Forestry Leadership Hall Spotlight | WFI Updates

Global Connections. Regional Roots. May 2018

To Create and Inspire Champions of Sustainable Forestry

From Sara Wu, Interim Executive Director

Last month we celebrated International Women’s Day; just a few weeks earlier I opened the Portland Business Journal and read their annual list of “Women of Influence,” which recognizes women in our communities who provide exceptional contributions to society. It was especially heartening to see our long-time friend of the Merlo Foundation, hard-working entrepreneur and ardent dog lover Flo Newton Merlo, featured for her success at establishing and growing the private charter aviation company Global Aviation. Reading of Flo’s contributions, I was reminded of how honored I am to learn from the many women associated with the World Forestry Center.

Organizations can transition slowly, but perceptions can change even slower. It might surprise you to learn that two-thirds of our staff and senior managers at the World Forestry Center are women. Beyond that, our Board is led by a three-woman team, each a leader in her own field.

Our Board chair is Jennifer Allen, associate professor of Public Administration in the Hatfield School of Government at Portland State University and a founding member of the university’s Institute for Sustainable Solutions. With her expertise in both economic development and natural resource policy, Jennifer brings insight and balance to the challenging issues our organization faces today.

Vice-chair Cherie Kearney is a twenty-year veteran at Columbia Land Trust where, as Forest Conservation director, she collaborates to preserve working forestlands and large-scale landscapes. She leads tours for our own Fellows to educate them about land trusts, and when she is not working, she can be found outdoors hiking, sailing, and occasionally tracking sage grouse.

Our treasurer is Tiffanie Starr of Timberland Investment Resources, where she evaluates forestlands for institutional investment. With experience at The Conservation Fund and The Nature Conservancy, Tiffanie brings an appreciation for both the value of productive timberlands, and non-timber forest values.

From the foundations that support us, to the board that guides us, to the staff that deliver our programs, the World Forestry Center is fortunate to have the talents of incredible women, and others, who help us create and inspire champions of sustainable forestry.

A Special Thank You to Columbia Bank

We would like to extend our sincere appreciation for Columbia Bank’s sponsorship of Community Free Days at the Discovery Museum.

Join us at the Discovery Museum for our next free day, Saturday, June 23

The museum is open from 10:00 am - 5:00 pm

Forestry Leadership Hall Spotlight

In 1971, the World Forestry Center began a tradition of honoring those pioneers who have contributed significantly to the advancement of forestry. This month we are honored to spotlight Clarence Richen (1912-2000).

Clarence Richen

1912-2000

Click here to read biography

To his family, Clarence Richen was a teacher, a cheerleader, and a man whose energy and curiosity was infectious. As his children grew up, they recognized these same qualities in his relationships with his forester friends and lumber-industry colleagues. He leaves a legacy rich in understanding and curiosity.

Clarence Richen was born June 6, 1912, in Portland, Oregon. His parents, Peter and Caroline Richen, had emigrated with their families from Switzerland in the 1880s, initially settling in the small community of Helvetia, Oregon. Clarence attended grade school and high school in Portland. The outdoors appealed to him at an early age, prompted by stories that his father brought home with him from Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory, where he owned and operated a hotel shortly after the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897-1898. Clarence’s interest in forestry grew in high school as he read about the threat of fire to the nation’s timber resources. Forest Service employees that Clarence knew further sparked his interest in this field.

Clarence graduated from the School of Forestry at Oregon State Agricultural College (now Oregon State University) in 1935 with a bachelor’s in Forest Management. He went to work for USDA Pacific Northwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, where he studied logging equipment, harvesting methods, and log grade recovery in both Douglas fir and Ponderosa pine forests. In 1938, he became an instructor at his alma mater. It was there he met and married Grace Buck in 1940 who was a secretary for the School of Forestry.

Clarence first worked in a lookout tower on Olallie Butte and was among the first to report beginnings of the 1939 Tillamook Burn. He continued to work summers for several timber and paper companies, and in 1942 he became a forester for Crown Willamette, which became Crown-Zellerbach. In 1946, he became the company’s chief forester, and during the next few years helped Crown-Zellerbach’s holdings grow to one million acres in Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, and the southeastern United States. Clarence introduced new ideas, championed new harvesting methods, implemented genetic enhancement, and improved nursery stock.

