outreach « College of Forestry

Extension Fire Program fosters place-based partnerships

As a land grant university, Oregon State University takes research and innovation out of the labs and puts them into practice in the communities and landscapes around the state through Extension programs. While OSU’s influence extends globally, our success is also measured by our ability to equip and support every Oregonian—both rural and urban.

Oregon faces increasing challenges and opportunities related to wildland fire. In response, Oregon State created a dedicated Extension Fire Program in 2020 to help foster fire-adapted communities and resilient ecosystems through place-based partnerships. Six regional fire specialists provide wildland fire outreach, education and engagement. Two outreach program coordinators lead special initiatives focused on fire science application and workforce equity. A manager and director support their work and provide overall program direction.

This team helps build “place-based partnerships,” meaning they live and work in each of their service areas and have deep regional fire history and ecology knowledge. They also collaborate with communities and partners on shared visions for fire adaptation that fit the local geographical and social context. This place-based work is guided by the program’s Theory of Change, which is an approach that supports strong and equitable processes for living with fire at all scales.

The work of the Extension Fire Program is diverse, and includes community fire preparedness like wildfire protection planning and tools for evaluation and adaptation; and efforts to increase landscape resiliency, such as prescribed fire education, training and capacity building. The team emphasizes partnerships with communities facing disproportionate wildfire risk and those with less access to mitigation and recovery resources.

Emily Jane “EJ” Davis, an associate professor in the College of Forestry and social scientist, is the director of the Extension Fire Program.

“Research shows that community-based approaches to living with wildfire that engage local people are the most effective. The Extension Fire Program leads by those principles, and seeks to bring together all the agencies and organizations in wildland fire so that we can do more collectively,” explained Davis.

Nice to meet you!

Across Oregon, our Extension Fire Team is there for the many different communities, climates and ecosystems of the state. Serving over 4.2 million Oregonians, six agents, two coordinators, a program manager and director work hard to ensure communities are wildfire ready and wildfire safe. Meet the team and learn more about the regions they serve:

EMILY JANE “EJ” DAVIS
Fire Program Director
I love supporting and learning from our diverse team. We each have different backgrounds, experiences and values, which come together to make our program multifaceted and interesting. As a social scientist, I am interested in understanding how diverse people and organizations can work together to support more fire-adapted communities and resilient landscapes.

CARRIE BERGER
Fire Program Manager
As the manager of the program, I love the diversity of people I get to meet and developing a connection with them. These relationships allow us to find common ground to work on (wildfire) solutions for the benefit of Oregon’s communities and landscapes.

MANUEL MACHADO
Outreach Program Coordinator
My favorite part about this role is that it aligns with my personal values and does not place limitations on what can be done to empower our communities and change systems of inequity. Here in the Rogue Valley, I feel fortunate to work alongside and learn from a community so full of passion and grit.

AUTUMN ELLISON
Outreach Program Coordinator
I find it really energizing when I can connect people with each other for information, resources or to help answer questions. Watching new partnerships grow from these efforts is inspiring!

AARON GROTH
Regional Fire Specialist, Northwest Coastal
Wildland fire has played a key role across the Coast Range and the loss of cultural or Indigenous fire has led, with other factors, to the loss of over 90% of Oregon’s coastal grasslands and decline in oak habitat in the eastern foothills. As highlighted by the Echo Mountain Fire Complex, even relatively small fires can have devastating impacts on homes, recreation, timber, habitat and water.

KAYLA BORDELON
Regional Fire Specialist, Willamette Valley & Cascades
The counties I serve are home to half the population of the state, including the urban core of Oregon and many small, rural communities. This diversity means that I support community and landscape resilience in a variety of ways—from crafting resources for smoke and wildfire preparedness for outdoor workers in the heart of the Willamette Valley, to working with partners to prioritize landscape treatments across large rural landscapes. No matter where I am in my region, momentum is strong to develop pathways to fire resilience that are community-driven and locally-relevant.

