Forestry students at the University of Arkansas at Monticello will host their annual competition of lumberjack skills when the UAM Forestry Club hosts Field Day Saturday, Feb. 11.

   The competition marks the culmination of a weeklong test of both technical and physical forestry skills in preparation for the Association of Southern Forestry Clubs Conclave to be hosted March 9-12 by Louisiana Tech University in Ruston.

   The technical skills were held throughout last week with the lumberjack skills slated for Saturday around Weevil Pond. The competition begins at 8 a.m. with archery and concludes in the afternoon with the day's most popular event, log birling, a contest of balance and dexterity with two foresters walking on a floating log.

   Other events include the knife throw, axe throw, log roll, bow sawing, chain throw, log chop, Jack-and-Jill crosscut, women’s crosscut, pole climbing and pole felling.

   For more information, contact Lynne Thompson, professor of forest entomology in the School of Forest Resources at (870) 460-1052.

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