OutdoorsVT: State celebrates 100 years of forestry
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By Darren Marcy Staff Writer - Published: November 20, 2009
It's a big birthday for the Vermont Department of Forests, Parks and Recreation.
On Monday the state will celebrate 100 years of forestry.
The celebration is to start at 6 p.m. Monday at the Plainfield Opera House to commemorate L.R. Jones Day in honor of the state's first forest, purchased in 1909.
There are to be presentations and discussions about the Jones Forest and the legacy that has followed in the past 100 years.
Gov. James Douglas is scheduled to present a plaque to the town of Plainfield and to add the L.R. Jones State Forest to the State Historic Register.
The plaque will feature an etching of a panorama of the Jones Forest on a piece of maple, said Sabina Haskell, deputy secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources.
In 1909, Austin F. Hawes was appointed Vermont's first state forester as the state launched the Division of Forestry.
That same year, Vermont purchased the 642-acre forest that became the L.R. Jones State Forest.
The forest was named for L.R. Jones, a botany professor at the University of Vermont, who is credited with creating the state's tree nursery and was the first president of the Vermont Forestry Association.
Haskell said one of the speakers at Monday night's event will be Steven Sinclair, the state forester, who will talk about the history of Jones and the importance of forestry in Vermont.
Another speaker is to be Charles Cogbill, a forest historian, who will talk about the tradition of the timber industry in Vermont and being responsible stewards of land.
When Vermont purchased the forest tract in 1909, it was bought as a "demonstration site for multiple-use management," according to the Division of Forestry.
Begun after years of systematically deforesting land in Vermont to open farm land and to feed the timber industry, the demonstration site was able to show optimum management practices for raising timber and protecting water sources, according to the Agency of Natural Resources.
Today, a healthy forest is understood to be critical for protecting our clean air and water, filtering environmental impurities, and serving as an important biological buffer for lakes and streams.
Forestry has a long history in the Green Mountain State — beginning in 1738-39 when the state's first sawmill was built in Westminster.
But it was another 170 years before Vermont created the state Division of Forestry.
Forests were cleared at a rapid pace for the next 100 years with the peak occurring in the mid-1800s.
The forest has been returning for the last century and a half, and, today, Vermont's forest cover stands at 75 percent.
The percentage decreased from 79 percent in 2007, the first time since the peak of clearing in the mid-1800s.
Haskell said that as Vermont prepares to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the creation of the state forestry division and the first state forest, the industry has grown into an important economic engine in Vermont, contributing more than 6,000 jobs and almost $1 billion in economic activity.
Monday's event is free and open to the public and will feature cake and cider.
It caps a yearlong celebration that has included a youth art and writing contest as well as a photography contest.
Winners of the photography contest will be announced Dec. 1 and votes are being taken through Wednesday at www.vtforest.com.
The grand prize winner will receive a Forestry Centennial Celebration wooden log truck and one-year pass to Vermont State Parks. Runners up will get a season pass to the state parks.
darren.marcy@rutlandherald.com