MICAH SCHMIDT
Regional Fire Specialist, Northeast
A unique thing about my region is that northeast Oregon is filled with small communities in which the people take care of each other. I enjoy my position because I can help these communities prepare for and interact with fire in a positive way.

KATHERINE WOLLSTEIN
Regional Fire Specialist, Southeast
While I help individuals, organizations and communities apply rangeland and fire science, one of the more meaningful aspects of my job is helping these groups find ways to effectively organize and work together toward fire adaptation. In my region dominated by public land and where ecological, social, and political dynamics and resource-dependent livelihoods all intersect, this work is endlessly interesting.

ARIEL COWAN
Regional Fire Specialist, Central
The rural and urban communities of the Central Region have deep connections with the outdoors, including our fire-adapted ecosystems. As the region grows quickly, I enjoy demystifying fire for people of all ages and backgrounds through experiential learning of local fire ecology and empowering readiness for wildfire seasons.

CHRISTOPHER ADLAM
Regional Fire Specialist, Southwest
Southwest Oregon landscapes and communities are incredibly varied but all of them have a fire story. It’s a privilege to work across the region to help write the next chapter!

A version of this story appeared in the Fall 2024 issue of Focus on Forestry, the alumni magazine of the Oregon State University College of Forestry.

by Crystal Kelso, Education Program Assistant in Forestry and Natural Resources Extension

Did your woodlands sustain storm damage from this weeks ice storm? Wondering what to do next? This will depend on the conditions of your site (like wind exposure) as well as your management plan. Each stand is unique and each landowner has their own goals and objectives for their woodland property.

Your first actionable steps may look like the following:

Safety First! Wear proper PPE, and unless you are experienced with chainsaws, do not attempt to fell storm damaged trees yourself.

Assessment – Map the damaged area. Walk your property and note the extent of the damage on your maps or photos. Draw boundaries to help determine the size of the area impacted. Note species, size, type of damage, quality of trees, etc.

Trees with breakage:

Trees with less than 50% crown (branches and leaves) loss will most lively recover.
Trees with more than 75% crown top loss are likely to die and be a greater risk for both insects and diseases.
Trees with 50% to 75% crown loss should be maintained but may develop stain and decay loss to the wood and should be reevaluated every 4 to 6 years.
Trees with structural damage to the main trunk, including splits and fractures, should be removed.

Trees that are uprooted:

If uprooted completely they will be degraded quickly by insects, stain, and fungi.
Trees which are partially uprooted and their crowns are still green with leaves will last longer.

Tree with major wounding:

If these wounds are more than two inches deep and affect more than 25% of the circumference of the tree’s trunk, they are major sites for stain and decay and should be salvaged.
Smaller wounds do not represent major damage to trees.

Trees that are bent over:

These trees often have cracks or fractures in the trunk and major limbs.
If the cracks or fractures extend down more than 25% of the tree’s trunk, harvesting is recommended.
Trees less than 15 feet tall with small cracks will usually straighten and recover.

Salvage Potential – Tree value is determined by species, size, and quality.

If salvageable trees are still standing and have branches with green leaves, they will not degrade significantly in the next 6 to 12 months.
Trees which have blown over or are not standing should be salvaged before next spring.
Wood on the ground begins to degrade immediately; there are some differences in species as to how fast stain and decay enter the wood.

Woodland Management Plan – Revisit this, adjust and adapt as needed.

Don’t abandon good forestry practices when working with damaged woodlands.
Don’t remove too many trees.
Look for opportunities to improve wildlife habitat in woodlands.
Work with your forester to evaluate reproduction needs before harvesting.

Resources:

Managing Storm Damaged Woodlands by Iowa State University Extension:
https://naturalresources.extension.iastate.edu/encyclopedia/managing-storm-damaged-woodlands

Treatment options for young forest stands damaged by fire or ice by OSU Extension:
https://extension.oregonstate.edu/forests/fire/treatment-options-young-forest-stands-damaged-fire-or-ice

As always, stay warm and safe!
Your OSU Extension Forestry & Natural Resources Team

In response to climate change and forest decline in various regions of the U.S., in 2022, President Biden signed Executive Order 14072: Strengthening the Nation’s Forests, Communities, and Local Economies, which calls for conserving and safeguarding mature and old-growth forests.

