Quinney College of Natural Resources celebrates 82nd annual Logger’s Ball

Every year, students from the Utah State University Quinney College of Natural Resources don their flannels and lace up their boots for a night of community and tradition at the annual Logger’s Ball.  

On Nov. 9, the ball commemorated 82 years of growth and development for QCNR.  

Abbigail Lane is a fourth-year wildlife ecology and management student and USUSA senator for QCNR. 

“Each year, we try to keep the spirit of the Logger’s Ball alive, which is fellowship, friendship, socialization, having a good time and connecting people within the university and the community,” Lane said.  

The first Logger’s Ball was held in 1928 by a group of forestry students attending USU, then known as the Agricultural College of Utah. 40 years later, a small series of courses about ecology would become a fully realized college known as QCNR.  

“It started as an informal gathering that the forestry students put together at the end of the logging season to celebrate,” Lane said. “Everyone would show up dressed in their field clothes, like a traditional lumberjack.”  

Many keep the essence of the original event alive by dressing up in logger’s attire. 

“I’m going for logger-chic this year,” said Ellie Tenbrink, a fourth-year forest ecology and management student. “I’ve got a dress and a flannel going on.” 

The college continues to celebrate the ball, adapted with more formality and organization to suit the modern day.  

“It’s evolved into a bit more of a structured event,” Lane said. “In years past, a lot of people will wear their cocktail dresses or white shirts and slacks, but a lot of people wear flannels, jeans and boots. It’s a fun dress code and allows people to dress to their comfort level.” 

QCNR students embrace informality as an aspect of the college’s culture.  

“The fact the dress code is not formal-required represents our college and the fact that we are more informal than I think many other colleges and departments here in the university,” Lane said. “That’s something everyone really leans into, and it’s a lot of fun.”   

As senator, Lane leads a committee of students in planning major events for QCNR, such as the Logger’s Ball and Natural Resources Week.  

“I got elected back in April, and I have been working on some aspects of the Logger’s Ball since June,” Lane said. “It’s been a lot of planning, and there’s a lot of logistics to go over.”  

The QCNR Student Council aims to tailor each year’s ball to the desires of the students.  

“It’s a lot of talking with the students and the council and hearing what they envision for the event,” Lane said. “It’s really important to me. I want students to feel represented. It’s a lot of outreach and advertising and trying to get momentum and support from within the college and the university as a whole.”  

Paper Smokey the Bear and a USU A sit on stage while Citrus plays at Loggers Ball Nov. 9.

The event featured a meal and dessert accompanied by live music from local bands. 

“I love that we have live music,” Lane said. “We try to get a band to play live music every year. Last year we had The Last Wild Buffalo, which was a lot of fun — people just got up and started dancing, and it was a great energy that live music brings.”  

The event also hosted a prize drawing and an array of other activities, acting as an opportunity for students and faculty to intermingle.  

“It’s really fun to get to see your classmates and professors outside of a school setting,” Tenbrink said. “I’ve really liked getting to listen to music and dance, and we have cornhole tournaments, and it’s just kind of a fun social event.”  

QCNR is the smallest college at USU Logan campus, with under 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students enrolled. Students within the college have formed tight-knit communities, culminating in efforts such as the ball.  

“The Logger’s Ball represents a really big facet of the culture in the QCNR,” Lane said. “We’re small, but it’s really fun because you get to know everyone.”  

“It’s a tradition for us,” Tenbrink said. “I think it represents how we’re a community. Being a small college means we do all know each other and are a close-knit community, and the Logger’s Ball is a representation of that.” 

This year, the council has pushed for students outside of QCNR to attend the event and forge interdisciplinary connections across the colleges.  

“The Logger’s Ball is for everyone at USU and anyone in the community who would like to attend,” Lane said.  

This annual event enables students to build new friendships within QCNR, with a new focus on building bonds university-wide.  

“I love to have anybody and everybody who wants to come,” Tenbrink said. “I’ve made friends at the Logger’s Ball, and I love to reach out and see everyone.”  

At the core of the ball is building community, both within QCNR and the university as a whole.  

“This is one of my favorite things about the culture of the QCNR that is represented in this event,” Lane said. “Bringing people together and facilitating those bonds of friendship and camaraderie.”