T![\"Hunt](\"https:\/\/www.northwoodscenter.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/Hunt-Fontaine-Benoit-Tarryk-300x225.jpg\")
he NorthWoods Lodge filled with applause when Forest Stewardship Institute Director Jayson\u00a0Benoit presented the 2014 George Buzzell Forest Stewardship Award to Fern Fontaine at the\u00a0Annual Stewardship Celebration on October 24th. Fontaine retired this year after an eighteen-year tenure with the Natural Resources program at North Country Career Center in Newport,\u00a0Vermont, but his dedication to forestry and to education has been lifelong.<\/p>\n
Benoit recounted some of Fontaine\u2019s early experiences in the field, including Peace Corps\u00a0service in Niger where he worked to plant trees at the edge of the Sahara desert, but it was a\u00a0former student, North Country High School senior Stephanie Tarryk, who touched at the heart\u00a0of Fontaine\u2019s immense contributions to the future of young people and their environment. \u201cNot\u00a0only does Fern teach you to value yourself, he teaches you to value the things around you. As I\u00a0go off to college, remembering what he taught me will help me to be successful.\u201d She added\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m honored to know such a great man, and I can\u2019t imagine anyone more deserving of this\u00a0award.\u201d<\/p>\n
George Buzzell\u2019s daughter Rebecca Hunt also shared her heartfelt appreciation for Fontaine\u2014a\u00a0colleague of her father for several decades. Hunt, who has known Fontaine personally through\u00a0the Career Center advisory board and his work with her social service clients, highlighted his\u00a0generosity toward young people. \u201cIt is inspiring to see the intensity with which he values his\u00a0students and program, how hard he has worked with FFA and upward bound, and how he\u00a0treats everyone as worth investing in. He has a gift for recognizing what a person has to give\u00a0and unlocking that gift.\u201d Hunt echoed the sentiment that Fontaine is a deserving recipient of\u00a0her father\u2019s namesake award. \u201cDad valued education, and he valued natural resources, and he\u00a0really valued you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Allen Yale, local sawyer and active supporter of the Old Stone House Museum, highlighted\u00a0Fontaine\u2019s achievements in career education with a story about constructing a timber frame\u00a0barn at the OSH. \u201cI offered to provide the trees,\u201d recalled Yale, \u201cso Fern and a group of\u00a0students spent several days on my woodlot in January harvesting hemlock. He had 6 or 8 boys\u00a0out in the woods with chainsaws and yet everything was so carefully managed\u2014only one at\u00a0time was felling a tree. I’ve dropped a lot of trees and yet I learned a lot watching him. Yale\u00a0added, \u201cIn Fern\u2019s program, the classroom is where it belongs\u2014on the site of the work. That\u2019s\u00a0the great thing about career education.\u201d<\/p>\n
When attendees called for a \u201cSpeech!,\u201d Fontaine addressed this simple message to his former\u00a0students and to community members alike: \u201cKeep on learning. That\u2019s the value that I can give.\u00a0Whether it\u2019s a language, or health skills\u2014it doesn\u2019t matter. Just keep on learning.\u201d<\/p>\n
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n honor of the esteemed county forester for which it is named, the Buzzell award recognizes\u00a0an individual who is making a positive impact on Northeast Kingdom forests. During his 44 years\u00a0as Orleans County Forester, George Buzzell exemplified the best practice of his trade, including\u00a0research that helped to re-define sugarbush management in Vermont.\u00a0 George also cast a\u00a0welcoming net–encouraging education and inviting the widest community into the\u00a0conversation and practice of forestry.<\/p>\n
As inscribed on a plaque that hangs at NorthWoods, \u201cGeorge Buzzell served for 44 years as\u00a0Orleans County Forester and was widely known and respected for his quick wit, knowledge,\u00a0dedication to forestry, and support of the people involved in its everyday practice. This award is\u00a0given annually to recognize others who demonstrate the commitment to education and care of\u00a0the forest that are George\u2019s legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n
NorthWoods provides forestry education programs to individuals and schools as well as forestry\u00a0management services to landowners. \u201cGeorge was very supportive of NorthWoods when we\u00a0began offering forestry education and technical services almost 20 years ago,\u201d recalled\u00a0NorthWoods Forest Stewardship Institute (FSI) Coordinator Jayson Benoit. \u201cI appreciated his\u00a0guidance, knowledge, and very colorful personality, and the workshops that he led at\u00a0NorthWoods on hardwood pruning and sugar bush management were unforgettable. We hope\u00a0the Buzzell award\u2014by honoring George\u2019s work and spotlighting excellent forestry practice and\u00a0education in the Northeast Kingdom\u2014is a step toward repaying the debt our region owes to\u00a0George.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"