Let's raise a glass to dads and forests
The Oregon Garden will hold its 13th annual
Brewfest
over Father's Day weekend, June 16-18. My wife, daughters and grandchildren took me to the event last year and we had a lot of fun under the canopy of OFRI's Rediscovery Forest, site of the event.
The forest is a perfect place to hold Brewfest because it's a reminder that so much of our drinking water comes from forested watersheds. As one of OFRI's popular Forest Fact Breaks videos illustrates, forests capture fog, rain and snow, and forest soils filter our water. And we all know that superior beer and cider require great water.
But even forested watersheds need to be managed for forest health and resiliency. In southern Oregon, for example, Ashland Forest Resiliency Project partners are working to prevent large-scale fire in the city's forested watershed, which supplies drinking water to more than 300,000 visitors and citizens each year. By cutting and removing small trees and brush and thinning trees of commercial size, AFR is reducing fire risk while aiding the local economy. The project relies heavily on public funding, so it's not a model for everywhere, but it underscores the importance of managing our forests to protect water, recreation, habitat and scenic values.
So raise a toast to dads - and forests, too - at The Oregon Garden Brewfest.
For the forest,
Paul Barnum
Executive Director
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Brewfest coming to Rediscovery Forest
Some 60 breweries from throughout Oregon and across the country will descend on the OFRI-managed Rediscovery Forest in Silverton to serve 120 varieties of beer, cider and mead during the 13th Annual Oregon Garden Brewfest later this month.
Much of the activity during the three-day event over Father's Day weekend, June 16-18, will be centered in the Rediscovery Forest. The 15-acre demonstration forest located in The Oregon Garden is primarily used for educational purposes, including OFRI programs for schoolchildren, teachers and forest landowners, but it is also the site of public events. Since the outdoor brewfest will take place in the forest, OFRI has sponsored a series of educational "Beer Facts" posters to inform attendees about the link between sustainably managed forests, Oregon's high drinking water quality and great-tasting beer.
"Forest soils provide natural filtration that keeps streams clean and water quality high," says OFRI Executive Director Paul Barnum. "The best beer starts with great water, and in Oregon our highest-quality water comes from forested watersheds."
In addition to plenty of opportunities to sample beers and ciders, the brewfest will include live music from regional bands, food from local vendors, children's activities and an artisan market. More information about event hours, ticket prices, camping and other accommodations is available on The Oregon Garden website.
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Forest essays translated into Spanish
Selected readings from OFRI's Forest Essays collection for fourth- and fifth-grade students are now available in Spanish.
OFRI has published a new bilingual student
workbook,
Ensayos de Bosque: Grados 4-5.
It
features four essays for fourth- and fifth-graders that can be read in Spanish and English, along with accompanying reading comprehension questions in both languages. The one-page essays address topics related to Oregon's forests, including wildlife, forestry and tree biology. Each essay was written by a team of natural resources specialists and then reviewed by teachers for content and readability and by scientists for accuracy.
OFRI produced the bilingual Forest Essays collection in collaboration with the Forest Grove School District, which provided the Spanish translations. The district originally translated the essays into Spanish so the content would be accessible to all students, says Brian Hawkins, assistant STEAM coordinator with the Forest Grove School District.
"We have a significant Spanish-speaking population in the district," he says. "We wanted to make sure there was no inequity by having both Spanish and English versions available to our students."
With Oregon's growing Hispanic population, many other school districts will likely be interested in the new OFRI publication, Hawkins adds. He is pleased that instead of handouts with Spanish translations of Forest Essays, Forest Grove teachers can now give students a bilingual workbook. It will be used next school year to help teach fourth-grade students across the district about Oregon forest habitats and wildlife.
Free copies of Ensayos de Bosque can be ordered through OFRI's website for K-12 educators, LearnForests.org. A digital version of the publication is also available to download.
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Six Oregon projects win
USFS Wood Innovations Grants
The U.S. Forest Service awarded funding to six Oregon projects in the latest round of its Wood Innovations Grant Program, which aims to expand and accelerate wood products and wood energy markets.
The 2017 Wood Innovations Grant recipients from Oregon were among 38 winners from across the country awarded a total of $8.3 million this year through the grant program. Most of the grants are in the range of $250,000.
Oregon grant recipients include Lyons-based Freres Lumber Co., which will use the funding to aid in the development of a mass plywood panel plant. Hood River-based WyEast Timber Services received a grant that will go toward developing a small-log utilization mill in Hood River County. The Portland-based affordable housing provider Home Forward was awarded funding for research into developing cross-laminated timber (CLT) rocking walls for Framework, a planned wooden high-rise in the Pearl District that will include 60 units of affordable housing.
