Our vision is a world where all people and wildlands are healthy and interact positively, biological diversity flourishes, and environmental challenges are met with a social commitment to solving problems with scientific principles. |
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"We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it." - William Faulkner |
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The Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly population has been declining for decades and is facing imminent and significant threats, receiving an official listing as endangered in 2013. This species used to occupy prairie, oak savannah, and coastal bluff habitat from the Willamette Valley to the Puget Trough and Vancouver Island. Read More
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“Oh, wow! It’s sooo tiny!” I exclaimed, nearly tipping over as I stooped down while perching on a bluff above Highway 101 and the Pacific Ocean. I was expecting small – after all, it’s in the name: small-flowered lotus (Acmispon parviflorus). I was not expecting the shiny new seed pods to be only the length of my thumb nail. Read More
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Volunteering for Wild Seed Collection: A Primer |
The 2023 field season of wild seed collection is here! Between May and September each year, the Willamette Valley Seed Collection team works to scout and collect wild seeds from both common and endangered plants native to the region. Read More
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Night Blooming Cereus in the Chihuahuan Desert |
Peniocereus greggii greggii, commonly known as Night Blooming Cereus, is a protected cacti native to the Chihuahuan Desert. This rare cactus is unassuming at first glance, and easily blends in with the branches of Creosote or Honey Mesquite that it frequently uses as nurse plants. Read More
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Captive Rearing of Endangered Species Brings Opportunity for Change |
In May, the Ecological Education (EE) team began managing a captive-rearing laboratory for the endangered Taylor’s Checkerspot butterfly (TCB) at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility (CCCF). You read that right—a butterfly lab within the prison—and work on an endangered species, no less! Read More
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Announcements &
Brief Updates
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Tickets On Sale Now!
Our most popular event of the year is coming up this summer! Join IAE friends, staff and supporters in celebrating native species by taking a bite out of some of those invaders to our native ecosystems.
We are excited to announce this year's Invasive Species Cookoff will be held on August 26th from 5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Common Fields in Corvallis, Oregon.
There will be live music, raffles, and games! In 2023, the Cook-off Contest will feature professional food cart chefs cooking up invasive species and vying for the People’s Choice Award!
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Why are invasive species a problem? |
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When plants and animals are introduced to areas without their natural enemies, they can crowd out our native species. The U.S. spends over $120 billion annually on their control. We raise awareness of these species in a deliciously fun way that features invasive species.
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What is the Invasive Species Cookoff?
The Invasive Species Cookoff is an event to remember, with a community dinner that features all-too-common invasive plants and animals. Guests are frequently surprised that well-known foods are both edible and invasive, usurping resources from our native ecosystems.
This awareness-raising is at the heart of this annual fundraiser for the restoration, research and education work of IAE. Each year is more fun than the last with live music, food and beverages in a festival-like ambience.
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2023 Amateur Chef Contest Details
Are you interested in cooking up a dish of your own which incorporates invasive species? This year, we will be hosting an amateur chef contest at Common Fields, and see whose flavors carry the judges favor!
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Please join the Institute for Applied Ecology (IAE) at the IAE Farm in Corvallis, Oregon for a summer volunteer day! We’ll have trays of Willamette Daisy (Erigeron decumbens) plugs that are germinating and will need to be thinned down to a couple of seedlings per plug.
RSVP to Evan Lasley at evanlasley@appliedeco.org if you are interested in attending this volunteer event, and so we can have enough tools and chairs for volunteers. We’ll have tables and chairs set up in the shade for people to work at and will provide all of the tools to get the work done. This job requires some dexterity, but is not physically demanding.
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Documentary Series Explores Urgent Efforts to Grow the Native Seed Supply Chain |
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Filmed over four seasons, this nine-part video series explores the people working to increase the supply of native seeds to meet the growing restoration demand, weaving together footage of seed collectors, farmers, researchers, and land managers. Viewers will see the staggering scale of damage to vast landscapes and meet tenacious people who are finding creative, scrappy solutions to restore ecosystems. Watch the trailer and read the full press release.
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We are currently hiring for a Full Time Executive Director as part of the planned transition of our Founder, Tom Kaye, into his new role with IAE: Chief Science Officer.
We are also currently hiring for the following roles:
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Our friends at Elderberry Wisdom Farm have an opening for a Summer Habitat Restoration Intern! The project includes planning and preparation for their fall Habitat Restoration Internship, working with volunteers, plus farm maintenance activities at their two-acre farm near Salem, OR.
In addition to the opportunity for experiential service learning into conservation, habitat restoration, soil regeneration, transitioning to organic, Native plant medicines, microenterprise development, and other topics, the intern will also be able to add a valuable record of employment and experience to their resume.
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Volunteer, Become an IAE Member! |
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If you'd like to show your business's support
for our work, please get in touch:
(541) 753-3099 x 701
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Ken Bierly, Brandy Humphreys, Cary Stephens, Jack Halsey, Jason Bradford, Anne Bradley, Shinji Kawai, Judy Li, John Savage, Sunia Yang |
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