OFRI eNews: February 2022

Trees to love in Oregon

In February, we like to focus on love. Three of my loves are trees, books and Oregon. Oh yeah, and books about Oregon trees. One of my favorites is Trees to Know in Oregon and Washington. My pet title for it is “Trees to Love in Oregon.” This easy-to-use fact and picture book on trees is the most popular book ever published by the Oregon State University Extension Service. The current edition was written by Ed Jensen, a retired OSU forestry professor, and it’s the 70^th anniversary edition(!).

As I thumb through the book, I’m reminded how much I love Oregon native trees. Two species jump out at me: Douglas-fir and Oregon white oak.

Doug-fir is the most common tree in Oregon. Contrary to what its name implies, the Douglas-fir is not actually a species of fir, hence the hyphen to set it aside from true fir species. It can reach heights of 250 feet, with diameters exceeding 10 feet at maturity. Oregon’s dominant timber tree is named for the Scottish botanist David Douglas, who explored the Northwest 200 years ago, collecting tree samples and seeds for the Royal Horticulture Society of England.

Oregon white oak is common in the Willamette Valley. Its spreading, umbrella-shaped crown is commonly seen in oak woodlands, and it was described by Douglas as the “valley tree” because it was found in vast open savannas perpetuated by wildfire and Native American burns in the Willamette Valley and other interior valleys of western Oregon.

OFRI also offers a guide to native Oregon trees on our OregonForests.org website. Check this out or get a copy of Trees to Know to find out more about the trees you love – or will grow to love.

For the forest,

Mike Cloughesy

Acting Executive Director

OFRI board gaining two new members

The OFRI Board of Directors is welcoming a couple new members: Garren Hitner and Dan Newton. They will fill two vacant Class 1 positions on the board, representing smaller timber producers of 20 million board feet per year or less.

Hitner is the co-owner of Monroe-based Century Forest Management, which he co-founded in 2017. The company provides logging, timberland management and other forestry services, primarily to Oregon small woodland owners.

Newton has 40 years of experience as a forester in the West. He recently retired from the position of chief forester for Weyerhaeuser’s 2.9 million acres of forestland in Oregon and Washington. He and his wife, Kathy, own and manage 630 acres of forestland in Douglas County.

The state forester appoints the 11 voting members of the 13-member OFRI board to serve three-year terms. The voting members include nine representatives of timber producer classes, with three each from small (Class 1), medium (Class 2) and large (Class 3) producers; one member representing small woodland owners; and one representative for forest industry employees. The board has two ex officio members: the dean of the Oregon State University College of Forestry, and a public member appointed jointly by the president of the Oregon Senate and the speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives.

All board meetings are open to the public. A board meeting schedule, meeting agendas and past meeting minutes are available on the board meeting and materials page on OFRI’s website.

ACCESS OFRI BOARD MEETING SCHEDULE AND MATERIALS

Volunteer for Oregon Envirothon

Oregon Envirothon, a high school competition that tests students’ knowledge of environmental sciences, is seeking volunteers to help put on the annual educational event.

Students who participate in Oregon Envirothon learn about environmental sciences by immersing themselves in the ecosystems each discipline studies. The students take part in hands-on activities and field experiences to gain knowledge in each of the five sections of the Envirothon competition, which are forest ecology, soils and land use, aquatic ecology, wildlife ecology, and a current issue that changes each year.

The winning team from the Oregon Envirothon event advances to the North American Envirothon competition for a chance to win prizes and scholarships.

OFRI organizes and sponsors the Oregon Envirothon, which will be held this year on May 6 at The Oregon Garden in Silverton, in cooperation with local conservation districts, natural resource associations, educators and environmental agencies, to provide mentorship, training and preparation for the competition to high school students and their teachers from across the state. Volunteers are vital to making the event a success each year.

There are many ways to get involved, including helping a high school start or train a team, helping out the day of the event, writing the tests, serving on the Oregon Envirothon board or sponsoring the winning team to help them compete at nationals. Those who are interested in volunteering or want to learn more should send an email to info@oregonenvirothon.org.

LEARN MORE ABOUT OREGON ENVIROTHON

Conference focuses on forest health

The Oregon State University College of Forestry is hosting a virtual conference next month, summarizing forest health issues in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest.

OFRI is a co-sponsor of the Forest Health in Oregon 2022: State of the State conference, scheduled for March 1-2 from 8 a.m. to noon each day. There is no fee to attend the conference, which will focus on major forest insect and pathogen activity and emerging issues, as well as weather phenomena such as drought and heatwaves, and wildfire.

