WVFA EVENTS 18 West Virginia Forestry Association Mountain State Forestry | Spring 24 www.wvfa.org January is always a busy time for everyone kicking off the new year, but it’s especially busy for the WVFA! January brought the Legislative Reception, the Ag and Forestry Day at the Capitol, the Farm to Table dinner with the Farm Bureau, and the A.B. Brooks Symposium. Each event was made possible by participation from our members and all of those who sponsored these events. Each event went off without a hitch! The Legislative Reception on January 17 was held at the WV Cultural Center and State Museum, and WVFA hosted nearly 30 Delegates and Senators from across the state. During the reception, members mingle with the Delegates and Senators and put names, faces and issues to our organization. The event fell on an extremely cold evening, so no one left any coats on the coat rack! The WVFA had display boards set up in the Capitol Rotunda during the Ag and Forestry Day, and this afforded people the opportunity to learn who we are as they visited. Thank you to those who manned the displays that day—it would not have worked without you. We will be working over the next couple months to update these displays and we are looking forward to giving them a new look! Anyone who attended or has attended the Farm to Table dinner knows that it is an evening well spent for catching up with people and for a great meal! It’s great that we have the relationship with the West Virginia Farm Bureau and we can all come together for this event. This year on top of the excitement of a delicious dinner, we also got to see Senator Shelley Moore Capito be awarded the Golden Plow award. The Golden Plow award is from the American Farm Bureau Federation and is the highest honor given by the organization to sitting members of congress. We’re glad we got to be there to celebrate this accomplishment with her! We were glad to see the turn out of 65 WVFA members for the dinner. The 38th Annual A.B. Brooks Memorial Forestry Symposium was held on January 30 at the Charleston Town Center Marriot. Attendees had the pleasure of sitting in on a variety of presentations ranging from market trends to updates from the WVDOF. The 80-some members in attendance also got to bear witness to Kayla Springer’s newest job title: Information Technology expert! The events wouldn’t have been successful without member participation and everyone caring about our organization as well as the industry. The WVFA staff enjoyed the events, and we look forward to what this next year has to offer. Look for us to be more active on Facebook and hopefully even have some giveaways this spring! If you haven’t liked us on Facebook yet, you can find us at West Virginia Forestry Association, Inc. WVFA January Events Round-Up— A Very Busy January! The Third Annual WVFA Legislative Reception, first conceived by Phyllis Cole, was a resounding success with over 30 legislators and nearly 70 WVFA members in attendance this year. A packed house at the 38th Annual A.B. Brooks Symposium! The WVFA on display at the WV State Capitol Building. Manning the booth are three Weyerhaeuser foresters, Chris Fike, Laurel Kemmerling, and Bill Dempsey, as well as WVU Forestry Extension Specialist, Dave McGill.
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