Associate Professor Ben Leshchinsky and his team install a sensor in the McDonald-Dunn Research Forest

A groundbreaking study supported by the Cascadia Region Earthquake Science Center (CRESCENT) is underway to answer a fascinating question: Why did the last Cascadia earthquake appear to trigger few landslides? Researchers hypothesize that forest structure may play a role in damping seismic waves, reducing their impact on hillslopes in particular settings. This study explores whether certain types of forests act as natural shock absorbers during earthquakes, making ground shaking less severe compared to areas with different vegetation structure and/or land use.

SmartSolo 3C seismic sensor

To test this idea, the research team is using advanced SmartSolo 3C seismic sensors, which are compact, all-in-one devices capable of recording ground motions. These sensors were installed in the McDonald-Dunn Research Forest in two distinct landscapes: mature forests and adjacent clearings. By capturing both normal ground movements and vibrations from nearby quarry blasts that mimic earthquake activity, the team aims to compare how the ground responds in each environment.

The findings could provide insights into whether forests reduce seismic wave intensity. Additionally, the study aims to determine if different types of forests influence ground motion during earthquakes and to better understand how forests and landscapes interact during major seismic events.

The implications of this study extend far beyond its scientific curiosity. Understanding the role of forests in stabilizing landscapes could shed light on the history of large earthquakes and inspire innovative strategies to enhance landscape resilience to seismic waves.

This study is a collaboration between OSU and several university partners, including:

Will Struble, University of Houston, PI
Valerie Sahakian, University of Oregon, co-PI
Jill Marshall, Portland State University, co-PI
Josh Roering, University of Oregon, co-PI
Ben Leshchinsky, Oregon State University, co-PI

Micah Schmidt got hired earlier this year as a Regional Fire Specialist, based in the Union county Extension office. Micah graduated from the College of Forestry in March 2023 with a Master of Science in Sustainable Forest Management with a focus in Fire, Silviculture, and Forest Health. This Q&A was updated in December 2024 with a few additional questions included below.

What is something new you have learned during your first year as a Regional Fire Specialist?
I have learned a ton of new things since I started, but one of the most important things I have learned is the value of building strong relationships with landowners and the various natural resource partners in my region, which includes agencies, Tribes, non-profits, and other organizations. No one person can do everything, and that is especially true in the large nine-county region that I serve. Building strong relationships and trust with a diversity of people is so important because we can leverage each other’s strengths, capacity, and resources to work together toward a shared vision of healthy, productive, and resilient ecosystems across the region.

What do you enjoy most about your position?
I find a lot of enjoyment interacting with the diverse group of landowners across my region. I realized early in my career that private, non-industrial ownerships are the best place to find innovative management solutions to the complex problems we are seeing in our forest and range landscapes across the Pacific Northwest. Northeastern Oregon is no different. Many of the landowners out here care deeply for the piece of land that they can call their own. The way that many of them manage their lands reflects that level of care and looks very different depending on the management objectives. The other thing that I really enjoy about my position is the team that I work with. Our Fire Program consists of six regional specialists, a director, a manager, a workforce development coordinator, and the Northwest Fire Science Consortium Coordinator. Our team functions really well together and is full of great people that I can always count on for support when I run into challenges.

Is there anything specific you’d like to accomplish next year?
My biggest hope for next year is that we are able to form a Prescribed Burn Association in my region. There is a ton of interest from landowners wanting to implement prescribed fire on their lands, but very little opportunity to do so. I have been working hard to build the foundation for this to happen, and I think we have a good shot at getting one formed and doing some prescribed underburning on private lands next year, which is extremely rare in my region. I’m hoping this can create accessible opportunities for anybody interested in prescribed fire to come out and burn with us and help rebuild a healthy and inclusive fire culture in the region.

Original interview with Micah from February 2024

Does one class, teacher or experience at Oregon State University really stand out?
One class that really stands out for me was the Prescribed Fire Practicum taught by John Punches, Daniel Leavell, John Rizza, and Jacob Putney. The course had a two-week field session in La Grande and is one of the reasons that I moved here after I graduated. All of those professors were great to learn from, but I will single out John Punches as particularly important in my education. I now work in the same office as him. He is really a stand-out guy that I know will be an excellent resource during my career with Extension. I would also mention Dave Shaw, James Johnston, Andrew Merschel, Eric Forsman, and Jimmy Swingle as people who I learned a ton from during my time at OSU.

How did COF prepare you for your career?
COF definitely helped me build skills to be successful in my career, but I feel like my time working with Marty Main at his consulting forestry company Small Woodland Services, Inc. in southwest Oregon really prepared me the most. Marty was a great mentor to me and gave me an excellent education in forestry for several years before I went on to get my Master’s degree. That experience showed me how beneficial having an experienced mentor to work with day in and day out is for someone trying to break into a natural resources field. I’m hoping I can engage with young people hoping to get into this line of work so that I can potentially have that impact on others.

