2005 Farthest North Forest Sports Festival

Submitted by Doreen Fitzgerald
Phone: 5042
09/23/05

Log birling, crosscut sawing, and axe throwing are some of the forest sports you can try at this year’s Farthest North Forest Sports Festival Oct. 1. Started in 1998 by a few faculty members and students from the UAF Department of Forest Sciences, the festival aims to promote informal interaction among students, faculty, and staff at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, as well as with members of the wider community.

People can participate as individuals or on a four- to six-person team, and there will be both individual event awards and a cumulative-event team award. The festival begins at 10 a.m. at the UAF Experiment Farm field below the railroad tracks. Events include: Pulp Toss (men’s, women’s); Axe Throw (men’s, women’s); Log Rolling (two-person, on land); 1-person Bowsaw (men’s, women’s); 2-person Crosscut Saw (men’s, women’s, Jack and Jill); Fire Building (two-person); and Log Birling (on and in Ballaine Lake).

"Although today’s professional foresters and natural resource managers use a range of high-tech tools and employ a host of indoor and outdoor skills, this festival pays tribute to a simpler time when traditional forest activities were the basis for both work and play, survival and revival,"? said John Fox, professor of resource management.

"Across the U.S. and Canada, there’s a network of colleges that hold in similar events, along with some intercollegiate competition and multi-school conclaves,"? Fox said. "The spirit of the UAF event is to simply give it a try and have fun. Of course, friendly competition and team challenges are welcomed!"? Participants are advised to dress for warmth, especially head, hands, and feet. Log birlers should have dry clothes to don after the event. Hot drinks and a warm-up fire will be provided at Ballaine Lake, where the birling contest is held. The festival is sponsored by the UAF School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences, the Department of Forest Sciences, and the student Resource Management Society. For more detailed information and pictures of past Forest Sports activities go to this web-site: http://www.uaf.edu/snras and click on the Forest Sports icon or go to: http://nrm.salrm.uaf.edu/~jfox/ForestSci.html. For more information, contact John Fox at (907) 474-7084, or by e-mail (john.fox@uaf.edu).