By Norma Kline, Oregon State University Extension Forester for Coos and Curry Counties

Have you encountered the various terms used to characterize the vegetation on your woodland? You might have read about ecoregions, forest types or stand types and wondered how they relate to your ownership. Or perhaps these terms seem confusing because your property is classified within the Douglas-fir forest type but your trees consist of bigleaf maple and western redcedar. Foresters, ecologists and land managers group vegetation into units so they can describe and understand how forests develop and grow in a given area. One of the broadest classification approaches is the ecoregion which is used to describe portions of the state with similar climate and vegetation. Oregon only has eight terrestrial ecoregions, so these are pretty broad and expansive ways to describe vegetation areas. For the most part, our coastal counties fall entirely within the Coast Range ecoregion, an important exception is Curry County, which also includes the Klamath Mountains ecoregion. If you live in Curry County I bet you already know that your forests are pretty unique! The other nearby ecoregions are the Willamette Valley and West Cascades. Figure 1 shows the eight terrestrial ecoregions in Oregon. There is also a ninth ecoregion, the nearshore marine area.

Do you like being outdoors and the idea of contributing to scientific research? If so, become a community-based citizen scientist volunteer with the OSU Extension Oregon Season Tracker Program that connects local community volunteers with state and national researchers studying weather and the effects on native plant vegetation. 

Oregon Sudden Oak Death Website The new Oregon Sudden Oak Death Website provides general Sudden Oak Death information including signs and symptoms, how the disease spreads, how to report potential infestations and management options. Take a look at the Task Force tab in the top menu bar to read more about the missions and goals of the Sudden Oak Death task force and all of the organizations that have been collaborating on this difficult issue. The website was made possible by funding by the Wild Rivers Coast Alliance and can be viewed here: https://www.oregonsod.org/

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