The aim is to inform foresters, forest industry, forest agency managers, small woodland owners, forestry and natural resource extension volunteers and agents, and other interested parties about important issues that influence forest health. This year’s conference will focus on tree decline issues with western redcedar, bigleaf maple and Douglas-fir.

More information about the conference, a downloadable program and agenda, and registration are available here.

LEARN MORE AND REGISTER FOR CONFERENCE

New website touts mass timber

The Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) has launched a new website, odfmasstimber.com, offering information about the environmental benefits of mass timber construction – a technique that allows for building larger and taller structures with wood instead of concrete and steel.

The Promise of Mass Timber website aims to provide an accessible resource for the architecture, engineering and construction community about the many intricacies of using wood as a sustainable building material. It includes information and videos explaining what mass timber is, how it can be used and why it’s more environmentally friendly than alternative construction materials. The site also includes information about sustainable forestry practices and forest carbon sequestration in the Pacific Northwest, among other topics related to mass timber construction.

ODF funded the creation of the site, with support from the U.S. Forest Service. OFRI helped provide video footage and technical expertise while it was under development.

CHECK OUT THE PROMISE OF MASS TIMBER WEBSITE

Entries sought for high school video contest

Oregon high school students have a chance to win cash prizes, including a grand prize of $1,000, by creating a video highlighting the diverse employment opportunities in the forest sector for the Thru the Trees contest.

Now in its second year, the Forest Resources Association contest is open to students ages 14 to 18 from Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. Students are invited to make a video that creatively provides information about the value of one or more jobs in the forest sector. Winning videos will be shared with others through websites, social media and other venues.

Contest entries are due by April 15, and the winners will be announced May 1. More information about the contest and how to enter is available here.

Sponsors of the contest include the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, Idaho Forest Group, Weyerhaeuser, the Montana Timber Legacy Foundation, Pacific Logging Congress, Hampton Lumber, the Washington Forest Protective Association, Stimson Lumber and Molpus Woodlands Group.

ENTER THE THRU THE TREES CONTEST

In other news...

Blog: "Meet our new social media intern"

OFRI has hired a new student intern to help manage the Institute’s social media accounts. Learn more about Taylor Lowe, an Oregon State University student studying marketing, in this new post on the OFRI blog.

Upcoming OFRI board meeting

The OFRI Board of Directors has several upcoming meetings, on Feb. 17, March 17 and April 21. The Feb. 17 meeting, which will be held from 4 to 5 p.m., and the March 17 meeting, which will be held from 9 to 11 a.m., are both virtual meetings that will be conducted over Zoom. The April 21 meeting will be held in person from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Holiday Inn in Wilsonville. All board meetings are open to the public. Agendas for the meetings and links to attend via Zoom will be made available here.

Article features Oregon Envirothon

The National Associations of Conservation Districts recognized the Oregon Envirothon in the latest issue of their Forestry Notes publication. The article includes an account from a Tillamook High School teacher detailing how the natural resources competition has helped her students understand the “why” of forestry and even inspired some to pursue natural resource careers. Read the article here.

Order your "Planted" signs today

Each year, Oregon forest landowners plant millions of tree seedlings to replace those that have been harvested. And since winter and early spring is tree planting season in Oregon, it’s a great time to order a “Planted” sign through OFRI’s landowner signage program. Learn more about the program and order a Planted sign here.

Schooler named "Person of the Year"

OFRI board member Eric Schooler has been named 2022 Person of the Year by Timber Processing magazine. Schooler, who is the 34^th winner of award, is the former president and CEO of the Wilsonville-based timber company Collins, and the current board chairman for Portland-based Hampton Lumber. He was honored for his innovative and successful leadership at both Collins and Hampton. Read more about Schooler’s career here.

State funds aimed to reduce fire risk to Medford's watershed

The Oregon Department of Forestry has given $100,000 to the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest for forest restoration work that will reduce catastrophic wildfire risk on 20,000 acres of the Big Butte Springs watershed, which is the year-round source of water for Medford and surrounding communities. Learn more about the award here.

Northwest Woodlands seeking editor

The Idaho Forest Owners Association, Montana Forest Owners Association, Oregon Small Woodlands Association and Washington Farm Forestry Association are seeking an editor for the organizations’ Northwest Woodlands magazine. This is a part-time contractor position that will begin Aug. 1. Interested applicants can contact Anne Maloney at annewithnww@gmail.com or visit this website to learn more.