Oregon State University received two Wood Innovations Grants. One will fund research into the potential to make CLT using low-value ponderosa pine logs harvested during forest restoration projects in southwestern Oregon and northern California. Another grant will fund an effort to create manufacturing capacity in the United States for mass timber products.
An Idaho-based company, Precision Energy Services, also received a Wood Innovations Grant for a renewable energy project in Heppner, Ore.
Since 2005, the Forest Service program has awarded more than 230 Wood Innovations Grants to small businesses, nonprofits, tribes, and state and local governments to improve forest health while creating jobs, renewable energy and healthy communities. OFRI is among the past grant recipients. A 2015 Wood Innovations Grant helped establish OFRI's Wood Products Education Program.
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Forest education program serves 3,100 students
More than 3,100 elementary and middle-school students participated in OFRI's field forest education program during its spring season, which wrapped up this month.
The Oregon Garden Natural Resources Education Program, jointly launched by OFRI and The Oregon Garden two years ago, provides students in grades 4-6 with a hands-on approach to natural resource education. It offers free field trips for students to learn about Oregon's forests and natural resources while visiting the OFRI-managed Rediscovery Forest inside The Oregon Garden in Silverton. The 15-acre educational forest provides students with opportunities for outdoor learning and applying scientific concepts. While on a field trip to the forest, students handle animal skulls and study tree cookies, among other educational activities, as they learn about topics that include forest ecology, wildlife habitat, and plant and animal adaptations.
The program will take a hiatus over the next few months while students are on summer break and resume when the 2017-18 school year begins in the fall. For more information about the program, visit OFRI's website for K-12 education, LearnForests.org.
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Tallest wood building in U.S. gets permits
F
ramework, a 12-story wood high-rise planned in Portland's Pearl District, has received a joint building permit from the city of Portland and state of Oregon to proceed with construction this fall.
When completed in late 2018, Framework will be the tallest wood structure in the United States. Set to be constructed with cross-laminated timber and other mass timber wood products, it will include an innovative wood structural system designed to withstand a major earthquake.
"Receiving a permit is a critical juncture for Framework and demonstrates the feasibility of using wood to build high-rise buildings in the U.S.," says Anyeley Hallova, a partner with project ^, the developer of Framework. "With our path clear to the start building, Framework will start to unlock the demand for mass timber products at all scales, justifying new investment into rural manufacturing and job creation."
The Portland-based developer is partnering with affordable housing provider Home Forward on the Framework project. The mixed-use building, containing offices, retail and affordable housing, is being designed by Portland-based LEVER Architecture for land owned by Beneficial State Bancorp at Northwest 10th Avenue and Glisan Street.
In 2015, Framework won a $1.5 million federal grant through the U.S. Tall Wood Building Prize Competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Softwood Lumber Board and the Binational Softwood Lumber Council. The funding supported performance tests that demonstrated the project, and other future wood high-rises, can meet or exceed building code regulations related to fire and earthquakes, making them just as safe as traditional structures.
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OFRI board elects new chairman
Powers Ranch Co. President Quincy Powers is set to be the new chairman of the OFRI board of directors.
Powers, whose company manages a third-generation cattle ranch and tree farm in Coos and Curry counties, will replace outgoing chairman Dave Furtwangler at the July 12 board meeting in Eugene. Furtwangler, president of Sweet Home-based Cascade Timber Consulting Inc., will continue to serve as a board member.
The board unanimously voted in April for Powers to become the new chairman. He previously served as the board's vice-chairman. Board members also approved appointing Tyler Freres as the new vice-chairman. Freres is the vice president of Lyons-based Freres Lumber Co.
OFRI's
13-member board
includes representatives of forest products producers of varying size that pay harvest taxes to support OFRI's programs. The board also contains one member representing small woodland owners and one representing forest-sector employees.
Two other members serve ex officio: the dean of the Oregon State University College of Forestry, and a public representative appointed jointly by the president of the Oregon Senate and the speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives.
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OSWA to host annual meeting June 15-17
The event kicks off with an OSWA board meeting on June 15, followed by a full program on June 16 that includes educational talks by representatives from the Oregon Department of Forestry and others, an annual membership meeting, an awards banquet and a silent auction.
This year's meeting is being held in Lane County to coincide with the Oregon Tree Farm System's Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year tour on June 17. The tour will visit forestland south of Florence owned by Oregon's 2016 Outstanding Tree Farmers of the Year, Dave and Dianne Rankin.