Clarence believed the industry had to tell its story to be understood and appreciated. He made public presentations about forest products and management improvements and encouraged his employees to tell the industry story as well. He often shared the forestry story with his family. His children, Peter, Forrest, and Marilyn, remember visiting the mills and Crown-Zellerbach forests and riding Cathlamet, Washington’s last logging railroad. As a way to share his stories, Clarence participated in professional associations, giving a half century of service to the Society of American Foresters. He worked diligently for many forestry organizations and visited foresters in more than a dozen nations. He became a committed leader of the World Forestry Center, serving on its Board of Directors from 1970 to 2000 and holding the office of president of the Board from 1979 to 1981.

In 1977, Clarence retired as vice president of Crown-Zellerbach and accepted a position on the Board of Navajo Forest Industries in Arizona where he worked hard to understand and support a culture new to him. The Navajo tribe operated a particleboard plant and a sawmill, logging from its 1.5 million acres of ponderosa pine. After retirement, Clarence established Richen Tree Farms, Inc. where he managed 440 acres of productive forestland. He and Grace planted young trees in what the family affectionately calls the strawberry field—an area their children recently harvested and replanted.

Clarence taught his children and grandchildren to appreciate the value of what they have and to take care of it for the future. The board of Richen Family Tree Farms now includes his grandchildren, and his great grandson is getting involved in the family business. Grace passed away in 1984 and Clarence married Dorothy Meintzer in 1985.

Clarence passed away on December 6, 2000, at the age of 88. He left a strong legacy of Oregon forest practices and the practice of telling the story. Boy Scouts still remember his tree specimens hanging from the clothesline. His grandchildren remember him showing them where a beaver chewed and felled a tree, how to care for and prune trees, and the value of trees as a growing sustainable asset. His deep curiosity became clear to one granddaughter when they visited the Tillamook County Fair. Clarence wandered from booth to booth asking questions of farmers, sheep ranchers, and craft creators. His granddaughter saw how he made friends as he absorbed anything he could learn. She realized he made that connection with family, with forestry colleagues, and with everyone he met – leaving a rich legacy behind.

Thank you Rae Richen for writing the story of your father-in-law's life, and for sharing the family photographs with us.

Clarence visiting his Tree Farm, which he started after retirement. He managed 440 acres of productive forestland.

Clarence and his wife, Grace, with their three children on Mount Hood

We invite you to visit the Forestry Leadership Hall located on the second floor of the Discovery Museum. For more information click here .

World Forest Institute News and Updates

This year’s WFI International Fellows arrived at the World Forestry Center during the first week of April, and they hit the ground running! In less than a month, they have already attended presentations from a series of guest speakers on a wide range of topics from land ownership to environmental regulations to TIMOs and REITs; ventured on study tours to Forest Park and the Columbia River Gorge; introduced themselves to the local forestry community at a meet and greet event hosted at the World Forestry Center’s Discovery Museum; and much more.

On a study tour through Forest Park (pictured above), the WFI Fellows were introduced to urban forestry practices by Marshall Johnson from Portland Parks & Recreation. They were shown various restoration sites to view various stages of invasive species removal and trail maintenance. They learned about the challenges of balancing recreation and conservation in an urban area, the importance of cooperative partnerships in park maintenance, and the value of accessibility to urban parks to local communities.

In the Columbia River Gorge (pictured in front of Multnomah Falls), the WFI Fellows met with U.S. Forest Service scientists and listened to presentations detailing post-fire restoration techniques being used in the wake of last year’s devastating Eagle and Tanner Creek fires. Afterward, they hiked the Catherine Creek Trail on the Washington state side to get a taste of the Gorge’s spectacular scenery before finally stopping at the Bonneville Hatchery to learn about the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s diverse fish production program.

Conferences and Convening

FIREWISE

Educational Community Event

June 5 from 5:30-7:30 pm

Join us in the Discovery Museum on Tuesday, June 5, from 5:30-7:30 pm

Kris Babbs from Keep Oregon Green, and Kevin McLaughlin from the Oregon Department of Forestry, will give a short presentation about the importance of raising awareness around fire prevention and safety.