Podcast brings science-based information to woodland owners and managers.
When woodland owners encounter problems beyond their expertise, they often approach Oregon State University Forestry and Natural Resources Extension Service experts for help, either through email or phone or through professional Extension events like field days, workshops, seminars and short courses.
Those approaches can be limiting, though. Direct contact involves travel time for all involved and conflicting schedules and obligations mean some people can’t attend events.
In response, Lauren Grand, OSU Extension forester in Lane County, and her Extension colleagues created a podcast. Instead of having to be present at a certain time and place to reach a limited audience, Extension professionals present their educational content to an unlimited audience 24 hours a day, seven days a week, providing more people access to the information they want and need.
Twice a month, the “In the Woods” podcast shares stories and interviews with forest scientists, land managers and members of the public, communicating science-based and forest-related research. The podcast helps strengthen the forestry community, reaching both traditional and new audiences. While the traditional Oregon woodland owner is often older, listeners to “In the Woods” trend younger with 39% of listeners ages 28-34 and 26% ages 23-27. Reaching more young, urban, non-forest owners and natural resource professionals is in line with Extension’s mission of being accessible to all.
The podcast was one of the top 20% of podcasts shared globally on Spotify and the three highest-rated podcasts discussing water, soil and forest fungi. Half of listeners have, or plan to, adopt tips and skills they learned about in the episodes they’ve listened to. 75% of listeners report the podcast has improved their understanding of how research informs natural resource management.
Prescribed fire training and education transforms rural residents’ relationship to fire and builds a foundation for effective landscape restoration.
For many Oregonians, fire means smoke, summer anxiety and blackened landscapes. With the increasing number and intensity or wildfires, the need to do something is urgent.
More than 1 million acres of land — many of them forest and wildlands — burned during the highly destructive wildfires of 2020. Clearing brush is essential to mitigating wildfire in Oregon, and one way to do this is through controlled burning — purposeful lighting of fire under ideal weather conditions, with safeguards in place. But controlled burning can be difficult for private landowners to implement.
The Oregon State University Extension Service, in partnership with the Rogue Valley Prescribed Burn Association, a cooperative composed of landowners and fire professionals, is doing work in the Rogue Valley to change perspectives and offer help through education and outreach.
To help normalize controlled burns, Chris Adlam, OSU Extension wildland fire specialist, is delivering hands-on learning opportunities, including live-fire trainings, workshops and conferences to help participants envision a better future dealing with fire.
This outreach has helped establish a new model for prescribed burning on private lands and has led to broader stakeholder involvement. With OSU Extension’s help, membership in the Rogue Valley Prescribed Burn Association has grown to include landowners, forest workers and wildland firefighters, including several federally qualified burn bosses, and attracted interest from collaboratives and community groups across the region.
North of the Rogue Valley, the day was gray and the skies threatened to open, but nothing could dampen the enthusiasm of the 20 trainees from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, who gathered in the Oregon State University Dunn Forest for lessons in prescribed fire.
The class — taught by OSU Forestry and Natural Resources Extension faculty — was a three-day learning experience for employees of NRCS, which consults with private landowners about land-use restoration solutions. In order to recommend prescribed fire, NRCS staff need to be certified.
Tom Snyder works in the Eugene NRCS field office and concentrates on oak woodland and savannah, a fire-adapted landscape that’s been shaped for thousands of years through intentional burning by the Indigenous peoples now known as the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians. Cultural burning supports wildlife habitat and plays an important part in the traditions, culture and Sovereignty of Tribes.
“We’ve been doing restoration without fire, which is the tool that created this landscape,” Snyder said. “We’ll be able to use fire in the future as part of our restoration methodology within the Willamette Valley.”
In most cases, according to Stephen Fitzgerald, Extension silviculture specialist and director of the OSU College of Forestry Research Forests, landowners use heavy machinery, mowing, spraying and grazing to thin out overgrown land. Grazing is better than mowing because there’s no thatch buildup that remains as fuel for wildfires. But nothing beats fire.
