Download the 2009 Application Form for Sponsors & Teachers
Teacher Forestry Tours
An exciting three days immersed in the social, economic, and ecological aspects of sustainable forestry.
General Information
Each summer the Temperate Forest Foundation organizes intensive three-day woods and mill tours for 3rd-8th grade science teachers in various regions throughout North America.
Teachers are sponsored by a local business, which pays for registration (US$700) and travel expenses. Teacher Forestry Tours run from a Tuesday afternoon through a Friday morning, and include a Wednesday and Thursday full of woods and mill visits.
History of the Tours & Typical Tour Itinerary
The Temperate Forest Foundation has been involved in Teacher Forestry Tours since 1994. As of 2008, we have completed 48 successful tours across North America helping to facilitate informed choices by empowering educators with scientifically credible information.
The Foundation creates large coalitions of public and private forestland owners and forest product producers to show how sustainable forestry is practiced on various regional landscapes. Teachers are sponsored by a local business, association, or agency, which pays a US$700 registration fee and round-trip travel expenses.
Each tour begins on a Tuesday afternoon and continues through Friday morning, including two days full of visits to woods and mills. It all starts with a historic overview of the area, taking into account social, economic, and environmental perspectives. The first evening may be at a historic park or museum, where teachers enjoy the local food and culture. Teachers visit a variety of mills (lumber, engineered wood, solid wood, treated wood, paper, other consumer products), forests (private industrial, non-industrial private, public), and are taken on a variety of educational stops (museums, National and State parks, plantations, experimental forests, nurseries, learning centers, hatcheries, and more).
After reviewing the tour and sharing some insights, the teachers head home with new friends, valuable information, and concepts they can bring into their classrooms. Lasting business-education partnerships often develop between the teachers and the local businesses that sponsored them. The Foundation has produced Teacher Forestry Tours in California, Idaho, South Carolina, Maine, Louisiana, Oregon, Washington, New Brunswick, North Carolina, Ontario, Wisconsin, Florida, Michigan, and the list goes on.
The Foundation leaves each area after two years allowing the coalition to continue the tour with local teachers. This provides an opportunity for many more teachers to participate in this exciting and rewarding educational experience.
The participants (primarily 3rd-8th grade science and social studies teachers) return home with 
the first hand experience and understanding necessary to help their students think critically and make informed choices. The teachers learn regional issues and options and how foresters and the forest products industry are meeting their needs while protecting the health, diversity, productivity and resiliency of the forest. They are also able to convey hope and optimism about our ability to practice sustainable forestry. Teachers enjoy being treated with the respect they deserve as professionals.
Teachers are selected for the Tours based on their desire to learn, and their ability to incorporate what they learn into their lesson plans. The Foundation will help match interested teachers with sponsors who will pay their travel expenses. These Tours require teachers who are in good health and can hike 1-2 miles at a brisk pace. The Tours are intensive, with visits to many woods and mill operations. However, great lunches and dinners in unique settings allow time to unwind, process information, and network. Many teachers feel that their tour is a significant lifetime experience (read some feedback). The Tours qualify for two undergraduate or graduate credits from the University of Idaho and most teachers are eligible to obtain continuing education credits for participating on Tour. Participants leave with an in-depth knowledge of a region's culture, economy, and ecology. Sustainable Forestry and its contribution to the even larger vision of Sustainable Development are the key themes.
The Foundation's method of bringing large groups of teachers right into the mills and forests has proven to be extremely effective. Since 1994, the Teacher Forestry Tours have helped hundreds of teachers by:
- Putting a human face on the forest products industry
- Allowing them to ask complex questions of the foresters, biologists, engineers, and top management
- Seeing the multitude of vocational and professional career opportunities for their students
- Learning some of the silviculture, biology, and other sciences behind sustainable forestry
- Understanding society's growing need for thousands of different forest products
- Discovering where the products they use every day come from, and how they are grown, processed, and distributed
- Networking with other teachers from across North America, sharing ideas and experiences
- Being treated them with the respect as professions who hold our children's future in their hands
- Helping them understand how important and essential they are in presenting students with information on issues and options that allow them to make their own informed choices.
- Helping them forge business / education partnerships with their sponsors
The theme of every tour is Sustainable Forestry; please see the list of key concepts below. In addition, the 2008 Teacher Forestry Tour dates are below, with links to more specific tour information. Registration information also follows.