What are your main duties as a Regional Fire Specialist?
I’m still getting settled into my position and figuring that out myself. I think the most important part of my job is assessing the fire-related needs of the communities in the region I work in and figuring out how to best respond in an effective manner. I’m hoping to utilize my technical skills to assist local partners and stakeholders with their projects, communicate fire science to communities in my region in an accessible way, and help to build and maintain cross-boundary land management partnerships since we all can acknowledge that wildfire does not recognize property boundaries. I’m particularly looking forward to returning good fire on the land through prescribed burning. There’s a ton of interest in that in northeast Oregon, and I hope to help promote it as much as possible. But depending on the needs of the region, my job could look very different year-to-year.

What is your favorite tree?
Until I moved to northeast Oregon, my favorite tree was sugar pine. I still have a great admiration for that tree, but western larch is quickly looking to unseat it as my favorite since sugar pine doesn’t occur in my region. Honorable mentions would include Pacific yew and California black oak.

Anything else you would like to share?
I just feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to fill this position. I interacted with my predecessor, John Rizza, and admired the way he went about things in this role. I’m also lucky to work in the Union County Extension office which is full of great people. I have a lot of support from the northeast Oregon extension foresters and an awesome fire team to work with and learn from. I’ll also give a shout-out to my supervisor EJ Davis, who has been nothing short of fantastic in how she has welcomed me into this position.

How did you become interested in conservation, management, and global forest restoration, and/or why did you go into teaching it?
I spent my childhood in Galveston, Texas. There was an educational tourist destination there called Moody Gardens, which consisted of three large pyramids. One was an aquarium, one held science exhibits and activities, and one was a huge greenhouse with a tropical rainforest inside. I was fascinated by the rainforest pyramid as a kid – seeing the poison dart frogs, barracudas, free-roaming iguanas – and went to many events there during my time in Galveston. I was definitely one of those 90s kids that went to a “save the rainforest” science camp.

Fast forward 30 or so years, and my interests in the diversity of global forest ecosystems that our amazing planet hosts has only grown with time. I have had the immense privilege of living in ten different states across the U.S. and traveling to twenty different countries (including living in Thailand for three years). As I’ve explored the forested landscapes in these places, I have retained my initial interest in tropical forests but have found myself increasingly fascinated by the diversity and complexity of global forest ecosystems. I see teaching and research in conservation, management, and restoration of these forests as indulging in the things that excite me – but also as a way of helping these ecosystems and the communities that steward them.

Walk us through one research project you’re proud of, or that you feel had a significant impact.
As I build my research group here at Oregon State University, I frequently think back to my own master’s research project, in which I designed and implemented carbon stock inventories in three mangrove forests in Thailand and four mangrove forests in Vietnam – all in one summer! I remember being very nervous about flying from Connecticut to Thailand to collect all this data and ultimately write not only my thesis – but also a report for a joint United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and United States Agency for International Development program, which was partially funding the work.

Fortunately, I had wonderful mentors and individuals who believed in me, including individuals at the Forest Service that let me cold call them and ask them questions on a very specific set of sampling protocols for several hours. I also had incredible field teams. For example, I had picked up a fair bit of Thai while living in Thailand for three years, but my Thai field crews spoke a different dialect (and not a lick of English) and were patient enough with me that we successfully collected a wonderful dataset that I have used in multiple research projects now. As I meet with prospective students and discuss future projects, I think back on how exciting, fun, nerve-wracking, challenging and rewarding the entire experience was. I am thrilled to now be in a position where I can help others create their own experiences and adventures.

What advice do you have for current forestry students?
Indulge in your interests while in school but also be strategic in setting yourself up well for the future job or career that you want. Formally investing in your education is a wonderful and special thing. Be resourceful and use the flexibility and network of Oregon State University to connect with individuals and organizations whose work excites you. Finally, be kind to your peers and those around you. The natural resources sector is surprisingly small, and they will be your future colleagues!

What do you like to do in your free time?
My favorite thing to do is spend time outside with my partner and our two dogs. I often will go for trail runs with our dogs in the McDonald-Dunn Forest after work, and on weekends we enjoy getting out to the coast or the Cascades. I also really enjoy cooking and exploring the bountiful food options that Oregon has to offer.

What’s your favorite book/movie genre or your all-time favorite title?
It’s a predictably nerdy answer, but I am trying to read as many of the Pulitzer Prize winners for general nonfiction as I can. They are all wonderfully written, on very diverse topics and are guaranteed to teach you something.

