Most students saw logs during a boring lecture, but SIUC’s forestry club members saw logs, spit tobacco, toss pulp and roll logs for competition.

After being undefeated six times straight in area forestry competitions, forestry club members say skill, strength and preparation are what it takes to be winners.

SIUC’s forestry team has won the Annual Midwestern Foresters’ Conclave four years running, starting in 1992. They won the 1995 conclave on Oct. 22 and have won the Eastern Illinois Conclave the last two years, beating colleges from Michigan, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana.

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Bill Belton, a graduate student in forestry from Harrisburg, said SIU’s forestry team members start practicing for the competitions the second week of school, which is earlier than most schools. He said this is one of the reasons the team does well in the conclaves.

When you practice, strength comes with it, he said.

Belton said there are 17 to 18 events at each conclave with competitions in wood identification, tree identification, the chain throw and the bolt throw. He said there are also male-female team competitions in buck sawing and log rolling as well as individual male and female competitions.

Belton said one of the more popular attractions at the conclaves is the tobacco spitting contest. He said competitors get three chances to spit the tobacco at a piece of graph paper.

Belton, who took third in this year’s competition, said the contest is not for the weak-stomached.

The objective is to cover as many squares as possible, he said. It’s a real disgusting event.

Belton said there are 44 people on SIU’s team this year and the average team for other schools is 15 to 20 people. He said on the other teams the same people do the same events over and over again and wear themselves out.

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Brenda Magers-Strole, a graduate student in forestry from Gurnee, said each event in the competitions takes a lot of strength, but requires more skill.

When we practice, we work on our skills more than our strength, she said. Each event is hard, but with practice, we build up skills.

Dave Farris, a senior in forestry from Evansville, Ind., who finished first in the tobacco spitting contest this year, said SIU is known as the winning team at the conclaves and the other teams have accepted that.

They’re scared of us, he said. We’re intimidating.

Belton said SIU’s record at the conclaves is something the whole University should take pride in.

We’re the top dog in the Midwest, Belton said. SIU should be proud of us.

James Magers-Strole, a forestry club member and senior in forestry from Carbondale, said the conclaves are a tribute to old-time forestry practices. He said the conclaves are a team effort but rely on the individual’s performance.

They take the individual scores and tally them up, and the team with the highest score wins, he said.

Magers-Strole said there is usually a one or two-point difference between the first and second place winners.

This year we won by 58 points, and last year we won by 51 points, he said.