Education
The Montana Forest Conservation Experiment Station has been a field laboratory for students at the W.A. Franke College of Forestry and Conservation since the early 1900s when it was a field camp for future foresters. Classes learn mensuration, forest ecology, wildlife and water measurements, prescribed fire, and forest protection in field trips and field courses at Lubrecht Experimental Forest and Bandy Ranch.
Lubrecht's second-growth forest is typical the type of forest future foresters will manage and the variety of timber age classes offers students wide experience in forest operations such as planting, thinning, weeding, and pruning.
Special courses and field laboratories are regularly held at Lubrecht and Bandy including:
- The Environmental Science and Sustainability program's incoming student retreat
- Forestry and Wildlife Biology field techniques courses
- Range management study plots
- Sawmill use and application training
- Fire Center prescribed burn training
Section 13
In 1971, one section of 640 acres was given to the student Forestry Club to manage. Known as Section 13, the students are responsible for management decisions on recreation, fire, timber, range, water, soils, and wildlife.
The undergraduate Forestry Club regularly organizes weekend workdays and events to carry out a range of forest management projects. Returning members play a key role in mentoring newer students—sharing skills in safe saw use, stand cruising, GPS data collection, and the creation and implementation of thinning prescriptions.