Dropping a blade just inches from his toes, 22-year-old David Gouveia aims for accuracy. “There’s no substitute for doing a lot of chopping or sawing,” he says. “I just try to focus on breathing.”
Gouveia is one of more than 2,500 mid-year graduates from Northern Arizona University. But he may well be the only one who has mastered the traditional logging tools of the school’s mascot.
This NAU Lumberjack is a timbersports champion. With chainsaw in hand, Gouveia has sliced through thick collegiate competition. In his senior year, he won the Regional Stihl Timbersports Challenge at the Western Conclave and took third place in the national competition among forestry clubs. He chops down logs and saws through timber with speed, strength and confidence.
“It’s certainly a good way to get out and stay active,” he says as he positions logs in the Centennial Forest where he practices. “It’s nice to come out after class and relieve a little bit of stress by chopping some wood or sawing.”
As the NAU Loggers team captain for several years, Gouveia is credited with bringing more students into the sport – both male and female, bringing more ribbons home, and bringing more awareness to NAU’s School of Forestry.
“David played a major role in the growth and overall success of our Logging Sports Team,” said NAU School of Forestry Executive Director Jim Allen, Ph.D. “The team really began to flourish during the time that he served as its captain. Although we had reactivated the team a few years before David came to NAU, his energy, drive and vision for the team really helped lead to its current level of success. We hadn’t been showing up at these conclaves for so long. Not only are we now showing up with a good number of students, we’re also doing well in the competitions.”
Academically, Gouveia is as sharp as the axe he throws. He is nearly a straight A student and already has a job lined up with the Forest Service in the Black Hills National Forest of South Dakota.
“We learned a lot of concepts about silviculture and managing forests in general,” said Gouveia of his years at NAU. “It’s nice to go out and mark an area or stand and come back the next year and see after they’ve logged it – the kind of effects, say I saved that tree and why, and how it’s doing. It’s pretty interesting and really complex.”
“David has the range of academic knowledge and practical skills that I like our students to have before they graduate, as well as an appreciation for the ‘people aspects’ of the forestry profession,” said Allen. “I know he will go on to represent us well in his work with the U.S. Forest Service.”
NAU College of Engineering, Forestry and Natural Science Dean Paul Jagodzinski, Ph.D., says NAU School of Forestry graduates are highly desired in the workplace.
“I talk to many alumni across the country; I talk to many employers of our students across the country and the students come out with a hands-on approach to forestry,” said Jagodzinski. “They come out with confidence they can do things in the field and they are very accomplished when they leave NAU.”
Gouveia says he looks forward to being in a position where he can have an impact on the ground and in the health of our forests. In addition to his career as a forester, he also plans to continue sharpening his lumberjack skills and hitting his mark in professional timbersports competition.
He’s really the epitome of a logging sports guy and I think he’s probably one of the best we’ve ever had here at NAU,” said School of Forestry Business Manager Kris Bellmore. “He’s kind of our lumberjack. Our real lumberjack.” FBN
By Bonnie Stevens
Flagstaff Business News