As part of the executive order, an unprecedented investment is being made to create an inventory and assessment of risks to mature and old-growth forests across U.S. federal lands and to create partnerships with Tribal Nations to increase the sustainability and climate resilience of U.S. forests.

To address EO 14072, Cristina Eisenberg, the Associate Dean for Inclusive Excellence and Maybelle Clark MacDonald Director of Tribal Initiatives in Natural Resources and Tom DeLuca, the Cheryl Ramberg Ford and Allyn C. Ford Dean of the Oregon State University College of Forestry have been awarded a $1M USDA Forest Service grant to work with Forest Service leaders and Tribal Nation leaders to convene four Tribal roundtable meetings in the Pacific Northwest region. These meetings, developed in partnership with U.S. regional Tribal colleges, will be a complimentary form of Tribal engagement distinct from consultation, designed to help Tribal Nations consult on their own with the U.S. federal government as early as possible in the process of defining mature and old-growth forests. These meetings will also discuss what active adaptive stewardship that incorporates all ways of knowing, including Indigenous Knowledge (IK), might look like.

“Such a decolonized approach is distinct from and complementary to the traditional agency Tribal consultation approach, which is often a fraught process, with low participation,” said Eisenberg. “Tribal roundtable meetings will be based on principles of reciprocity and respect, fully honoring government-to-government relations and Tribal Sovereignty Rights. Furthermore, by decolonizing these Tribal roundtables, we will be creating a safe space for Tribal leaders to openly express their thoughts about Executive Order 14072, while protecting data sovereignty, data security and honoring Tribal Sovereignty.”

Tribes have stewarded forest lands in North America for the past 20,000 years, using IK, defined as the wisdom about the natural world that Indigenous Peoples have had since time immemorial. IK is a form of adaptive stewardship, also known as learning by doing, based on the premise that nature is our teacher, and that by listening to nature, we can learn what we need to know to thrive. IK is also rooted in the concept of reciprocity – that our relationships with nature should be based on resource use that is sustainable for future generations. While Western science is a powerful tool for learning, U.S. leaders and Tribal partners have concluded that ecocultural restoration is needed to achieve climate resilience. Ecocultural restoration is the process of bringing together the best Western science with IK in a form of adaptive stewardship called Two-Eyed Seeing.

The Indigenous-led Tribal roundtables program will also provide several jobs for Indigenous students and help support career development of Indigenous peoples, through mentorship and leadership development.

Each Tribal roundtable will:
• Be an in-person two-day gathering, hosted by the USDA Forest Service.
• Include elders and ceremony to open and close the gathering
• Include traditional foods (e.g., salmon and huckleberries in the PNW)
• Be a closed event, to create a safe, decolonized space for speaking openly

Upon completion, the program will deliver a formal report to Congress to express the thoughts and feelings of Native people about mature and old-growth forests. All Tribal participants will be invited to co-author any materials produced from this event. The first Tribal roundtable meeting will convene PNW Tribes in early 2024.

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.

A version of this story appeared in the 2021-2022 College of Forestry Biennial Report.

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

A version of this story appeared in the 2021-2022 College of Forestry Biennial Report.

Forestry and Natural Resources (FNR) Extension fosters stewardship of Oregon’s forests

Get Outdoors Day returns
Sponsored by the OSU Research Forests, FNR Extension, the Benton County Health Department and Linn and Benton counties, Get Outdoors Day returned to the Peavy Arboretum for the first time since 2019. The theme was “Returning to the Forest,” and the day featured bilingual activities, self-guided tours, fishing and more. More than 20 organizations from the Willamette Valley worked together to host the event, dedicated to encouraging healthy, inclusive outdoor recreational opportunities.

