With the 2022 fire season now behind us, it’s the perfect time to reflect on the state of fire in Oregon’s forests. Thankfully, this fire season was mild relative to recent years, however the impact to our communities and forests remained significant. With over 442,000 acres burned, dozens of structures destroyed, and many days of unhealthy air quality across the state, wildfire continues to be a critical issue for Oregonians.

Wildfire of course has long been a natural part of Oregon’s forest ecosystems. For thousands of years, fires burned through the dry pine and the mixed-conifer forests of eastern and southwestern Oregon every two to 50 years. The wetter, Douglas-fir forests of western Oregon once burned every 200 years or at longer intervals. However, efficient fire suppression over the past century combined with the effects of climate change has led to unnaturally dense forests and longer, drier fire seasons across the state.

The result? A dramatic increase in forests burned in recent years, threatening homes, causing hazardous smoke in our communities, and impacting everything from human health to tourism, transportation and recreational opportunities. Careful management of our forests continues to be a critical piece of reducing these risks to Oregonians, as is the need for public understanding and support for carrying out this work.

OFRI’s fundamental purpose is to support Oregon’s forest products sector and foster the wise stewardship of natural resources for the benefit of Oregonians. A healthy and vibrant forest sector contributes significantly to both mitigate the cost of protecting the public from fire, and provide critical infrastructure needed to carefully manage forests to reduce fire risk. Increasing the public’s and landowner’s understanding of addressing fire in Oregon’s forests will continue to be an important piece of OFRI’s work for years to come. 

For the forest,

Jim Paul

Executive Director

The OFRI board of directors toured Hampton Lumber forestland near Grand Ronde last month to explore components of upcoming changes to Oregon’s forest practice rules associated with the Private Forest Accord agreement between the timber industry and conservation groups.

The public field tour on Oct. 21 included visits to areas on the Hampton Lumber property where streamside logging restrictions will be expanded to better protect fish and aquatic wildlife habitat, as well as a discussion of proposed new rules for logging on steep slopes and updated standards for forest road construction and maintenance. Other topics discussed included fish passage upgrades, aquatic species protections and how small forestland owners will be affected by the new forest practice rules.

Tour speakers included representatives from Hampton Lumber, the Oregon Small Woodlands Association, Oregon Department of Forestry and Oregon State University.

The aim of the tour was to inform OFRI board members and staff about the changes to Oregon’s forest laws and explore ways OFRI can help educate private forestland owners and the public about the new regulations. 

OFRI has released its 2021-22 Annual Report, highlighting its most recent work to support and enhance Oregon’s forest products industry by advancing public understanding of forests, forest management and forest products.

The new eight-page report summarizes the Institute’s accomplishments over the past year, including key achievements in 2021-22 across OFRI’s educational programs for forest landowners, the public, and K-12 teachers and students.

Among the highlights:

• working with partners in forestry education to offer high quality educational resources and programs to Oregon forestland owners and forest professionals
• publishing a special report focused on solutions to address the growing threat of wildfire in Oregon
• providing professional development to K-12 teachers to help them incorporate forestry and natural resources lessons into their curriculum

To learn more about OFRI’s work over the past year to educate Oregonians of all ages about forests and the many ways they touch our lives, read the full report, which is available in digital and print formats.

The Oregon Board of Forestry approved more than 100 changes to the Oregon Forest Practices Act at a special board meeting on Oct. 26. The rule changes are a result of the Private Forest Accord agreement between the timber industry and conservation groups, and will impact more than 10 million acres of private and non-federal forests in Oregon.

The goal of the rule changes is to provide long-term regulatory certainty to the timber industry while providing enhanced habitat protection for fish and other aquatic wildlife species.

“The timber industry is vital to many rural Oregon communities,” Board of Forestry Chairman Jim Kelly said in a statement released by the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF). “This agreement balances the critical social and economic components with the need to better protect critical forest habitat, which is also incredibly beneficial to Oregonians.”

ODF worked closely with the parties involved in the Private Forest Accord agreement to write the new forest practice rules, which include:

·        requiring wider no-harvest buffers along streams to protect aquatic habitat

·        new design standards and requirements to inventory and maintain forest roads

·        retaining more trees when logging on steep slopes to improve slope stability and reduce sediment that can impact fish habitat

More information about the upcoming changes to Oregon’s forest practice regulations and Private Forest Accord is available on ODF’s website and OFRI’s website.