“Fire recycles nutrients and causes a flush of growth. Then those plants support insects, which are important pollinators, and other wildlife,” he said.
Extension by the numbers -5381 educational presentations -1,140 consultations with Extension agents -7 extension agents carry out statewide fire program
Assessing post-fire land management practices to improve recovery of soil health, vegetation and ecosystem services.
With the dramatic increase in wildfire activity in the western United States, post-fire land management has also increased to recoup economic value from burned forests, improve forest safety and expedite recovery and restoration of soil health, vegetation and forest and aquatic ecosystem functions.
However, limited research on post-fire land management strategies — like emergency stabilization, salvage logging or herbicide application — has led to uncertainty about the effectiveness of available management practices, particularly in relation to soil and water.
Professor Kevin Bladon is leading research to quantify the effects of wildfire and post-fire land management practices on soil physical properties, biogeochemical processes and vegetation recovery. He and his team hope to facilitate improved policy and management decisions that will reduce soil erodibility, improve soil nutrient availability and encourage vegetation regeneration in areas impacted by wildfires.
“Our research is occurring on the west side of the Oregon Cascade Mountains in collaboration with a range of landowners who have each approached post-fire land management differently,” Bladon said. “Our preliminary data has led to unexpected and conflicting results,” he added, “which indicates the need for additional research to inform the development of better decision support tools for land managers.”
Predicting near real-time post-fire debris flows along ODOT corridors.
Landslides can have major environmental, societal and economic impacts — and they often occur in conjunction with extreme events, like heavy precipitation, wildfires and earthquakes.
In mountainous, forested terrain across the West, like in Oregon, shallow landslides are a persistent hazard that can impact aquatic ecosystems and the structure of a forest. But despite the prevalence of this hazard, much remains unknown about the interplay between a landslide, the forest structure, and events like heavy rainfall and wildfires.
Richardson Chair in Forest Engineering, Resources and Management, Ben Leshchinsky is leading a team to learn more about landslides in forested environments — which will help provide new insights into how the dynamics of a forest and its vegetation affect the size and rate of landslides. This group is developing models to predict the susceptibility of future slides in mountainous, forested regions and evaluate the importance of forest vegetation on landslide size and rate. These efforts will provide insights into how vegetation may influence shallow landslides, particularly following wildfire.
The team is using climate monitoring stations, remote sensing and field testing of burned and live roots across the Cascades to better understand how factors like slope vegetation influence the likelihood of landslides and debris flows, as well as the timing at which these hazards are critical. Understanding more about slope stability and susceptibility will also provide valuable insights into how extreme events like heavy rainfall might initiate slope failure — especially how forests and their associated root strength may control post-wildfire mass movements.
Oregon State University researchers are collaborating with many agencies on this project including the Oregon Department of Forestry, the United States Forest Service, the United States Geological Survey, Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral Industries, and Oregon Department of Transportation.
Nearly a century of data provides knowledge for the future.
Since 1926, Oregon State University has conducted hundreds of studies across the College of Forestry’s 15,000 acres of research forests. These studies have contributed impactful solutions to the everyday and real-world challenges of sustainably managing forests for many uses.
Cat Carlisle who is pursuing a graduate degree in the Forest Engineering and Resource Management department, is adding her own study to the mix, examining the potential for Oregon’s forests to contribute to carbon storage and sequestration. Carlisle is analyzing the inventory of carbon stock in the McDonald and Dunn Forests — and projecting how different forest management strategies might shift carbon levels in the forests over the next 150 years.
“The hope is to find ways to use forest management to take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and sequester it in biomass, to contribute to climate change mitigation. I hope this project sheds light on how to manage a sustainable working forest in a way that considers ecological factors like carbon stock, especially as the climate changes,” Carlisle explained.
Because Carlisle is conducting this work in the research forests, she was able to immediately jump in and access a wealth of existing data.