Teaching youth to value forests
Associate Professor Alicia Christiansen, the FNR Extension agent for Douglas County, hosted the 60th annual Douglas County School Forestry Tour at the Glide Educational Forest in April. Students learned about topics such as wildlife, forest products, forest management, fire management, fisheries and hydrology, tree identification and archeology. They were also able to participate in activities like choker races and using crosscut saws. FNR Extension foresters like Christiansen are in the community teaching the public, including young people, about the value of Oregon forests.

Fire program expands outreach
The FNR Extension Fire program has a mission to teach all Oregonians how to be prepared for wildfires. The program developed and translated informational cards in Spanish about basic wildfire preparedness for the home, simple actions to reduce wildfire impact before it strikes, how to be smoke ready and tools to support mental health before, during and after a wildfire. The program also offers online resources for those who can’t attend in-person events, such as a recent webinar on preparing for wildfire season in Benton County.

Research shows Klamath Mountain Douglas-firs in ‘decline spiral’
A study by FNR Extension found there are multiple factors in the decline of Douglas-fir trees in the Klamath Mountains of southern Oregon. Douglas-fir growing on hot, dry sites are further stressed by drought and then left susceptible to flathead fir borers. The researchers, including Extension agent and Associate Professor Max Bennett and Professor and Forest Health Specialist David Shaw, developed a measuring tool that landowners and managers can use to predict a stand’s chance of infestation by borers, other insects and fungi to understand mortality risks.

Tree School returns in Oregon
Tree Schools, which are mini-colleges for people who love forests, were held this spring in Clackamas and the Oregon coast, and in early summer in Eastern Oregon. Participants include family forestland owners, foresters, loggers, arborists, teachers and the public. Classes are taught by FNR Extension foresters, natural resource professionals and experienced local landowners. Each year, regional Tree Schools are hosted in various counties around the state of Oregon.

Helping Oregon’s woodland owners manage their land
The Master Woodland Manager training is offered by FNR Extension as a high level course for private landowners who are interested in intensive forest management training and sharing the knowledge gained through this training with people in their local communities. The program addresses technical forestry topics such as forest planning and management, reforestation, wildfire, fire, timber harvesting and more. More than 600 landowners have been trained through the program, and in 2022, participants reported 3,400 hours of volunteer public education in their communities.

A version of this story appeared in the Fall 2023 issue of Focus on Forestry, the alumni magazine of the Oregon State University College of Forestry.

OSU Extension quickly mobilizes to respond to emerald ash borer discovery.

In late June 2022, the dreaded emerald ash borer, which has decimated hundreds of millions of ash trees east of the Rocky Mountains, was discovered in Oregon. Oregon State University Extension Service, working with Oregon Department of Agriculture, Oregon Department of Forestry and other partners, responded immediately.

After ODA confirmed and announced the identification of the invasive insect in Forest Grove in Washington County, OSU Extension stepped in to curate and disseminate essential information about the devastating pest and assist with initial monitoring efforts to determine how far and fast the insect is spreading in Oregon.

“For emerald ash borer, and other known and emerging issues, OSU Extension has become a valued and trusted partner because of our ability to quickly bring relevant expertise to the table and effectively share research-backed information through our statewide network,” said Alex Gorman, OSU Extension forester. “With this foundation and our established connections with agency partners, we were poised not only to contribute to the immediate response, but also to longer-term actions.”

Gorman had only recently started in his new position serving Washington, Columbia and Yamhill counties. His first reaction, he said, was a sense of dread followed by sadness. Gorman knew what to expect from his exposure to EAB while a graduate student at the University of Minnesota.

Guided by Oregon’s existing emerald ash borer readiness and response plan,he knew how to quickly contribute that expertise. OSU Extension’s role is to conduct and share results of relevant research, which includes coordinating Oregon Forest Pest Detector training programs and providing information through its established channels and programs, including Master Gardeners, Master Woodland Managers, Master Naturalists and other volunteer networks.

