• By April W Bowman
• Posted Wednesday, August 4, 2021

National 4-H Forestry Champion

North Carolina was one of nine states that competed in the National 4-H Forestry Invitational from July 26 through July 28, 2021. Teams from Georgia, Tennessee and Louisiana placed first, second and third respectively. Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia also competed in this year’s Invitational.

4-H members competed for overall team and individual awards in several categories. Events included tree identification, tree measurement, insect and disease identification, topographic map use, and a forestry knowledge exam.

North Carolina 4-H was represented by Luke Arrowood and the coach was Carla Arrowood. Luke and Gabriel Craven from Georgia tied for the highest individual score award. The second-place individual was Bethany Craven from Georgia and the third-place high individual was Josh Griffith from Tennessee. Arrowood is a member of the NEST 4-H and Trailblazers Teen 4-H Clubs. He scored a perfect score on Tree Measurement, Topographic Maps, and Disease ID!

4-H is a youth education program operated by the Cooperative Extension Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Food and Agriculture and the state land grant universities. More than six million youth, 540,000 volunteers, and 3,500 professionals participate in 4-H nationwide, and nearly 100,000 are part of the 4-H Forestry Program.

The 2021 National 4-H Forestry Invitational was sponsored by Farm Credit. Farm Credit supports rural communities and agriculture with reliable, consistent credit and financial services. Farm Credit has been helping areas grow and thrive for a century by providing farmers with capital and by financing infrastructure and communication services.

For more information on the National 4-H Forestry Invitational, go to: http://4hforestryinvitational.org/.

For more information, email, April Bowman, Extension Agent, Livestock, Forages, and 4-H Youth Development at awbowman@ncsu.edu or call 336-703-2855.