Forestry Summer Camp Prepares Students to Become Master Foresters
Pickens Sentinel (September 22, 2016)

Deep in the mountains of Western North Carolina, Clemson University forestry students are hard at work. As they trek up Whiteside Mountain, they collect an array of plant and tree species while identifying topographical traits of the area.

The students were participating in one of the many aspects of the Clemson Forestry Summer Camp, a seven-week program designed to give students hands-on experience in the field of forestry.

A curriculum unique to the Clemson forestry and environmental conservation department, the camp enables professors to provide experiential learning in varied environments. Beyond the classroom setting, campers take trips to areas as close as the Clemson Experimental Forest, and as far as South Carolina’s Lowcountry. Each trip provides a perspective on diverse geographic regions and ecology and a wide spectrum of different forestry practices.

“I try to expose them to the widest possible variety of plant communities, particularly the species we can’t see in Clemson,” said Donald Hagan, a forestry ecologist and professor (and SAF member) at Clemson University. “We can go farther and stay longer; something we wouldn’t be able to do without the camp.”