John Rizza
Regional Fire Specialist, Northeast Oregon, Oregon State University
John brings experience from Oregon, Colorado, and New Mexico as a ranch and forestry manager, small acreage Extension specialist, landowner association representative, consulting forester, and state forest service forester. He holds degrees in natural resources and forestry.
Jacob Putney
Extension Forester
Baker and Grant Counties
Oregon State University
Jake joined the OSU Extension Forestry and Natural Resources team in 2019, after completing his master’s degree in forest management. His expertise is in forest health, inventory, modeling, and silviculture.
John Punches
Extension Forester
Northeastern Oregon
Oregon State University
John has been with OSU Extension Service since 1994, serving as an Extension Forester and in a variety of leadership roles. He has degrees in forestry, wood science, and forest ecosystems/tree physiology. His efforts are currently focused on forest resiliency, collaborative restoration efforts, and wildfire and prescribed fire education and training.
Ariel Cowan
Regional Fire Specialist
Oregon State University
Ariel is the Regional Fire Specialist for Central Oregon. She comes to OSU’s Fire Program from the Oregon Department of Forestry, where she worked as a monitoring specialist, Stewardship Forester, and wildland fire fighter. She holds degrees in environmental science and forestry, and her work focuses on forest health, fire history, and ecology.
Katie Wollstein
Rangeland Fire Regional Specialist Southeastern Oregon
Oregon State University
Katie’s research and outreach aims to leverage ranchers’, agencies’, and other stakeholders’ experience and knowledge to improve fire preparedness, response, and recovery in rangeland settings with multiple landownerships and resource uses.
Thomas Stokely
Forest Ecologist
Central Oregon
The Nature Conservancy
Thomas holds Master’s and Doctoral degrees from OSU, and serve there in a Postdoctoral programs, all through the Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society. He’s also a former OSU Extension Forester. He has graciously agreed to help us understand how fire risk reduction can be balanced with wildlife habitat objectives.
Jacob Powell
Extension Crops and Livestock
Sherman and Wasco Counties
Oregon State University
Jacob brings a wealth of experience in use of fire in agricultural and range settings. He helps farmers manage wildfire risk and use fire as a management tool, and is the author of a wealth of agriculturally-oriented wildfire safety publications and classes.