The College of Forestry Logging Sports team attended the Lumberjack Classic on November 9-10, hosted by the University of Idaho Logging Sports team in Moscow, ID. Other teams in attendance included the University of Montana, Montana State, Colorado State, Northern Arizona, and Flathead Valley Community College, with over 120 competitors. Events featured axe throwing, chopping, choker setting, crosscut sawing, power sawing, climbing, and more. After 2 days of competition, the OSU A team came away champions for the second year in a row, with a total of 165 points and 11 1st place finishes.

OSU athletes are Belle of the Woods (1st place overall woman) Norah Steed, Captain Angus Nicholson, Captain and Bull of the Woods (1st place overall man) Kaleb Eakins, Zeke Bluhm, Olivia Cooper, Anika Showalter, Xyla Carlson, John Orm, Julian Wenz, Owen Vredenburg, Mason Dunn, Caroline Puckett, Fred Sutherland, Sierra Mirsky, and Bee Hoffman. Their next competition will be at the Sierra Cascade Logging Conference, Feb. 6-8th.

The COF Logging Sports team is part of the Forestry Club at Oregon State University, congratulations on your victory!

Glenn Jones (left), a graduate student in the COF’s Forest Engineering, Resources & Management (FERM) department, is collaborating with Chris Dunn to reconstruct historical and cultural fire regimes on the east slope of the Central Oregon Coast Range. Supported by the Bureau of Land Management’s Seeds of Success grant, Jones’ work involves a partnership with the BLM and the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians (CTCLUSI).

Blending Indigenous knowledge with Western science, the project addresses knowledge gaps in the Coast Range about fire return intervals and aims to revive traditional burning practices for CTCLUSI. A Hoopa Valley Tribal member, Jones brings personal experience with cultural burning to his work—an approach that supports habitats, maintains ecologically significant species, and sustains traditional resources. He’s also training to become a federally recognized Burn Boss, expanding his impact in helping Oregon Tribes increase cultural burns.

“This research is not only meaningful to me personally, its impactful to our next seven generations as we face an uncertain future with climate change and contemporary wildfires,” Jones shares. “Co-stewardship of the landscape with Tribes, agencies, and stakeholders is essential in informing management of forest ecosystems of the future.”

Phase one of the project—establishing plots, stem mapping, and tree coring—is complete. Phase two begins this winter with fire scar cutting and tree ring analysis.

Tell us a bit about your background and where you consider home to be.
I’ve been working in student affairs now for about 10 years. Broadly, I’d consider the East Coast of the United States to be home.

Why did you decide to join the College of Forestry as an academic advisor and what are you looking forward to doing here?
I decided to join the College of Forestry because of its uniqueness in terms of the degree programs it offers and student populations it serves. I am looking forward to helping COF students meet their academic goals through advising.

What is something you want every student to know (about you or generally)?
I would say that I am committed to COF students’ success and that I want all of them to get as much out of their experience at Oregon State as possible.

What do you like to do in your free time?
I am an avid baseball fan. I follow the game pretty closely. My team is the New York Mets.

If you could have any animal as a pet, what animal would it be and why?
Honestly? A cat. I already have one and they are great companions. They’re very funny and come in handy if there’s a bug in the house or something even scarier (like a mouse).

At the College of Forestry’s Fall 2024 Dean’s Celebration, we honored our scholarship recipients, donors, and college community. Thanks to our generous donors, the college has been able to award over $850,000 in scholarships and fellowships for the 2024-2025 academic year! These contributions make an incredible difference in the lives of our students by allowing them to fulfill their dreams of a college education, and to be successful contributors in our communities after graduation.

The College of Forestry’s Scholarship Committee reviewed 409 applications, and 191 students were selected to receive scholarships scholarship offers totaling $757,000 for the 2025-2025 academic year. College of Forestry fellowships recognize our top incoming and returning graduate students as well, nominated by their degree program. The Graduate Scholarship committee reads and reviews these nominations to make their recommendations and final selections. The committee selected 28 students, both Master- and PhD- level, to receive college fellowships totaling just over $152,600 for the 2024-2025 academic year. The students who were able to attend came up in small groups for congratulations with the Dean, pictured below.

Tell us a bit about your background and where you consider home to be.
I consider Michigan home, went to Western Michigan University for undergraduate and Bowling Green State University in Ohio for graduate school. That was where my interest in advising started, and I have been advising for eight years. I really like it because it is a little bit of everything, you get to support students and see their full journey from the start to graduation.

Why did you decide to join the College of Forestry as an academic advisor and what are you looking forward to doing here?
I’ve been at OSU for six years and wanted to support a different population of students such as transfer, non-traditional and e-campus. I’m passionate about access to higher education for students and the outdoors, and find myself relating to students through that.

What is something you want every student to know (about you or generally)?
Generally, there’s always going to be challenges. But knowing where to go to get help and support is the difference in being able to succeed and get through them.