Edmund Hayes Professor in Silviculture Alternatives, Klaus Puettmann, manages a long-term research study in the McDonald-Dunn and facilitates opportunities for students to learn in the forests. His study investigates alternatives to clearcutting and examines whether features of mature and old-growth Douglas-fir forests could be retained through a variety of types of timber harvests. He is a staunch advocate for the research forests and their value as a long-term resource.
“The research forests offer examples of a wide range of forest conditions and hold great value for researchers and teachers who want to consider a multitude of forestry approaches,” Puettmann says, “We don’t have many examples of different silviculture treatments that are this close to campus and accessible to students.”
Puettman says one of the greatest benefits of performing his research project on the McDonald and Dunn research forests is the wealth of long-term data available. “Researchers and educators investigating various studies can potentially launch their project with the help of decades of data,” he said.
Learn more about past and present research in Oregon State University Research and Demonstration Forests.
Trevor Denning is on a mission to make the outdoors more accessible for people with physical disabilities. And he’s starting with Peavy Arboretum, in the Oregon State University College of Forestry Research Forests.
Denning, who graduated in 2022 from the College of Forestry with his bachelor’s degree in tourism, recreation and adventure leadership, with a double minor in natural resources and leadership, has been in a wheelchair since 2011, after a spinal injury when he was 15. With the guidance of his major professor Ashley D’Antonio, he focused his final capstone project on ways to make Peavy Arboretum more accessible to those with physical disabilities. That project launched him into a short-term position with the research forests.
“I believe there needs to be more people who are disabled making decisions about accessibility because we are the ones with the real-world experience and know what needs to change,” said Denning. “On many occasions, I have visited a local, state or national park that is deemed ‘accessible,’ when in fact, it is not.”
Accessibility, according to Denning, is “not a one-shoe-fits-all type of problem to address.”
“One of the greatest barriers or obstacles to accessibility is the lack of knowledge about the vast amounts of disabilities that exist,” said Denning.
His work in the research forests will include providing trail information to people with disabilities so they can be empowered to make the best and most informed decision for themselves about whether they can navigate the trail. Information like trail length, width, travel surface, grade, elevation gain, location of the steepest pitch, as well as trail conditions, will be posted on the research forest website.
As the research forest team and volunteers perform trail maintenance and work on new trails, Denning will provide input and guidance and review processes like entrance and gate accessibility.
“Most people don’t think of the research forest as a place for people with physical disabilities. But it needs to be,” said Stephen Fitzgerald, director of the Oregon State University Research Forests. “Peavy Arboretum has shorter trails with less elevational pitch that have the potential to be modified easily. Trevor had a plan, ideas, expertise and the lived experience to help us begin to make these changes.”
“Navigating a nondisabled world is tough,” said Denning. “Restaurants, grocery stores, bookstores, classrooms and housing are some of the many things that need to be made more accessible. The first step is having people who are disabled in a position to make these changes. For the longest time, I have wanted to be one of those people.”
And now he is. After his work in the research forests, Denning hopes to work for a federal agency such as the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service or the Army Corps of Engineers, helping give people with physical disabilities greater access to the outdoors.
When the State of Oregon needed to increase revenue for outdoor recreation facilities and maintenance, they turned to Oregon State University for answers to their questions and scientific data to help inform their decisions.
A study completed by Randy Rosenberger, professor and College of Forestry associate dean for student success, connected outdoor activities on trails to health savings by utilizing and recalibrating a tool called the Outdoor Recreation Health Impacts Estimator. The tool was initially developed to focus on transportation decisions (walking, cycling or using public transportation instead of driving) to estimate changes in life expectancy and quality of life.
The tool converts positive health effects into a monetary unit and even includes the cost of treating certain diseases and the loss of productivity illnesses cause.
The study became part of the 2019-2023 Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan (SCORP).
