October was a busy month for the Wahkiakum High School FFA, with field trips to Vancouver and Satsop and some projects much closer to home.

Students helped plant 150 dogwood trees, 150 willow trees, and 150 Douglas spirea trees as part of a wetland mitigation project in Vancouver and listened to a presentation from a forest engineer about the project and his background in education, according to FFA Reporter Jake Leitz.

Courtesy photo

They traveled to Satsop to take part in a forestry competition organized by Grays Harbor College. They were asked to identify tree species, tools, and map locations, and show that they could determine the distance between two points on a plot of land as well as the heights of various trees in a clear cut.

The natural resource class helped the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife update and rebuild the first fish ladder in Birnie Creek.

FFA students have been helping local hunters with butchering, including five elk and three deer in October.

They participated in fire safety training, managing a smoke tunnel and teaching elementary students about fire safety. They took a second trip to the grade school to help younger students carve pumpkins.

At an FFA dinner, students raised over $6,000. They plan to purchase new jackets to wear to competitions.