The same day the detection was announced, OSU Extension activated an interdisciplinary team that includes faculty and staff with expertise in forestry, pest management, invasive species, horticulture and communications. The OSU team quickly organized essential information on their online EAB resources webpage and shared it through social media, announcements on county webpages and newsletters. The page includes information on how to identify ash trees, how to identify the insect and recognize look-alikes, how to monitor for EAB and report sightings and recommendations for tree protection.

An existing publication, Oregon Forest Pest Detector Pest Watch — Emerald Ash Borer, was rapidly updated online and a pocket guide was reprinted. Copies immediately went to ODF and all OSU Extension offices around the state for distribution. The guide includes insect identification, host plants, signs and symptoms and what to do if you suspect an insect you’ve seen is EAB.

“We have infrastructure, expertise and capacity to disseminate information in a way that makes sense and is helpful and productive and informative,” said Chris Hedstrom, communications and outreach coordinator for the Oregon IPM Center in OSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences. “Extension does a great job moving quickly. We have the ability to publish quickly and to house all the information in one place.”

OSU Extension’s EAB resource page includes several publications, articles, a video and a podcast episode. Extension foresters have distributed information through educational workshops, webinars, community events and social media posts through OSU Extension’s Master Gardener program.

A College of Forestry team is on a mission to grow the maple industry in the PNW

The sugar maple has a reputation as a powerhouse for maple syrup production – but it’s not the only maple game around. An interdisciplinary team of researchers led by the College of Forestry is at the forefront of a movement to tap into Oregon’s bigleaf maple – and put the Pacific Northwest on the maple syrup map.

One of the main differences between maple trees is the concentration of sugar in the sap. Sap is a key part of making maple syrup, as it’s harvested from maple trees and then boiled into syrup. Acer saccharum, commonly known as the sugar maple, is loaded with sugar, as its name suggests, which is why it’s become such a go-to tree for maple syrup production.

Acer macophyllum, aka the bigleaf maple, has less sugar in its sap – usually about one-third to one-half as much as the sugar maple. But, modern technology is helping to render this a nonissue as material like food-grade vacuum tubing and equipment like reverse osmosis machines can cost effectively turn less sugary sap into syrup. A vacuum tubing system is able to extract a high volume of sap to work with and a commercial grade reverse osmosis removes 75 percent of the water from the sap, leaving concentrated sucrose and healthy nutrients behind.

“This technology is a gamechanger for the bigleaf maple,” says Eric Jones, the lead principal investigator for the project, and instructor and assistant professor of practice in the department of forest ecosystems and society.

“This is a great economic opportunity for Oregonians to build an industry and take advantage of the fact that bigleaf maples are especially abundant in western Oregon,” he says. “The Pacific Northwest bigleaf maple can produce a delicious, unique, and complex maple syrup, along with other products like nutritional maple water, delicious edible flowers, honey, beautiful lumber, figured wood, and firewood.”

Jones assembled a research team that spans the university and includes scholars and students from anthropology, food science, extension, geography, environmental arts and humanities, economics, ethnobiology and engineering. The College of Forestry is represented by graduate students Melanie Douville and John Scheb, professor emeritus Barb Lachenbruch who brings tree physiology expertise, associate professor Ron Reuter, who contributes his soil science expertise and, Badege Bishaw, retired College of Forestry courtesy faculty who specializes in agroforestry. Tiffany Fegel, a coordinator with OSU’s forestry and natural resources extension is also part of the team. Many other Oregon State University and off-campus experts contribute their knowledge and expertise including College of Liberal Arts professor Lisa Price (ethnobiology), College of Agricultural Sciences associate professor Joy Waite-Cusic (food safety) and senior faculty research assistant Ann Colonna (sensory testing) and Portland State University’s Rebecca McLain (ethnography).