“In my research, I quantify things that aren’t normally quantified,” Rosenberger says. “Things like recreation aren’t traded in markets with prices. They don’t have voices. This study gives them a voice and people are starting to realize that recreation is at the nexus of everything. It’s not just something we like to do if we have the time. It’s creating healthier communities and saving those same communities money on health services.”
Rosenberger replicated the study for the McDonald and Dunn Forests, two of the College Research Forests. The college owns more than 15,000 acres of working forests around the state utilized for research, outreach and education, with some open to the public for recreation. He found that recreation on the Research Forests saved $754,395 in cost of illness savings in 2017 alone. Private and public agencies can now use this data for planning, budgeting, assessment and grant applications.
The OSU Research Forests also serve as living laboratories and outdoor classrooms for OSU students, researchers, and generations of Oregonians, reimagining how people learn and relate to their natural resources and forest ecosystems. Over 145,000 annual visitors hike, bike, run and explore the trails of these working forests. All operations on the forests – including recreation and trails – are self-funded through timber harvests.
For OSU students, the Research Forests are an invaluable opportunity to experience hands-on education, where they can put the research and techniques they’re reading about in their textbooks into action. Whether it’s measuring precipitation, stream flow, or practicing timber harvesting skills, OSU students can learn the work by doing.
“I think this is the best time to be studying within the College because we are at such a turning point when it comes to how we are going to work with our forests,” says Allison Starkenburg, a recent graduate of the college’s natural resources program. “There’s an intersection between recreation and the constant new opportunities to learn and conduct research.”
OSU offers tours and demonstrations within the Research Forests and, in 2020, also launched the Forest Discovery Trail. This trail is dedicated to the memory of Dr. William Ferrell, the OSU College of Forestry’s first forest ecologist hired in 1955 who went on to study forest carbon capture and storage. His groundbreaking research paved the way for forest management as a climate change mitigation tool and continues to impact old-growth conservation. Dr. Ferrell’s family and friend made contributions to the Forest Discovery Program fund to support The Forest Discovery Trail and encourage students in grades K-5 to explore a wide range of forest concepts, including ecology, wildlife and the Indigenous history of the land.
The popular research forests had to temporarily close in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, staff quickly adapted and reopened in May 2020 with precautions and guidelines in place.
Though Rosenberger was able to quantify the monetary value of outdoor recreation’s impact on health savings, the impact of having these forests accessible to local communities in 2020 during a global pandemic felt immeasurable. The OSU research forests proudly served as a refuge for the community to enjoy their favorite outdoor activities, connect with nature and connect with each other.
By the Numbers Recreation Visits In 2017, the McDonald-Dunn College Research Forests saw 17,271 individual recreation visitors who accounted for more than 155,000 total visits.
Health Benefits Recreation visits to the McDonald and Dunn Forests resulted in $754,395 in cost of illness savings, or health benefits, associated with eight chronic illnesses; and accounted for 14 percent of the total health benefits estimated for all of Benton County ($5.4 million).
The OSU College of Forestry is leading an international effort to advance the technology needed to construct much taller, environmentally friendly buildings made primarily from wood. At the center of this effort is COF’s new state-of-the-art facility, the Oregon Forest Science Complex (OFSC).
Home to the College, the complex’s two newest buildings are primarily made and grown in Oregon. The new George W. Peavy Forest Science Center (PFSC) and the new A. A. “Red” Emmerson Advanced Wood Products Laboratory (AWP) highlight an entirely new way of thinking about building and design.
The buildings feature innovative materials and products throughout the 95,000-square feet of new space, from cross-laminated timber and mass plywood panels to Accoya wood cladding and View dynamic glass windows. The project highlights how mass timber and structural wood products building solutions can increase the value of Oregon’s natural resources and enhance our communities.
Thanks to the vision, support and work of former dean Thomas Maness, the leadership of former interim dean Anthony S. Davis, the State of Oregon, OSU Foundation and numerous donors, faculty, students, staff, and alumni, the complex provides a learning environment that is one of a kind.