What do you like to do in your free time?
I’m involved with Heart of the Valley Runners and on the board of directors. It’s a good way to meet people and help support youth and running programs and give back to the kids through programming.

If you could have any animal as a pet, what animal would it be and why?
I would have a tiny orca because they are extremely smart and communicate well.

Oregon State University’s College of Forestry is hosting two Ukrainian forest scientists as part of the BridgeUSA Ukrainian Academic Fellows Program. This initiative aims to foster lasting connections between Ukrainian and U.S. academics, strengthening Ukraine’s capacity in fields crucial for its future rebuilding.

Left to Right: Dr. Glenn Howe, Dr. Ihor Neyko, Dr. Oleksandr Soshenskyi, Dr. John Bailey

Dr. Oleksandr Soshenskyi, from the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine in Kyiv, focuses on silviculture and wildfire management while Dr. Ihor Neyko, from Vinnytsia National Agrarian University, specializes in forest genetics and sustainable forest management. Two OSU faculty, Dr. Glenn Howe and Dr. John Bailey, led the effort to welcome and collaborate with the Ukrainian scholars.

BridgeUSA Ukrainian Academic Fellows Program
The BridgeUSA Ukrainian Academic Fellows Program is administered by the American Councils for International Education in Washington, DC. The BridgeUSA program focuses on developing expertise in areas essential for Ukraine’s future, including forestry, post-war recovery studies, information technology, and pedagogy. The BridgeUSA program provides an invaluable opportunity to exchange knowledge and build international partnerships in forestry research and education.

An active month of visits included meetings with College of Forestry administration, the International Programs office, faculty, staff, and graduate students. The visiting scholars also attended lectures and field labs, and visited experimental forests and research sites. The scholars also visited a variety of OSU’s partner organizations, such as USFS Dorena Genetic Resource Center, Roseburg Forest Products, Lebanon Forest Regeneration Center, USFS Pacific Northwest Research Station, Starker Forests, and others.

Thomas H. DeLuca, Dean of the College of Forestry, says, “The College of Forestry is honored to host Ukrainian fellows Dr. O. Soshenskyi and Dr. I. Neyko so they can contribute to the important work of rebuilding and strengthening Ukraine’s academic and research capacities. This collaboration aligns with OSU’s commitment to global engagement and addressing critical challenges in forestry and environmental sciences.”

Dean Tom H. DeLuca with Dr. I. Neyko and Dr. O. Soshenskyi

The scholars shared their experiences and perspectives on forestry practices in Ukraine, enriching the learning environment for OSU students and faculty. While they were here, they presented two seminars, “Ukraine in Wartime: forests and forestry science” and “Digital Tools for Data Collection, Silviculture Sharing, and Remote Learning in Forestry.”

Key Learning and Observations
The scholars were exposed to cutting-edge research in forest biotechnology, including genetically modified poplar plantations and advanced laboratory facilities. Visits to various forest sites provided insights into sustainable management techniques, including seed orchard management and prescribed burning. The scholars learned about the use of digital tools and satellite data for forest monitoring and management. The scholars participated in various classes and the OSU Forestry Extension Tree School Field Day. Their visit fostered connections between Ukrainian and U.S. academics, aligning with the BridgeUSA program’s goal of strengthening Ukraine’s capacity in essential fields.

Conclusion
The month-long visit of Dr. Oleksandr Soshenskyi and Dr. Ihor Neyko to OSU’s College of Forestry provided comprehensive exposure to advanced forestry research, education, and management practices in the United States. This experience is expected to contribute significantly to the development of forestry practices and education in Ukraine, fostering long-term international collaboration in the field.

Several members of the College of Forestry community were honored on University Day with awards for their exceptional contributions.

Arijit Sinha, professor in wood science and engineering, received the Excellence in Postdoctoral Mentoring Award. Arijit has worked with five postdoc scholars since 2019. As a mentor, he prepares them to be successful researchers, providing guidance on proposal writing and budget planning that are essential skills for securing research funding. He also encourages collaboration with industry partners, helping postdocs build professional working relationships with experts in the field.

Arijit Sinha

Greg Goralogia, research associate in forest ecosystems and society, received the Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring by a Post-doc Award. Greg has mentored 12 undergraduate and 11 graduate students over the past five years, working one-on-one with students through all the stages of their research projects, from an abstract idea through experimentation and finally to results.

Ashley D’Antonio, associate professor in forest ecosystems and society, received the Faculty Teaching Excellence Award. Ashley teaches three required courses in the Tourism, Recreation and Adventure Leadership Natural Resources program, one of which also fulfills the Contemporary Global Issues requirement in the Baccalaureate Core. She is also active in training and programs for the Center for Teaching and Learning.

Congratulations! We’re incredibly thankful for all our dedicated faculty and staff who make a lasting impact every day.