Second year students in the Forest Management Technology program at Dabney S. Lancaster Community College recently spent a day with representatives from Weyerhaeuser Company on parts of its 260,000-acre holding in West Virginia.

The students worked with DSLCC Forestry Instructor Scott Reigel; Weyerhaeuser’s W.Va. Regional Manager Steve Yeager, Area Supervisor Casey Olczak and Lead Forester Wes Johnson. The students learned about vital forest resources management and land management topics on private industrial hardwood forests. “To have such a high quality resource in Weyerhaeuser, less than an hour’s drive from our campus, is an invaluable experience for our students,” said Reigel. “Our forestry students are able to learn from and work directly with experienced professionals. They are able to witness and study a large variety of forest management aspects, which underscores what we teach them in the classroom.”  The largest private landowner in the country, Weyerhaeuser owns 13.1 million acres in the US. It is widely known in the manufacturing industry for lumber, engineered wood products, and environmental energies. DSLCC offers a Society of American Foresters accredited associate degree in Forest Management Technology – the only accredited two-year forestry program in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Pictured, from left: Wes Johnson, Scott Reigel, and students  Blake Reese of Rockbridge County, William “Jake” Good  of Augusta County, Adam Tygrett  and Derek Pence, both Greenbrier County, W.Va., Lee McCoy of Botetourt County, and Cameron Little of Augusta County. For more information about the DSLCC Forest Management program, contact Reigel at 863-2894 or email rreigel@dslcc.edu.