The team was awarded a million dollars in funding through a pair of multiyear awards from the federal government to help establish a sustainable maple industry in Oregon. The project is focused on promoting bigleaf maple sap procurement and processing and providing training, tools and education to landowners interested in developing commercial enterprises. Additionally, the team is building a database system to map quantitative and qualitative data associated with the project.

The team also works to mitigate the risks involved with managing and sugaring bigleaf maples. Examples of project work includes incorporating food safety standards into commercial production, investigating how wildlife, certain diseases, and different climatic conditions affect bigleaf maple stands, the relation between soil and flavor, and creating business case studies that landowners can learn from.

“I think there’s a romance and infectious nature of tapping bigleaf maples and we’re trying to help landowners find the easiest and most economically and ecologically prudent path to get into “sugaring”, as they refer to it in maple industry,” says Jones.

With climate change ushering in greater uncertainty about the future of Pacific Northwest forests, the bigleaf team is interested in how the trees will fare under changing conditions.

“The bigleaf maple is a tenacious tree, as any forester will attest to, and perhaps it has a role to play in helping mitigate climate change,” says Jones.

While hotter and drier weather in some areas will negatively impact bigleaf maple populations, the trees may prove particularly resilient in certain microclimates. Jones is currently serving as an advisor on a pilot project in Washington, where the group is planting thousands of bigleaf maple trees on old dairy land as part of a carbon offset pilot program.

Jones has a long-time interest in wild foods and plants in Oregon and sees them as an avenue to promote stewardship activity and grow recreational and economic opportunities across the region. He led two national assessments on nontimber forest products for the U.S. Forest Service and was co-editor of the foundational text, “Nontimber Forest Products in the United States.” He hopes that a growing maple industry will invite people to develop a deeper appreciation for the land and find new ways to engage with a biodiverse, socially and ecologically complex environment using the bigleaf maple as a catalyst.

A major goal of the project is to grow a culture around maple in the Pacific Northwest, much like exists in the Northeast, where the sugar maple thrives. “Our team is diverse and inclusive and we are working hard to make bigleaf an inclusive, equitable economic opportunity for the state”, Jones says. In the spring of 2023, the bigleaf team will hold the first Oregon bigleaf maple festival and conference. Email Jones at eric.t.jones@oregonstate.edu for more information and check out the project’s public website Oregon Tree Tappers for updates and additional information about tapping bigleaf maple.

The OSU College of Forestry Research Forests Offers Many Opportunities to the OSU and Corvallis Communities

With over 155,000 visits a year, the McDonald and Dunn Research Forests are well known for the many recreational opportunities in the forests – from dog walking to trail running to horseback riding, thousands of people frequent the McDonald and Dunn Forests to enjoy the outdoors.

But, the McDonald and Dunn Forests are much more than a network of popular trails and forest roads. They join eight other forests across Oregon that collectively make up OSU’s College of Forestry’s Research Forests – which are all utilized for many different functions in addition to recreation, including public outreach, education and research.

“The OSU Research Forests offer many valuable outdoor learning opportunities,” said Holly Ober, associate dean for science outreach and professor in the department of forest ecosystems and society.

“Students can visit the woods on field trips to see and experience examples of topics covered in textbooks and lectures. Researchers can implement experiments that help increase understanding of issues of contemporary concern. Outreach specialists can host workshops that showcase demonstrations for woodland owners and professional forest managers. Visitors of all ages can take self-guided tours. And local community members benefit from opportunities to recreate and relax in nature.”

As their names suggest, one of the primary functions of the Research Forests is to serve as an outdoor laboratory for researchers. The forests have hosted projects that span many disciplines and much of the research considers how to actively and sustainably manage forests while addressing economic, social, and environmental factors. The hope is for the Research Forests to help advance the field of forestry through scientific inquiry.

“We don’t want the forests to be focused on any single issue,” said Stephen Fitzgerald, director of College of Forestry research forests and professor of forest engineering and resources and management. “We want to explore the many different elements of sustainable forest management, including how managing forests affect carbon, wildlife, timber production, and water yield.”

