SAF 2005 Tri-Society Annual Meeting
Inland Empire, Oregon and Washington, April 13-15, Lewiston, ID
Corps of Discovery: Foresters Walking in the Footsteps of Lewis and Clark
Tours
Lewis and Clark History Tour
Lewiston, Idaho, is located directly on the historic route traveled by Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery 200 years ago. The focus of this tour will not be on forestry, but rather, on history and the relationships between the expedition and local residents - the Nez Perce Nation. The tour will be led and narrated by Jim Fazio, past president of The Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation and current member on the Idaho governor's Lewis and Clark Trail Committee. He is author of Across the Snowy Ranges - The Lewis and Clark Expedition in Idaho and Western Montana.
Participants will visit the Spalding Visitor Center of the Nez Perce National Historical Park. Allen Pinkham, Tribal Elder and member of the National Council for the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial and the Idaho Governor's Lewis and Clark Committee, will present "Perspective of the Arrival of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and Related Oral History as Passed Down Among the Ni Mii Puu People."
The tour will then travel to Weippe, Idaho, and the Weippe Prairie where mayor and local historian Norm Steadman will make a presentation, "Lewis and Clark Meet the Nez Perce on the Weippe Prairie." Next, Norm will guide us through Weippe's Discovery Interpretive Center and the actual site where these two cultures met. You'll see where the expedition emerged from the forest after struggling across the Bitterroot Range.
The tour returns to the Clearwater Valley and stops briefly to view interpretive materials at Canoe Camp where the expedition fashioned their five canoes from large ponderosa pines and began the west-flowing river phase of their journey to the Pacific Ocean.
Tour participants will enjoy a locally prepared lunch at the rustic Weippe Community Center. Commemorate the bicentennial by seeing some of the important sites mentioned in the Lewis and Clark journals and learn more about this epic adventure.
Managing Healthy Forests Field Tour
This tour is really a highlight for our foresters, silviculturists and forest management enthusiasts. Emphasis is on forest management through the perspective of several forest management organizations and initiatives. The tour will travel through the forests of northern Idaho featuring Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and International Standards Organization (ISO) certification on industrial forestlands. A mock forest certification audit field exercise and discussion of forest fuel reduction alternatives will underscore industrial forestland activities.
The tour will also visit USFS Palouse Ranger District to view Healthy Forest Initiative silvicultural treatments in the field. Certification of family forests through the Tree Farm Program and biological controls for invasive non-native plants will also be included during this forestry-packed day in the woods. A dutch-oven lunch will be served.
Forest Industry Mill Tour
The Forest Industry Mill Tour will begin at the Potlatch pulp and paper mill in Lewiston, Idaho. The tour will first visit the Consumer Products Division where tissue products are produced. Participants will observe an intriguing process where pulp is piped from the pulp mill in a water/fiber mixture, ejected onto forming mats, then dried on steam-heated Yankee dryers and finally the thin tissue is cut with surgical-blade accuracy. Observers will see firsthand high-speed machines roll tissue onto parent rolls at approximately 60 mph.
The mill tour will then travel from the Potlatch mill by bus along the scenic Clearwater River to the Three Rivers Timber sawmill in Kamiah, Idaho. Three Rivers Timber employs approximately 125 people and produces 40-50 million board feet of lumber annually. The mill boasts both a state-of-the-art small log and large log processing sides that can process logs as small as four-inch top diameter and as large as 63 inches at the butt. Participants will watch as logs are scanned to determine optimal sawing profile by a Comact DD10 sawmill system. Rough cut lumber is then sent to an optimizing edger, sorted, dried in six double-track dry kilns and planed into finished lumber. A deluxe box lunch will be provided.
Snake River (Hells Canyon) Historical Jet Boat Tour
Adventure is in store for those natural resource historian buffs. Snake River Adventures of Lewiston will jet boat participants up the mighty Snake River into the Hells Canyon. This five-hour jet boat will run the rapids to the place where Chief Joeseph and his people crossed the Snake River on their way to the Lapwai Reservation in 1877. Robbin Johnston, USFS Clearwater National Forest archeologist, will narrate and keep the conversation rolling.
Enjoy the breathtaking beauty and history of Hells Canyon while taking this scenic adventure. Snake River Adventures has been in business for more than 30 years and can assure participants a fabulous and safe trip. This exciting and historically informational jet boat tour is 112 round-trip miles and includes a lunch buffet. An additional $40 will be charged to registered conference participants and $65 for guest and spouses.