is composed of students from Tillamook High School, Wilson River School, The Tillamook Virtual Academy, and Tillamook Jr. High School,” Loeffler said.
Tillamook team results:
Annalise Moran – 3rd Place Tool ID, 4th Place Tree ID, 4th Place Novice Pole Climb
Cris Matney – 3rd Place Crosscut
Peyton Remington – 3rd Place Crosscut
Dylan Schmid – 4th Place Novice Crosscut, 5th Place Novice Choker Set
Jaxon Brainerd – 4th Place Novice Crosscut, 1st Place Novice Choker Set
Lucas Hogeland – 3rd Place Log Scaling
Mackenzie Walters – 4th Place Log Scaling
Maya Johnson – 3rd Place Novice Crosscut
Nick Shipmann – 3rd Place Novice Crosscut, 5th Place Novice Pole Climb
Maya Wilks – 3rd Place Job Interview, 2nd Place Prepared Speech
