Students at the Log a Load for Kids event in Lena, October 18, 2023. PC: Fox 11 Online
LENA, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The woodchips were flying Wednesday morning as some area students got a first hand look at what it’s like to work in the forestry industry.
It’s all part of a program designed to raise money for schools, and the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.
Deep in the woods of the Lena School Forest, a 22-ton logging processor prowls the ground for selected evergreen trees. A mechanized chainsaw cuts the pine into eight foot-long lengths and organizes the logs in piles nearby. Laurie Schienebeck says it’s all part of the “Log a Load for Kids” event.
“We’re going to be doing an actual live harvest in the woods. The kids will be circled around from one educational booth to another,” said Laurie Schienebeck, Log a Load for Kids Event Coordinator.
From the science behind making paper, to identifying different types of trees, there are nine stations in all. Lena School District’s agriculture teacher Bobbie Windus says more than 400 students from grades 5K-to 12 are expected to attend.
“It’s a really neat opportunity for the kids to see the hands on aspect. To get to see the processors working. get to see the chippers working,” said Bobbie Windus, Lena School District Teacher.
The wood chipping machine kept the students’ attention. Second grader Waylon Cornelius says he’s learning a lot.
“It can chip other stuff like wood. And you can make paper out of it. A lot of paper,” said Waylon Cornelius, Lena School 2nd Grade Student.
Are there any future foresters in this session? Officials say it begins with healthy trees.
“I think people just take for granted that the woods is always going to be there. But without proper management we need, we’re not going to have a healthy place to four-wheel, snowmobile, hunt, hike, all that kind of stuff,” said Windus.
“We do this so the kids have an understanding of how the daily life, the products that they use, are coming from a sustainable source. Our wood is our most renewable and sustainable source,” said Schienebeck.
The Great Lakes Timber Professionals Association sponsored Wednesday’s session.
Money raised from the Lena Log-a-Load for Kids Event is shared between the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, and the Lena School District.
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