For more than 40 years, the Rankins have owned a 194-acre forest, which contains a mix of Douglas-fir, western red cedar, western hemlock, Sitka spruce, red alder and coastal redwood. They manage the land for income, recreation, and fish and wildlife habitat. As winners of the Outstanding Tree Farmers of the Year award, the Rankins were honored for their work enhancing a riparian area on their property to improve both water quality and fish habitat. They also actively promote sustainable forest management in their community and host a forest field day for sixth-grade students from Mapleton schools that focuses on forest ecology and hydrology.
More information about the Outstanding Tree Farmer of the Year Tour and the OSWA Annual Meeting, which is open to non-members, is available on the OSWA website.
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Regional economic summit coming to Portland
A regional economic summit taking place in Portland next month will feature sessions on forest-sector-related topics.
The Pacific NorthWest Economic Region will hold its 27th Annual Summit July 23-27 at the Portland Marriott Downtown Waterfront hotel. PNWER is a nonprofit organization created in 1991 by the states of Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Montana and Washington, and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan, along with the Yukon and Northwest Territories, to increase the economic well-being and quality of life for all citizens of the region.
The summit will bring together leaders from across the Pacific Northwest to discuss opportunities for growth within the region and to address major challenges to its economy and environment. This year's summit is expected to attract more than 500 legislators, business leaders, academics and government representatives.
Summit sessions will cover a variety of topics of interest to the region, including agriculture, energy and the environment, forestry, invasive species, tourism, and water policy. OFRI is co-sponsoring the summit and OFRI Director of Forest Products Timm Locke is helping plan the forest-sector-related sessions. American Forest Resources Council President Travis Joseph and Oregon State University College of Forestry Dean Thomas Maness have been heavily involved in organizing the summit's forestry sessions.
More information about the summit and registration is available on the PNWER website.
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The Oregon Legislature created the Oregon Forest Resources Institute in 1991 to advance public understanding of forests, forest management and forest products and to encourage sound forestry through landowner education. A 13-member board of directors governs OFRI. It is funded by a portion of the forest products harvest tax.
Copyright © 2017, Oregon Forest Resources Institute. All Rights Reserved.
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eNews taking break
in JULY
Sometimes email newsletters need a summer break too.
OFRI will not publish eNews in July. Monthly distribution of the newsletter will resume in August.
In addition to subscribing to eNews, another way to stay up to date with the latest OFRI happenings is by following us on
Facebook and
Twitter.
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On the blog
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Agriculture teacher conference planned
The Oregon Agriculture Teacher's Association will hold its 2017 Summer Conference June 20-22 in Tillamook.
Speakers at the conference will include several OFRI staff members. Director of Forest Products Timm Locke and Senior Manager of Forestry Education Julie Woodward will give a presentation on teaching students about wood products manufacturing and mass timber architecture, engineering and construction. Woodward will also lead a session with Director of K-12 Education Programs Norie Dimeo-Ediger on OFRI's high school forestry curriculum and making connections between agriculture and forestry education.
Conference registration is available on the OATA website.
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Children's film festival to celebrate Oregon's forests
The third annual Eugene Children's Film Festival will highlight and celebrate one of Oregon's most incredible resources: its forests.
High school students can win a $1,000 college scholarship for making the best film about Oregon's forests, and earn the chance to be among the top films screened during the Aug. 19 festival at the Richard E. Wildish Community Theater in Springfield.
OFRI is a co-sponsor of the competition, which is open to all Oregon high school students. Contest entries will be judged on how well they incorporate Oregon's forests creatively into a short film. All films must be submitted online by Aug. 8.
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Natural Resources Leadership Academy taking registrations
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Registration is open to graduate students and natural resources professionals for Oregon State University's Natural Resources Leadership Academy.
This year's academy will take place June 18-23 and June 26-30 on the OSU campus in Corvallis. Participants will have the opportunity to enhance their leadership skills through hands-on experience in engaging coursework and off-site field study, as well as to connect with others studying or working in the natural resources field. Educational tracks can be taken for professional development or as credit toward a graduate degree.
Academy registration is available online.
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The Oregon State University College of Forestry's Peavy Arboretum serves as the gateway to the McDonald-Dunn Research Forest. The arboretum has an extensive trail network for hikers to explore and learn about native trees and shrubs. A loop hike through the arboretum threads through an older forest to a ridgeline that offers views across the nearby hills and valley.
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