OFRI also produced a set of three fact sheets explaining the significance of the Accord, related changes to the Forest Practices Act, and plans for the state to seek a Habitat Conservation Plan for private forests. The fact sheets can be downloaded from OFRI’s Private Forest Accord webpage.

Longtime OFRI staff member Julie Woodward has been promoted to the Institute’s director of forestry.

As director of forestry, Woodward, who served as OFRI’s acting director of forestry following the retirement of Mike Cloughesy, oversees OFRI’s landowner education program and serves as the Institute’s lead forester. She also serves as a liaison with the forestry and forest science communities.

Prior to becoming the director of forestry, Woodward was OFRI’s senior manager of forestry education. Among other duties, she was responsible for managing various landowner education programs, including the Wildlife in Managed Forests program aimed at helping forestland owners manage for healthy wildlife populations on their properties, as well as overseeing management of the Rediscovery Forest, a demonstration forest OFRI uses for educational purposes at The Oregon Garden in Silverton.

Woodward has been professionally engaged in Oregon’s forest sector for over 25 years, including teaching and communicating to a variety of public, landowner and forest sector audiences. She holds a bachelor’s degree in forest management and business administration, and a master’s degree in natural resources and extension, both from Oregon State University.  

OFRI is seeking qualified applicants for a forest landowner education manager position responsible for delivering forestry interpretation and landowner education programs for the Institute.

The position will be based out of OFRI’s Silverton office at The Oregon Garden, and responsibilities include management of the 15-acre Rediscovery Forest for educational purposes, as well as other assets at the 80-acre botanical garden. The forest landowner education manager assists OFRI’s director of forestry in the delivery of the Institute’s landowner and public education programs.

A complete job listing for the position that includes minimum qualifications, desired attributes, a description of duties, and salary and benefits information is available on OFRI’s website.

Current State of Oregon employees, excluding temporary employees, must apply through their employee Workday account. External candidates will need to create a Workday profile to apply. Search for Job Requisition ID: REQ-112181.

Applications are due by Dec. 8. 

Blog: "The other 'Fish to Fry'"

Fish, especially salmon and steelhead, are synonymous with Oregon. To help K-12 educators incorporate lessons about fish and forests into their curriculum, OFRI partners with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s “Fish Eggs to Fry” program. In her latest post on the OFRI blog, Director of K-12 Education Programs Norie Dimeo-Ediger highlights the program, which allows students to raise fish in their classrooms

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Blog: "OFRI's unique purpose of advancing common interests between forestry, all Oregonian"

In his first post on the OFRI blog, Executive Director Jim Paul shares his vision for OFRI and how he will lead the Institute. Read Jim's thoughts about OFRI's unique purpose here.

OFRI hosting natural resources educator conference

Oregon high school natural resource educators are invited to attend a conference hosted by OFRI and the Oregon Natural Resource Education Program (ONREP) Dec. 14-15 at The Oregon Garden in Silverton. The conference will focus on the social, economic and ecological aspects of Oregon’s natural resources. An optional second day will provide training for teachers who have students planning to compete in the 2023 Oregon Envirothon. More information and registration is available on ONREP’s website. 

Fire officials urge caution with fall burning

The Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) and other fire prevention experts are urging the public to exercise caution when burning yard debris this fall. This includes checking local burning regulations before you burn. More information about public fire restrictions is available on ODF’s website.

State renews agreement with Forest Service

The Oregon Department of Forestry, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Forest Service recently renewed their agreement allowing continued work on federal forests to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires. The cooperative work agreement was extended until 2032 under the Good Neighbor Authority provision, which allows state agencies to do vital restoration work on national forestlands in Oregon. Learn more here.



Community Forestry Day at Hopkins Demonstration Forest

Dec. 10, Oregon City

Oregon Business Plan Leadership Summit

Dec. 12, Portland

OFRI Natural Resources Educator Conference and Envirothon Training

Dec. 14-15, Silverton

OFRI Board Meeting

Jan. 19, 2023, Portland

Oregon Logging Conference

Feb. 23-25, 2023, Eugene