Tree Farm Scholarship
At the WVFA Annual Conference, Garrett Copland was awarded this year’s Tree Farm Scholarship. Garrett graduated from Richie County High School this past year and will be attending Glenville State University this fall. He was raised on his parent’s Tree Farm and has a good understanding of the hard and rewarding work involved with a tree farm. He has helped do Timber Stand Improvement (TSI) practices, helped conduct domestic harvesting and sawing on a portable band mill and conducted a Supervised Agricultural Experience project through FFA producing firewood.
Garrett is the son of Charles Copland who many of you may know as a longtime employee of the WV Division of Forestry. Garrett enjoys math and will be majoring in accounting at Glenville. We hope that his parents can convince him to enroll in a few forestry classes along the way. We congratulate Garrett and we wish him success in his future endeavors.
Tree Farm of the Year
The Myles Lumber Company (MLC) is the proud recipient of the Tree Farm of the Year for 2024! Nominating forester Terry Jones introduced Andy Swecker as the representative of Myles Lumber Company. MLC has managed quality hardwoods on their over 11,000 acres of land since the 1950’s. This was one of West Virginia’s first Tree Farms and was initially owned by George Miles, who operated a sawmill in Randolph County. The land is currently owned by George’s daughter June who continues to manage the property for timber, wildlife, and water quality. MLC continues to manage the land and operates a log storage facility and log yard providing several jobs in the area. Ms. Myles continues to be very active in the local community.