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Teacher Forestry Tour Key Concepts
Foresters manage large landscapes over long time horizons
Nature is dynamic: everything is connected and constantly changing
Foresters can manage for the reoccurrence of desirable outcomes
Sustainable forestry integrates social, economic, and ecological needs
Fire has two sides
Regulations exist to protect water, air, soil, fish, and wildlife
Incentives are better than regulations
Forestry is capital intensive
The highest technology is employed in the woods, mills and labs
There is complete utilization of the resource
We all need and use wood products
Wood is an environmentally sound building material
We can meet our material needs while protecting forest ecosystems
We all need to make informed choices
Teachers have a special responsibility
The forest products industry is rich in career opportunities
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2009 Teacher Forestry Tour Locations and Dates:
| South Central Region | Starkville, Mississippi | June 2 - 5 |
| Lake States Region | Duluth, Michigan | July 23 - 26 |
| Pacific Northwest Region | Corvallis, Oregon | July 14 - 17 |
| Northeastern Region | Catskills, New York | August 4 - 7 |
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Teacher Forestry Tour Registration
If you are a teacher interested in participating on a tour, please submit the on-line teacher application form and we will contact you shortly.
If you would like to sponsor a teacher to participate on tour, please submit the on-line sponsorship form and we will contact you shortly.
Are you a teacher who already has a sponsor or a sponsor who already has a teacher? Then please complete the 2008 Teacher Forestry Tour Application Form and fax or mail it to our office.
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What teachers are saying...
We receive lots of feedback from Teacher Forestry Tour Graduates - through evaluations, letters, and cards. Here are a few:
"I have an entirely new perspective. Wood is a valuable renewable resource. Foresters have an environmental perspective and are working to sustain forests and contribute to the market in a thoughtful way."
-Elizabeth Druger, 10th-12th grade teacher from New Trier High School, Winnetka, MI, Northeastern Teacher Forestry Tour Graduate, Sponsored by Lee Lumber
"I feel that the opportunity to see several differing forestry philosophies in action was the epitome of the tour for me. I have reconsidered my perception of clear-cut. I too was misguided with my perception that the land was raped and left for death by erosion. Now I know that it can be done responsibly."
-Dan Smith, 5th grade teacher from Strawberry Knoll Elementary, Gaithersburg, MD, South Central Teacher Forestry Tour Graduate, Sponsored by Barrons Enterprises, Inc.
"I was very impressed by the number of people from different parts of the forestry industry and educators/extension that were incorporated into the tour...and I learned a lot...it is important to see all the different aspects-social, economical, industry, government, private, recreational, small, and corporate aspects of forestry."
-Michelle Kelly, Teacher from, Inver Grove Heights, MN, Lake States Teacher Forestry Tour Graduate, Sponsored by the Twin Cities Hoo Hoo Club
"I most enjoyed the program's sequence of activities that allowed us to observe the entire process of timber production-from growth of seedlings in the nursery to planting to harvest to lumber productions to replanting."
David Sammond, 3rd & 4th grade teacher from Winterhaven School, Portland, OR, Intermountain Teacher Forestry Tour Graduate, Sponsored by North Pacific Group
"I was amazed at the machines and computers involved in the forestry industry. ...Forestry is a viable career that I was unaware of."
-Joyce Cornett, 3rd-5th grade teacher from E.A. Harold Elementary, Millington, TN, South Central Teacher Forestry Tour Graduate, Sponsored by North Pacific Group
"The tour was fantastic! We were treated as professionals. Both of our attitudes toward what forestry is and does have been drastically changed. As teachers, we have the responsibility to convey these concepts to our students. We eagerly await the start of the new school year so we can share this experience with our students and colleagues."
-Otto Frauenzimmer and Dennis Reed
"I can tell you how much you and the workshop has made an enormous impact on his life and his perspective about forestry and forest management. I am both delighted with his enthusiasm, and proud that the forest community can make such a positive change in someone's life."
-Susan Gesner, Sponsor
"Our tour cleared up so many misconceptions about the forestry industry. I learned so many things that I can use in my 3rd grade classroom. Trees and forestry will be an exciting theme this year!"
-Ellen Keyster
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Article about the tours
The Teacher Forestry Tours produced by Temperate Forest Foundation have been featured in a number of magazine, newspaper, Internet, and newsletter articles. Some examples:
- Holen, M.E. (November 2004) "Forestry Tours for Teachers." The Inside Edge, Employee News from North Pacific Group, Inc., Vol. 10(3): page 6 [PDF download, 66kb].
- Sherrill, Dr. Sam. "Through a Glass, Darkly: Changing Perceptions About the Forest Products Industry." Crow's Forest Industry Journal, Sept-Oct 2002: 28-30 [PDF download, 1.2MB]
- Blanchard, Carol. "Teaching The Teachers: Educators Get a Fresh Look at Forest Industry." Escanaba Top of the Morning, 17 Aug. 2002: C1, 5 [Scan, 223KB]
- Magnusson, Leif. Editorial. Just Forest, North American Edition, No. 2/2002: page 1 [Scan, 697KB]
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