“This building showcases how renewable materials can be used to create beautiful, innovative buildings that positively impact our education, research, and outreach work, reduce our carbon footprint and support the sustainable management of Oregon’s natural resources,” says Tom DeLuca, the Cheryl Ramberg-Ford and Allyn C. Ford Dean of the College of Forestry.
The complex features 20 classrooms and several computer rooms and laboratories, including the FERN Student Center and the Peavy Arboretum. In these spaces, faculty, students and researchers can participate in active learning and discovery while utilizing cutting-edge technology.
“This building is a product of collaboration and the leadership at OSU and the college. Students, faculty, donors, and partners all came together to create this wonderful space. This is what collaboration and consensus look like and highlights what we can accomplish together in the future,” says Destiny Pauls, a Natural Resources major.
Designed by Michael Green, a leading innovator in high-rise wood construction, the OFSC is an excellent example of how sustainably managed forests can create beautiful buildings out of wood and reduce the carbon footprint of new building construction while establishing a connection with outdoor landscapes.
Built in partnership with others, the building also demonstrates the power and impact of a shared vision of sustainability.
“To the donors and the industries that all came together, I just want to say thank you,” Pauls says. “We are going to show you what we can do with all of this together.”
By the Numbers Total Size: 95,000+ square feet
Project Funding: A public-private partnership that brought together four lead donors, gifts from more than 100 others and matching bonds from the State of Oregon
Incorporated Wood: Baltic birch, black walnut, Douglas-fir, juniper, maple, red alder, and white oak
AWP Specifics Opened: May 2019 Size: 15,000 square feet Constructed with: MPP Features: Structural testing bay, advanced wood products manufacturing bay, offices, meeting space
INNOVATIVE CONSTRUCTION The cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels that make up the sheer walls and the floors are Oregon Douglas-fir processed by D.R. Johnson Wood Innovations, LLC in Riddle, Oregon. Mass plywood panels (MPP), created by Freres Lumber Company, Inc. in Lyons, Oregon, are heavily utilized throughout the AWP and are used as the roof for the PFSC.
A LIVING LAB 381 sensors are installed throughout the PFSC and will monitor wood moisture content, indoor and outdoor weather conditions, heat transfer, long-term movement of walls and floors, tension in self-centering rods and building and floor vibrations.
LAND RECOGNITION Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon, is located within the traditional homelands of the Mary’s River, or Ampinefu, Band of Kalapuya. Following the Willamette Valley Treaty of 1855, Kalapuya people were forcibly removed to reservations in Western Oregon. Today, living descendants of these people are part of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon and the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians.
EDUCATIONAL SPACES Formal and informal classroom and lab spaces range from small capacity to large capacity, and will allow students to study all aspects of the forest landscape.
STRONG WALL A 60’-x-80’ foot strong wall and reaction floor system within the AWP facilitates testing of up to three-story wood structures. Oregon State and TDI researchers use the facility to conduct seismic tests, connection tests, loading tests and more.
During early September 2020, as fires erupted throughout Oregon, a powerful east wind drove a wildfire down the McKenzie River valley near Eugene. This fire, the Holiday Farm Fire, destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses and ultimately burned 173,000 acres of forest land, including approximately 400 acres of the lower part of the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest. The fire displaced HJ Andrews staff, burned in sites over 450 years old and destroyed some critical research infrastructure and instruments.
“Even though Andrews staff were grieving the loss of their community, and in some cases, their homes, they demonstrated resilience. They responded to get instruments running and collecting data through a critical post-fire period,” said Katy Kavanagh, associate dean for research for the College of Forestry.
As Andrews Forest scientists coordinated efforts to use long-term monitoring and new measurements to understand the effects of the fire and track post-fire recovery, the wider community initiated an outpouring of giving, raising over $12,000 in two days to help displaced staff.
