DANVILLE, Pa. – On most days, Van Wagner has pine needles in his pockets and sawdust in his salt-and-pepper beard. He teaches his highschool college students about agriculture and timber, trims tree branches on the aspect and, if he can carve out just a few additional hours, Wagner even sings people songs in regards to the forest.
“Timber and training are my factor,” he mentioned
On a blustery Friday afternoon, earlier this month, Wagner was 40 toes up a pitch pine, excessive atop the Montour Ridge in Montour County. Wagner, 46, was on a follow climb, making ready for his formidable and weird plan to lift consciousness about Pennsylvania’s huge forests. He plans to climb the tallest tree on the highest elevation, in all 67 of Pennsylvania’s counties over the course of the subsequent yr or two.
“My aim is to get a dialog going about forestry,” Wagner mentioned earlier than his climb. “I want to see extra Pennsylvanians literate in forest ecology and forest economics. It’s a giant a part of Pennsylvania’s economic system.”
Greater than half of Pennsylvania is forested and, in line with Penn State, the timber and forest merchandise business contributes over $5 billion to the state. The biggest tracts are often parks and sport lands protected by a slew of state and federal companies. Privately owned parcels make up a million of Pennsylvania’s 16.6 million acres of forest.
These forests, Wagner identified, are usually not static, like a panorama portray. They want fixed logging to remain wholesome, to beat back the horde of invasive bugs, just like the emerald ash borer that’s decimated 100 million ash timber within the state because it first appeared in 2007.
“Pennsylvanians take it as a right and there’s threats to it,” he mentioned. “Some timber have been decimated and others might be.”
Wagner teaches agriculture at Danville Space Excessive Faculty, within the city the place he grew up. He’s additionally a licensed arborist and forester. He runs Van Wagner and Sons Tree Service together with his two teenage sons. His first climb for the undertaking was a crimson oak in Montour County final month, then a pitch pine on Jones Mountain in Union County. He’s additionally climbed timber at excessive factors in Northumberland and Schuylkill Counties however he isn’t setting any exhausting timeline for himself.
“I count on it to take years,” Wagner mentioned.
Wagner, who’s documenting his climb on an internet site, mentioned the concept was merely an extension of his passions: climbing timber and training.
“It simply hit me sooner or later whereas within the woods and I believed ‘I wager nobody has carried out this,’ ” he mentioned.
Wagner’s significantly excited in regards to the state’s highest factors. Mt. Davis, within the Laurel Highlands of Somerset County, is 3,213 toes above sea degree, the best peak in Pennsylvania. Bedford County’s Blue Knob is just not a lot shorter at 3,120 toes. In Philadelphia, the best elevation is simply 442 toes above sea degree. It’s on Summit Road in Chestnut Hill.
“Philly goes to be attention-grabbing as a result of I wager among the timber are like 300 toes tall,” he mentioned. “Climbing a tree that was possible alive when William Penn was alive could be fairly a expertise.”
On this Friday afternoon in February, the pitch pine Wagner was climbing was swaying within the wind up on Montour Ridge. Wagner, midway up, appeared to get a kick out of it.
“Oh man, it’s actually shifting now,” he yelled.
Wagner was utilizing a rope and sporting each a harness and helmet however his spouse, Tamara, mentioned she stopped worrying about his security a very long time in the past. The couple met at an outside camp as teenagers and commenced courting later once they each attended Penn State.
Wagner used to mine anthracite coal and nonetheless skateboards and rides dust bikes. His most secure passion is music. He’s launched greater than 30 albums of his people music and commonly performs at venues and festivals within the space.
Nonetheless, Tamara’s fairly certain her husband, the woodsman, is most at residence in a tree.
“I imply, he’s sort of unstoppable,” she mentioned.