The Clinton County FFA Forestry Judging team took advantage of the Tree Trail located behind the Clinton County Middle School to prepare for the State Forestry Judging competition held last week in Taylor County.

The Clinton County FFA Forestry Judging team took advantage of the Tree Trail located behind the Clinton County Middle School to prepare for the State Forestry Judging competition held last week in Taylor County.

The Clinton County High School Future Farmers of America chapter have been working for several weeks now to prepare for an event they have not participated in for many years.

On September 6, four Clinton County freshmen traveled to Taylor County to be part of a state tree judging competition.

Competing as a team, Clinton County placed fifth out of sixteen teams in its first competition and according to Forestry Officer Scott Shadoan, who has been working with the group to sharpen their skills, have vastly improved over the past several weeks.

“These four kids are the ones who have volunteered to do it,” Shadoan said. “They have stayed after school everyday for the past two weeks until five at the latest and they have all made Biltmore sticks themselves.”

Two weeks ago, the Forestry Judging Team spent the afternoon at Clinton County’s Tree Trail located behind the Clinton County Middle School.

Shadoan has been working on the tree trail for almost a year and taking the Forestry Judging Team through the trail is exactly what the trail was designed for.

“We worked on tree identification and showing them how to use the Biltmore stick which is something they will do in Taylor County,” Shadoan said. “I thought it would be good and the kids wanted to do it. We’ve got a good set of kids. They’ve all done really well at it and they’ve had fun with it.”

The Forestry Judging team consists of Levi Neathery, Ethan Daniels, Austin Shadoan and Shannelle Stinson. As a team, they scored 1,934 points. The winning team, McCreary Central, scored 2,128 points. Clinton County was only two points shy of moving into the fourth spot, which was earned by Whitley County with 1,935 points.

Individually, Neathery finished with a score of 659, followed by Stinson’s 640, Austin Shadoan’s 635 and Daniels rounded out scoring with a 617. The top three scores from each team qualified for the total score.

FFA advisor Matt Johnson was impressed with the team’s results.

“I think they did very well, especially with the lack of time they had. We prepared in three weeks, which is hard after school begins. They did very well. I was pleased. They represented the school and the FFA very well. I’m proud of them,” Johnson said.

The purpose of the event is to teach students which trees are in their native area. There are several subcategories the students were scored on in order to combine the points for a team total.

“We will be cruising timber and identifying tools used in forestry,”Johnson said.

The Forestry Judging Team’s next event will be in October when they travel to Ohio for a competition.

“I can’t say enough about about how appreciative I am that Scott (Shadoan) helped us. He knows so much about it. I’ve learned a lot about it just by being there with the kids,” Johnson said.

Forestry Officer Scott Shadoan explained the traits of a tree along Clinton County’s Tree Trail two weeks ago to the Forestry Judging Team. The Future Farmers of America host a state competition every year and this is the first time in several years that Clinton County has entered a team.

Below, Forestry Officer Scott Shadoan explained the traits of a tree along Clinton County’s Tree Trail two weeks ago to the Forestry Judging Team. The Future Farmers of America host a state competition every year and this is the first time in several years that Clinton County has entered a team.