Baker Woodlot Memories

February 06, 2024

Alums send in some of their favorite memories of time spent in the woodlot.

Carl Working | BS ‘72

Baker Woodlot was very much a part of my MSU educational experience and I was able to introduce my now current wife to nature along with the Forestry canoe trip! We walked, talked and got to know each other before marriage! It was like a marriage prep program that the church held.

William Rivard | BS ‘79

I remember Baker Woodlot most for the Forest Dendrology (Jonathan Wright) and Forest Ecology courses I took the first semester of my junior year. Stepping into the woodlot was always a respite from an otherwise essentially urban environment, even while concentrating on the lesson at hand.

Don Dekker | BS ‘81

My memories of Baker Woodlot stem from the late 70’s, early 80’s. I remember lab field studies with Dr. Wright, learning to ID trees in his Dendrology class. To this day I still remember some of his clues to ID a tree, “squashed rat pinecone!”

Every spring during maple syrup season, I recall the Forestry Club would go into the woodlot and tap the Maple trees to boil down into maple syrup. We’d finish it off on the stove in the kitchen off the student lounge by the “Polar Bear.”

I remember the Forestry Club would go out in the winter and cut deadwood for their firewood sales fundraisers. I recall this memory every time I’m out in my different forests cutting firewood for my personal use.

Good times for sure! Thanks for helping me recall my favorite Baker memories!

John Cast | BS ‘75

One Baker Woodlot memory in particular was a timber cruising class. A very interesting outdoor class as we were utilizing Biltmore sticks we built ourselves. The exciting part of this class was searching for a lost group; they were lost in a woodlot where one only had to walk 90 degrees in any direction to exit, and we all had compasses.

Then, there was that night I tried to ride my bicycle through Baker after dark. If I remember correctly, a fence around the woodlot prohibits a repeat adventure.

I spent many Saturdays in Baker, with MSU’s Forestry Club cutting timber on cold winter days. I believe this is where I learned to drink peppermint schnapps.

After graduation, with a Forestry Degree, I spent the following 4 years with the United States Army, as a Combat Engineer, 24th Infantry Division, Fort Stewart Ga. I retired from General Motors in 2008 after 30 years. I actually used my degree in 1981, while on reserve duty, cruising timber with Fort Benjamin Harrison’s forester. I am currently employed by local high school to manage their swimming pool, and coach middle school swimming.

Ken Peacock | BS ‘76

I recall Dr Wright seemingly walking us through every inch of Baker in Dendrology class, and not only did he know (and by inference, at the end of the class each student should know) the genus, species and common name of each tree, shrub and most forbs growing there.

It was the first natural outdoor lab in Higher Education that I recall at MSU, and on late summer and spring days thereafter it was a quiet destination of reflection, a peaceful walk or bike ride.

I graduated from MSU in 1976, and had a long career in private industry with Kirby Forest Industries in southeast Texas, and later in the public sector with the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management.

I retired in 2013 from the BLM as the Wyoming State Planner, and still live in Cheyenne. I try to get back to MSU at least once per year for an event or just to walk the campus and reminisce. The memories flood back; I can’t think of a better undergraduate experience!