Forrest E. Orr Gift Gives Boost to
Classroom and Pole Barn Buildings at Jericho Research Forest

We are pleased to report that Susan Orr ’76 (Arts and Sciences) has given the School’s Forestry Department a generous gift in honor of her late father, Forrest E. Orr. The gift will be used to support the design, construction, renovation, and related general purposes of two buildings at the Jericho Research Forest, the classroom and the pole barn.

Inspired by this gift, the Board of Trustees approved a formal renaming of the existing pole barn to be known as The Forrest E. Orr Conservation Center with signage indicating it as such. The renovation funds from this gift will expand the pole barn’s use as a working classroom while maintaining the capacity to use it as a shop.

Sue’s father, Forrest Orr, also father to Patrick Orr ’77 of UVM’s Theater Department, was the Orleans County Forester with the Department of Forest and Parks, hired by Perry Merrill in 1949. He received his Forestry degree from Syracuse and worked primarily with non-industrial private forest land owners, giving them technical advice on the management and restoration of their forest. Forrest’s work in the far Northeast Kingdom of Vermont led him to the head of the Vermont Department of Energy during the energy crisis of the 1970s and then on to the even hotter federal Department of Energy. In addition to this outstanding resume, Forrest was an avid outdoorsman and conservationist and proudly served his country in WWII.

We are grateful for this gift, especially because it is tied to an important figure who embodies our mission in Jericho so well. Students studying and learning in the renovated buildings will feel the presence of Forrest Orr and his legacy will live on in the mission of the Green Forestry Education Initiative.