School board preparing for Farm Forest harvest

Plans for the farm forest and repairs to the loading area were on the agenda at the February Wahkiakum School District Board of Directors meeting on Tuesday, and Paula Culbertson was sworn in as the newest member of the board.

After meeting with his advisory board, Kyle Hurley, the Vocational-Agriculture teacher at Wahkiakum High school spoke to the school board about potential plans for the farm forest.

“We talked about the goal of the farm forest,” Hurley said. “The timber market is not good right now, it’s really volatile. But a member of the advisory board did make a motion to go ahead with the Forest Practice Application, to go ahead with the permitting process so when the market does come back we can log the farm forest. We want to keep the first three acres closest to the highway as leave trees for educational purposes. The 13.9 acres behind it would be what we would target in a logging operation.”

According to Hurley, the paperwork is good for three years and an extension could be filed if necessary. He also suggested eventually doing some thinning on the northwest side of the property.

The school board voted to allow him to send in the FPA and survey the boundaries of the property.

A hole in the concrete at the loading area on the north side of the high school has necessitated repairs. Culbertson suggested extending the area of repair and Mike Wright, the head of maintenance, will look into costs.

The school board voted to allow up to $9,000 for the repair.

Hurley informed the school board that his trap shooting team had started practicing at BKS Sportsman’s Club in Knappa after the trap machine seized up at Jerry DeBriae’s, where they had practiced in the past.

“BKS is helping us with fundraising,” Hurley said. “It’s been nice.”

The school board also approved an overnight field trip for five students in Mr. Rooklidge’s robotics class to attend a robotics competition in Zillah, Wash., on March 11.

There was a recent question about the decreasing number of boys participating in sports in school and Superintendent Bob Garrett was able to locate a survey about the subject completed last spring.

The survey was completed by 7th to 11th grade students. Three-fifths of the boys in the survey participated in sports. Of the students who did not participate, most said they were either not interested in sports or not interested in the sports offered here. A few cited low grades, and more than one said that his parents would not allow him to play.

Garrett also reported that enrollment had increased by six more students, for a total of 463 in February.

The next school board meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 24 at 5:30 p.m., in the high school library.