The West Salem Outdoor Education Center (known better as the “school forest”) turns 50 this year and that milestone and some new improvements were celebrated on Sept. 6 with an “open forest” event.

A longtime West Salem teacher, Norm Rowe, was honored at the open forest in a ceremony that dedicated the lodge in his memory as the N.N.Rowe Lodge.

Rowe was a vocational agriculture teacher from 1925 to 1975 whose FFA projects won numerous awards. In 1975, Rowe was honored by the Wisconsin Association of Vocational Agriculture Instructors for his work in agriculture, and that was just one of the honors he accrued in a half century of work.

The event also included hayrides, trail-side skits and singalongs put on by members of the drama club, live music, archery and demonstrations on radio telemetry and global positioning systems.

Food and T-shirts were sold, and a raffle was held for a basket of forest treasures, including maple syrup, a hand-crafted antler pen/pencil set, a carved wooden acorn, a nature book, a pinecone candle and a kayak lesson. Most objects in the basket were made by teachers.

The money raised from the open forest will be added to funds for remodeling projects. One project, which will begin this fall, is an area for the special education students to use when they are at the forest. Another project will remodel the bunkhouse into two classrooms to allow classes to be at the forest all year and in all weather.