Lakehead University Forestry Association - Yearbook (Thunder Bay, Ontario Canada)

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Mr. L. Vidlak Honorary Professor D. Wotton Technical Assistant

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Honourary Professor On August 15, 1973, the Faculty and Staff members of the Lakehead University School of Forestry held a stag at 18 Peter Street to commemorate the title of Honorary Professor bestowed upon Leo Vidlak by Dr. Booth. In the above picture Leo ' s Technical Assistant Dave Wotton is presenting him with a silver plated planting spade (freshly stolen from the new shipment Leo had just ordered) . The shovel was chosen due to the storage of tennis rackets in the Forestry storeroom, and is a symbol of the outstanding job Leo has performed over his teaching carreer in guiding students into the profession of forestry. RECOLLECTION OF AN OLD FORESTER When a man has been working in forestry for over fifty years, it is time to look back and to ask himself What have you achieved? After surviving the first World War, graduation cum laude and seven years of service in private forestry, I was appointed Senior Manager-Forest-master. Like any other young forester I had more enthusiasm than experience, was very critical of anything old and was determined to change and improve everything. That very week of my appointment, Mother Nature brought me adversity to challenge my arrogance. An unprecendented hurricane destroyed the timber equivalent of four allowable annual cuts in our forest. This event was the introduction and herald of my future stormy life. Salvage of the devastated stands, sales of the rapidly deteriorating timber during the worst of worldwide depressions and reforestation of the devastated areas was completed within three years. What I learned from this disaster was invaluable. I realized how little I knew about forests and forestry and from then on, I never met anyone from whom I could not learn something. In particular, this catastrophe convinced me that mixed, unevenaged stands were more resistant to climatic and biotic incursions than were monocultures. On my management unit 35%-40% of the allowable cut had consisted of salvage fellings (e.g. dead trees, blowdowns or trees damaged by insects or disease). After the consistent, systematic improvement cuts of the first ten years, salvage fellings never exceeded 5% of the annual cut. At the same time I began the conversion of spruce and pine monocultures to mixed stands, using strip, wedge or patch shelterwood systems. Occupation of Czechoslovakia by the Nazis and the outbreak of the second World War made my work much more difficult but my operations went on. Although three times arrested by the Gestapo, I survived the war and in 1945 medals for leadership in the antiNazi underground movement. Promotion in the Czechoslovakian army followed. My happiness did not last very long. After the Communist ' putsch ' in 1948, I was accused of collaboration with the Nazis and with a little bit of luck I was able to escape to the West. The period since my arrival in Canada in January 1951 can be accurately and briefly described: ' from a 50 fr an hour labourer in a nursery to honorary professor of forestry ' . In concluding this brief dossier, I would like to tell my young colleagues - both students and graduates - that the present situation of Canadian forestry is far from perfect but not quite hopeless yet. Don ' t blame others for this bad and sad situation. You are young and you can change it. Good luck! -lv-

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S. Zingel Associate Professor G . Vanson Technical Assistant