“The generosity of the Andrews community moved me to tears,” said USFS Science Liaison Cheryl Friesen, who lost her home in the fire.
“The kind words and generous donations mean so much to every employee impacted by this fire, thank you,” said Brenda Hamlow, the Andrews Forest site manager.
The efforts to protect Andrews forest and support the displaced and affected staff was a community effort. Over the years, the work to strengthen relationships between the Andrews Forest, the Pacific Northwest Research Station of the US Forest Service and the Willamette National Forest facilitated a rapid response and an understanding of the resources at risk.
Coordination between Willamette National Forest firefighters and Andrews Forest staff concerning fire suppression and containment activities was essential in protecting research installations and managing safety issues for fire crews. As efforts begin to repair the effects of the fire and fire suppression activities, Willamette National Forest personnel, some of whom were either evacuated from their homes or lost them entirely to the fire, are partnering with Andrews staff to perform this work.
“This is a deep and long-standing partnership; we are colleagues, friends, co-workers, the response was much like you would see from a family helping one another out in a time of tragedy,” said Michael Paul Nelson, the Ruth H. Spaniol Chair of Renewable Resources and Lead Principal Investigator for the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest.
The College of Forestry also stepped in to help people affected by the Oregon wildfires. The college quickly organized a donation drive for displaced families and emergency responders, filling four large vehicles with food and shelter items. The donations were distributed to Linn and Benton county evacuation shelters, and firefighter items were taken to the Oregon Department of Forestry in Sweet Home.
The Governor’s State Employees Food Drive at Oregon State University has a long tradition of success. Every year during the month of February, the University comes together and plans a wide variety of food and fund-raising activities to help the hungry. Proceeds from the Corvallis campus benefit the non-profit agencies served in Linn-Benton Food Share. These agencies include local food pantries, the OSU food pantry, soup kitchens, emergency shelters, day care centers, shelter homes and gleaning groups in Linn and Benton counties.
To support the university wide food drive, the College of Forestry raises money in partnership with staff, students and faculty through bake sales, weekly soup lunches, donations, payroll contributions, raffles and other events.
Due to the efforts of our generous and enthusiastic supporters, the college once again received the Top Banana award in 2019 and 2020. The Top Banana is awarded to the college or unit that contributes the most money during the annual food drive. Since it’s difficult to ensure food donations are fresh and not expired, the college focuses on raising money for Linn Benton Food Share. For every dollar raised, the Food Share is able to provide three meals for community members in need. In 2019, the college raised $14,876, the equivalent of 44,628 individual meals. In 2020, the college successfully raised $15,314, the equivalent of 45,942 individual meals. As an added bonus, our friends at Stahlbush Island Farms donated 15,600 pounds of canned food to the Food Bank on our behalf.
“The food drive effort is personally important to me. Not so many years ago I was a single mom of three kids with little income,” said Jessica Fitzmorris, outreach and administrative manager at the college and co-chair of the college Food Drive Committee. “Food insecurity in my life was a real problem and it was programs like the food bank that made it possible for me to provide enough food for my family. I’m extremely proud to be a part of the college’s efforts each year to raise so much money for community members in need.”
Terralyn Vandetta, director of forestry computing resources for the college and co-chair of the college Food Drive Committee has actively volunteered on the Food Drive Committee for over 20 years. She attended her first Food Drive meeting in 1999 after joining the Forest Science Department as a way to get more involved with the college. The rest, according to Vandetta, is history. “While the people have changed over the years, the College of Forestry’s commitment to community has never wavered. I am so proud to be a part of this community that helps to ensure that everybody eats,” Vandetta said.
Special Thanks 2020 Food Drive Committee Madison Dudley, Chelsey Durling, Christina Fierro, Jessica Fitzmorris (co-chair), Lindsay Golly, Michelle Greene, Angela Haney, Allison Starkenburg, Faith Sully, Juliet Sutton, Terralyn Vandetta (co-chair), Sharon Whalen and Adrienne Wonhof
