Welcome to the SAF Virtual Auction Booth. We’ve gone virtual, and we hope you will join in the fun and bid high and often to raise money for SAF’s granting programs!

How does the auction work?

The auction is hosted online and can be accessed here; you can also find the link on the convention home page. Feel free to share this auction link with your colleagues as bidding is not restricted to convention attendees.

Once on the site, you can preview items and also complete your bidder registration so you can start bidding – follow the prompts and provide your name, email, and phone number. The auction site allows you to view items by category and to track the status of your bid. You will be prompted to add credit card information when bidding on an item. Credit card payments only, no checks allowed.

If you win an auction item, your credit card will be charged for the winning big amount and you will receive a receipt via email.

Your winning auction item will be shipped to you by the item donor after convention.

All auction bids close at 2:00 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, October 31.

Visit this link and get started! Thank you for participating in this important fundraising event to support the Kurt Gottschalk Science Fund and the Foresters’ Fund.

Use the chat roll to post about your exciting auction experience!

Foresters’ Fund and Kurt Gottschalk Science Fund Website

Our forests provide goods and services to over 325 million citizens in the United States every day. Yet, many people aren’t aware of how forests contribute to their everyday life or understand the role of professional forestry in making many benefits possible.

We have a story to tell and providing these grant dollars helps to bring tangible results to support outreach, promote education, develop leaders, and encourage connections between forest science and management.

In 2020, $51,790 was provided in Foresters’ Fund grants to 16 SAF local units for their projects. Funding ranged from $525 to $5,000 per project, and our Leadership Development grants provided $20K to two state societies to conduct regional leadership training to provide opportunities to sharpen leadership skills.

Here is a look at the projects funded in 2020:

1. General public educational event during a collegiate timber sports competition;

2. Educational events at the Cradle of Forestry to celebrate Appalachian SAF’s 100-year anniversary;

3. Connect eighth-grade urban and rural students to forestry in the Dakotas;

4. Virtual writers’ workshop to encourage communications in forestry;

5. Legislative tours and policy booklet to inform decision makers on the importance of forestry in Maryland and Delaware;

6. Forest Health interpretive sign project in Colorado;

7. Active management tour with emphasis on networking in the Inland Northwest;

8. Week-long intensive tour in Idaho that immerses teachers and counselors in sustainable forestry issues;

9. Educate the public on forest history and its influence on sustainability in Louisiana;

10. Fifth-grade workbook update to keep current with technology and practices for use at the 2021 Forestry Expo in Montana;

11. Southern Oregon fifth-grade tree planting and reforestation activity and tour;

12. Online forestry field days in Washington State;

13. Educational materials and deer exclosures to document impact of wildlife on the forest to the recreating public and urban forest users;

14. Week-long natural resources workshop for underserved populations of high school students in Wisconsin;

15. District 5 (Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, and Iowa) leadership academy; and

16. Pacific Northwest leadership conference

Local SAF units in need of funding support for 2021 are encouraged to apply for Foresters’ Fund grants in 2021 (first deadline is February 15).

The Kurt Gottschalk Science Fund (KGSF) supports SAF working groups (WGs) and facilitates science-informed management in the form of continuing education activities for practitioners such as the F3 Diversity and Inclusion WG-sponsored Halloween Night Hike at the SAF 2019 national convention and international participant scholarships to the 2019 North American Forest Ecology Workshop, which originated initially as a project of the C1-Forest Ecology WG.

The KGSF also supports research projects, some of which are designed for local management needs – e.g., Evaluating Hack & Squirt Methods for the Most Effective & Efficient Solution in the Central Hardwoods and Hybrid Larch Plantations Growth and Yield Models for New York and New England. The fund has also supported graduate student research at The Ohio State University, University of Georgia, and University of Connecticut, and funds cash awards for the top 3 student posters and presentations at the SAF national convention.

Applications are taken once a year and are due February 15. Proposals must have the endorsement of one or more SAF WGs. Your generous support will allow us to increase the annual granting amount, which currently is about $5,750.

These projects and activities are a great way to engage members, strengthen local units, work collaboratively with partners, and get out in the community to tell our story.

For questions about the virtual auction, contact:

Ron Lemin
Virtual Auction Chair
teiron@aol.com
207-944-6160

Lori Rasor
SAF Director of Awards and State Society Relations
rasorl@safet.org
503-705-1091

To learn more about the Foresters' Fund, contact:

Lori Rasor
rasorl@safnet.org

To learn more about the Kurt Gottschalk Fund, contact:

Carol Redelsheimer, CF, SAF 
Director of Science and Education
redelsheimerc@safnet.org