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The Southeast Area Forestry Contest was held at Mountain Gateway Community College in Clifton Forge on Wednesday, April 19. The forestry contest tests a FFA member’s knowledge on tree identification, equipment identification, estimating volume of trees and reading topographic maps. Three Buckingham teams were able to compete at the Virginia State Forestry Contest. They all qualified for the event in November at the Southeast Area Contest.

The Buckingham Middle School team consisted of Ryland Carter, Luke Gilliam, Alexis Meadows and Trenton Ragland. The team placed fourth in the junior division of the contest. Ryland Carter placed fifth as an individual. 

In the senior division the team of Jordan Dorrier, Noah Jones, Daniel Farrish and Andrew Dorrier placed third overall. Noah Jones placed eighth overall. In addition to the parts of the contest listed above, members of the senior division had to explain their choice of removing or leaving trees in their timber stand improvement, estimating distance by pacing, identify wood species based on a sample and identify diseases and disorders of trees.

The junior division team from the Buckingham Senior Chapter was the winning team. Team members were Ben Gilliam, eighth place individual; Sarah Bryant, sixth place individual; Grace Martin, fourth place individual; and Alexandra Morris, second place individual.

The Buckingham FFA forestry team members are grateful to Henry Paris for his support in assisting with coaching the teams as well as Tomas Snoddy, Virginia Department of Forestry, for coaching the team as well.