Oil City Environmental Magnet School students gather around the forest exchange box after an Arbor Day program at their school. Pictured are front row: Corri Kilpatrick, Skye Roberts, Kirstann Scaiffe, Jade Edgefield. Second row: C'Airra McKay, Paige Pogue, Elizabeth Irvin, Brandon Moses and Tristan Russell. (Photo by Mary Ann Van Osdell. Click on photo for downloadable image.)

The forest exchange box, containing a collection of items, samples, data, facts and reports about the forests and trees in Louisiana, includes publications from the LSU AgCenter. In March the box will be on display for a Project Learning Tree meeting in Washington, D.C., and on Capitol Hill for a Congressional briefing on the state of America’s forests and the role of environmental education in helping inform the next generation about the value of America’s forests. (Photo by Mary Ann Van Osdell. Clilck on photo for downloadable image.)

News Release Distributed 01/28/11

OIL CITY, La. – Oil City Environmental Magnet School has been selected to provide the Louisiana forest exchange box in a display recognizing the International Year of Forests in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in March.

Boxes from each state will be on display for a Congressional briefing on the state of America’s forests and the role of environmental education in helping inform the next generation about the value of America’s forests, according to LSU AgCenter area forester Ricky Kilpatrick.

The boxes contain collections of items, samples, data, facts and reports about the forests and trees in each state. Oil City school students placed items in the Louisiana box and learned about forests at an Arbor Day ceremony Jan. 21.

“Oil City will represent the whole state,” Ricky Kilpatrick told the students. “You should be proud of yourself. Your school is a model all over this country for environmental education.”

The selection was made by the state steering committee of Project Learning Tree, a multi-disciplinary environmental education program of the American Forest Foundation.

“Your box is going to say, ‘I’m from Oil City, La.,’ with 49 other boxes,” science teacher Cindy Kilpatrick told the students. “Go home and tell your parents how fortunate we are that we are the school represented.”

Seventh-graders added material to the box that included LSU AgCenter publications Native Tree Growing Guide, Leaf Key to Common Trees in Louisiana, Louisiana’s Primary Forest Products and Louisiana Trees. Cindy Kilpatrick said she would add leaves, branches, wood, acorns and a pine cone.

2011 is designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Forests to promote broader understanding of the importance of forests and to bolster global efforts to promote sustainable forest management and conservation.

Forest exchange boxes from Florida, Hawaii, Indiana, Montana, New Hampshire and New Mexico will be on display until Feb. 4 at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations as representative samples in conjunction with the United Nations Forum on Forests and the launch of 2011 International Year of Forests.

The boxes will be displayed at other forestry and environmental education events and conferences throughout the country during the year.

Mary Ann Van Osdell