Water & Environmental Instructor Completes Pennsylvania Forest Stewards Volunteer Program
Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology Water & Environmental Technology Instructor Katie Surra, of Marietta, was one of seventeen volunteers who completed the Pennsylvania Forest Stewards Volunteer Program’s training in September 2017 after participating in a four-day workshop on forest stewardship at Camp Krislund in Centre County.
Katie participated in this innovative program in which trained volunteers promote forest stewardship in their communities by relaying what they’ve learned to their friends, neighbors, and community groups. Volunteers help spread the word about good forest stewardship, wisely caring for and judiciously using the forest resources today without compromising its ability to provide in the future. Pennsylvania Forest Stewards encourage landowners to base their land stewardship activities on their own values and objectives, such as reforestation, wildlife habitat, aesthetic values, water resources protection and improvement, timber, and recreation, and to make well-informed decisions in caring for the land.
To become a volunteer, Katie completed more than twenty-four hours of classroom and field training in forest and wildlife management, ecology, biodiversity, silviculture, forest hydrology, communication, and other subjects related to stewardship. In exchange for the training, volunteers agree to invest a like amount of time relaying what they have learned to others in their community.
Volunteers work closely with other volunteers, their DCNR Bureau of Forestry County Service Forester, Extension Foresters, and other stakeholders. Volunteers promote forest stewardship through outreach opportunities that mesh their interests and expertise with a perceived need in the community. PA Forest Stewards volunteers play an important role in spreading a stewardship ethic across the state.
Pennsylvania’s program is funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Forestry and the USDA Forest Service, and administered through the Center for Private Forests at Penn State, in cooperation with other government and private resource agencies, including Penn State’s Department of Ecosystem Science and Management and Renewable Natural Resources Extension.
To date, 684 volunteers throughout Pennsylvania have successfully completed the PA Forest Stewards training. To learn more about the PA Forest Stewards volunteer program, contact the Penn State Renewable Natural Resources Extension Office toll-free at 1-800-235-9473 or visit the website at http://ecosystems.psu.edu/research/centers/private-forests/outreach/pennsylvania-forest-stewards.
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