Various research projects across the 15,000 acres of Research Forests have examined wildlife and wildlife habitat, carbon sequestration, forest resiliency amidst climate change, invasive species, recreation, biodiversity conservation, timber production, economic prosperity, ecosystem processes, and forest sustainability. Researchers have utilized the forests for this work for nearly a century.

A current research project, led by Cat Carlisle who is pursuing a graduate degree in the department of forest, engineering and resource management, is looking at 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 forestry management strategies might shift carbon levels in the forests over the next 150 years. This project will provide decision-makers with valuable information about how to optimize forest management to help mitigate climate change.

“A lot of the focus in forestry right now is on identifying which forest management strategies will enhance forest carbon,” Carlisle explained. “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.”

Because Carlisle is conducting this work in the Research Forests, she was able to immediately jump in and access a wealth of data that’s been collected over the years.

The Research Forests also serve as an outdoor classroom for students at Oregon State University – for classes offered through the College of Forestry and through other departments across Oregon State. Students are able to get a hands-on education and develop skills in subjects like silviculture, soils, wildlife, recreation management, prescribed fire, and ecology through the forests.

“We are fortunate to have these Research Forests located right here in Corvallis,” said Ober. “The close proximity to campus makes it possible for students to take field trips to the woods during scheduled lab periods, and allows both students and faculty to conduct outdoor research without extensive travel expenses.”

The forests also host a robust public outreach program and recreational opportunities. The McDonald and Dunn Forests contain 30 miles of trails and 110 miles of roads that are open for non-motorized use and enjoyment so the local community can explore the outdoors and enjoy nature. The many activities available in the forests include hiking, dog walking, horseback riding, hunting (only allowed on Dunn Forest), trail running, picnicking, bird watching, and mountain biking. This all happens alongside educational programs that allow people to learn more about the Research Forests through self-guided tours, the Forest Discovery Trail, interpretive signs, and community events like Get Outdoors Day and seasonal guided forest walks.

It is with great pleasure that we share that Dr. Cristina Eisenberg will be joining the College as the Associate Dean for Inclusive Excellence and Director of Tribal Initiatives in the College of Forestry. After a nationwide competitive search process culminating in the interview of three outstanding candidates, we identified Dr. Eisenberg as an excellent match for our needs and hopes for this new position within the College.

In this role, Dr. Eisenberg will direct a new Office for Tribal Initiatives in the College, serve as our primary liaison with the nine Tribes of Oregon and with Tribal Nations throughout the Northwest, oversee the execution of the College’s DEI strategic plan, and work closely with our new Director of Student Success to improve recruitment, retention and completion of under-served student populations and help advance the College as a program dedicated to diversity, equity, justice and inclusion. Dr. Eisenberg is a first-generation Latinix and Native American (Apache and Rarámuri) scholar who comes to us with years of experience in Traditional Ecological Knowledge, restoration ecology and wildlife biology. She has previously served as the Chief Scientist at Earthwatch Institute at Harvard University, as Director at Large on the Board of the Society for Ecological Restoration and Director of the Traditional Ecological Working Group, as a member of the Board of Trustees of Prescott College, and as a member of the Board of Directors of Sustainable Northwest. She has conducted extensive work as an independent scientist and researcher. Dr. Eisenberg holds a PhD from Oregon State University, a MA from Prescott College, and a BFA from the University of California-Long Beach and was previously courtesy faculty in the department of forest ecosystems and society. Dr. Eisenberg will start in early September.

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Category Archives: outreach

By the people, for the people

Storm damage on your woodland

College of Forestry to co-facilitate Tribal Roundtables to support old-growth forest stewardship

In the Woods

Prescribed burn education

Making an impact for Oregonians

Preparing for invaders

Tapping into Oregon’s Maple Trees

Outdoor Laboratory, Open Air Classroom, and Recreation Hub

Dr. Cristina Eisenberg named the new Associate Dean for Inclusive Excellence and Director of Tribal Initiatives

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