Hermitage High School, which won last year’s national 4-H Forestry championship, earned top honors in the 2017 Hogskin Forestry Contest recently.
This year’s team finishers were first place – Hermitage High School, Bradley County, 1,403 points; second place – Taylor High School, Columbia County, 1,346 points; and third place – Hampton High School, Calhoun County, 1,161 points.
Individual high point finishers were — first place – Jesse Tompkins, Taylor High School, 483 points; second place – Cade Wilkerson, Hermitage High School, 482 points; and third place – Conner Wilkerson, Hermitage High School, 469 points.
The contest was held Feb. 9. Amid record attendance, the competition was hosted by the Calhoun County 4-H program. The event drew 24 schools from around Arkansas with 157 competitors, well up from the eight schools and 52 competitors drawn to the first competition in 2011, said Jaret Rushing, Calhoun County extension staff chair for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.
Competitors are tested on their general forestry knowledge and are quizzed on topics such as tree identification; ability to determine the volume of wood from a tree; correct identification of forest equipment, knowledge of forest pests and disorders as well as map interpretation, among other things.
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The Wilkerson brothers were half of the four-person team that won the 2016 National 4-H Forestry competition.
“I can’t give enough praise to these kids, coaches and sponsors this year,” Rushing said. “If you’ve never put one of these contest on, it is a tedious chore and without the help of others, this event would suffer greatly!”
Sponsors included: Arkansas Forestry Association, Farm Credit Services of Western Arkansas, Arkansas Farm Bureau of Calhoun County, Calhoun County Cattlemen’s Association, DM Apparel, Arkansas Forestry Commission, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, Calhoun County employees and Calhoun County Judge Floyd Nutt, Calhoun County Fair Board, Calhoun County Extension Homemakers Council local support from other volunteers as well as the support of the landowners, Michael and Jennifer Beene.
Rushing was grateful to all the participating high school teams.
Details: www.uaex.edu or contact a county extension office.
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