T
he NorthWoods Lodge filled with applause when Forest Stewardship Institute Director Jayson Benoit presented the 2014 George Buzzell Forest Stewardship Award to Fern Fontaine at the Annual 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, Vermont, but his dedication to forestry and to education has been lifelong.
Benoit recounted some of Fontaine’s early experiences in the field, including Peace Corps service in Niger where he worked to plant trees at the edge of the Sahara desert, but it was a former student, North Country High School senior Stephanie Tarryk, who touched at the heart of Fontaine’s immense contributions to the future of young people and their environment. “Not only does Fern teach you to value yourself, he teaches you to value the things around you. As I go off to college, remembering what he taught me will help me to be successful.” She added “I’m honored to know such a great man, and I can’t imagine anyone more deserving of this award.”
George Buzzell’s daughter Rebecca Hunt also shared her heartfelt appreciation for Fontaine—a colleague of her father for several decades. Hunt, who has known Fontaine personally through the Career Center advisory board and his work with her social service clients, highlighted his generosity toward young people. “It is inspiring to see the intensity with which he values his students and program, how hard he has worked with FFA and upward bound, and how he treats everyone as worth investing in. He has a gift for recognizing what a person has to give and unlocking that gift.” Hunt echoed the sentiment that Fontaine is a deserving recipient of her father’s namesake award. “Dad valued education, and he valued natural resources, and he really valued you.”
Allen Yale, local sawyer and active supporter of the Old Stone House Museum, highlighted Fontaine’s achievements in career education with a story about constructing a timber frame barn at the OSH. “I offered to provide the trees,” recalled Yale, “so Fern and a group of students spent several days on my woodlot in January harvesting hemlock. He had 6 or 8 boys out in the woods with chainsaws and yet everything was so carefully managed—only one at time was felling a tree. I’ve dropped a lot of trees and yet I learned a lot watching him. Yale added, “In Fern’s program, the classroom is where it belongs—on the site of the work. That’s the great thing about career education.”
When attendees called for a “Speech!,” Fontaine addressed this simple message to his former students and to community members alike: “Keep on learning. That’s the value that I can give. Whether it’s a language, or health skills—it doesn’t matter. Just keep on learning.”
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n honor of the esteemed county forester for which it is named, the Buzzell award recognizes an individual who is making a positive impact on Northeast Kingdom forests. During his 44 years as Orleans County Forester, George Buzzell exemplified the best practice of his trade, including research that helped to re-define sugarbush management in Vermont. George also cast a welcoming net–encouraging education and inviting the widest community into the conversation and practice of forestry.
As inscribed on a plaque that hangs at NorthWoods, “George Buzzell served for 44 years as Orleans County Forester and was widely known and respected for his quick wit, knowledge, dedication to forestry, and support of the people involved in its everyday practice. This award is given annually to recognize others who demonstrate the commitment to education and care of the forest that are George’s legacy.”
NorthWoods provides forestry education programs to individuals and schools as well as forestry management services to landowners. “George was very supportive of NorthWoods when we began offering forestry education and technical services almost 20 years ago,” recalled NorthWoods Forest Stewardship Institute (FSI) Coordinator Jayson Benoit. “I appreciated his guidance, knowledge, and very colorful personality, and the workshops that he led at NorthWoods on hardwood pruning and sugar bush management were unforgettable. We hope the Buzzell award—by honoring George’s work and spotlighting excellent forestry practice and education in the Northeast Kingdom—is a step toward repaying the debt our region owes to George.”