For many, January is a time to make a fresh start with resolutions for self-improvement in the months to come. In Oregon’s forests, you’ll find another kind of new beginning, as the forest sector plants the next generation of trees.

Winter and early spring are planting season in our forests, and it’s a massive undertaking. We estimate the sector plants at least three trees for every one harvested. That comes out to about 40 million trees a year. Reforestation crews plant each seedling by hand, often in brutal weather and on steep terrain.

It’s important work that sustains our forests so they can continue to provide social, environmental and economic benefits to Oregonians into the future. That’s why at OFRI we place a strong emphasis on educating the public about reforestation. Our last educational advertising campaign focused on reforestation, and we’ll run a larger campaign this spring with the same message.

As you’ll learn in this edition of eNews, we also provide free signs forest landowners can place on their property that show the year when they planted seedlings. These signs help inform passing motorists that they’re driving by a freshly replanted area.

This new year and planting season, we can celebrate growing the future of Oregon’s forests, one seedling at a time.   

For the forest,

Jim Paul

Executive Director

The Natural Resource CTE Educator Conference, held Dec. 10 at The Oregon Garden in Silverton, attracted nearly 80 Oregon educators for a day of professional development in natural resources education.

OFRI’s K-12 education program co-hosts the annual conference with the Oregon Natural Resources Education Program. This year’s event was followed by a Dec. 11 training session for more than 40 high school teachers whose students plan to participate in the Oregon Envirothon, an annual natural resources skills competition that OFRI sponsors each year at The Oregon Garden.

The conference featured a keynote address by Cristina Eisenberg, associate dean for inclusive excellence at the Oregon State University College of Forestry, discussing the importance of considering Indigenous knowledge and Western science in forest management. Other conference speakers covered topics that included fire ecology, timber cruising, mass timber and workforce, and wildlife eDNA and DNA extraction.

The Envirothon training featured presentations on forestry, which is the current-issue topic students will be tested on during this year’s competition. OFRI Director of Forestry Julie Woodward gave a presentation on sustainable forestry highlighting OFRI’s new Sourcing from Sustainable Forests special report. Lucas Glick, a district silviculturist with the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, discussed federal forest management in the context of years of fire suppression and a changing climate. The training also included a panel of teachers discussing their experiences with the Envirothon and how each of their schools approach preparing students for the competition. 

OFRI has hired a new environmental educator: Jenna Mendenhall.

Mendenhall, who officially joined the Institute’s staff Jan. 15, is an Oregon-based educator with more than 15 years of experience in teaching, as well as experience developing relationships with diverse partners and communities, and coordinating, planning and facilitating educational events.

As environmental educator, Mendenhall will coordinate student-oriented programming supported by OFRI’s K-12 education program. This includes overseeing the Oregon Garden Natural Resources Education Program, a field program the Institute provides for students in grades 4-6 in partnership with The Oregon Garden in Silverton.

She previously worked for the Friends of Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, where she developed and implemented several education programs, including a nationally recognized preschool program. She also collaborated with local middle schools to create a new non-residential outdoor school program.

Mendenhall has been a facilitator with OFRI’s partner organization, Oregon State University’s Oregon Natural Resources Education Program, since 2010, as well as a leader with the Environmental Education Association of Oregon.

Before joining OFRI this month, she served as a program assistant for the Lane Education Service District, supporting several programs and projects for 16 school districts.

She holds a bachelor's degree in liberal studies: human dimensions within the environment, and a Professional Science Master’s degree in environmental sciences with a focus on environmental education, both from Oregon State University.

Mendenhall is filling a position left vacant by the promotion of OFRI’s former environmental educator, Rikki Heath, to director of K-12 education programs. 

For Oregon’s forest landowners, the start of a new year often means it’s time to plant new trees.

To help the public learn that the clearcut they’re driving by has been replanted, OFRI provides free signs to forest landowners that say “PLANTED,” along with the year when the seedlings went into the ground, to place along heavily traveled roads and highways.

OFRI provides one 60" x 17" sign for every replanted parcel that is facing a well-traveled roadway. The signs must be individually ordered, so OFRI can provide signs for any four-digit year. Each sign is pre-drilled and shipped with nuts and bolts, but the landowner will need to supply two 6-foot-tall steel posts for mounting.

In addition to PLANTED signs, OFRI also offers free tree identification interpretive signage with QR codes that link to a website with information about 45 tree species.

Learn more about OFRI-provided landowner signage and place an order for your property on the Partnership for Forestry Education’s website, KnowYourForest.org.

The Oregon State University College of Forestry’s 2025 Starker Lecture Series, which kicks off next month, will focus on the theme of “Watersheds, Landscapes, and Needs and Values of the 21st Century.”

This year’s lecture series will feature experts in land management and science discussing a range of water-related topics across western North America. They will explore the important roles of forestry, fire management, geology, soil science, and restoration efforts, offering new insights for future conservation and research.

The series opens Feb. 19 with a lecture by Ron Heintz and Lindsey Pierce on “Interagency Infrastructure for Landslide Risk Reduction in Southeast Alaska.” The next lecture in the series will be held on March 12 and feature Paul Hessburg and Gordon Reeves presenting on “The Dynamic Aquatic Landscape: A New Perspective and Approach” The series concludes on April 9 with a lecture by Daniel Bowker on “The Northern Colorado Fireshed Collaborative: Building a Structure and Strategy for Collective Action Towards Long-Term Wildfire and Watershed Resilience.”

All three lectures are free and open to the public and will be held from 3:30 to 5 p.m. in the Starker Forests Classroom (PFSC 117) at the College of Forestry on the OSU campus in Corvallis. More information can be found on the Starker Lecture Series website.

OFRI is a co-sponsor of the Starker Lectures Series along with the OSU College of Forestry and the Starker family in honor of TJ and Bruce Starker.

When the ninth annual International Mass Timber Conference is held this spring at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, OFRI will be hosting a booth in the exhibit hall to help attendees learn about sustainable forestry and the benefits of sourcing wood for mass timber projects from Oregon’s forests.

Being an exhibitor at the 2025 conference, which will be held March 25-27, will allow the Institute to promote its new Sourcing from Sustainable Forests special report during what is billed as the largest gathering of mass timber experts in the world. The 36-page report explores current forest practices in Oregon and tenets of forest sustainability. It also features case studies of Oregon mass timber projects, including the Portland International Airport terminal expansion.

More information about the Mass Timber Conference and registration details can be found on the conference website. 

Blog: “Generations of growth: The legacy of a family Christmas tree farm”

The holiday season may be over, but the work of Oregon’s family Christmas tree farmers continues year-round. A new blog post by OFRI Social Media and Outreach Intern Henry Thomas offers a glimpse behind the scenes of one family-run Christmas tree farm in the Willamette Valley.

Webinar series focuses on managing forests as habitat 

A 12-part monthly panel discussion webinar series presented by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will focus on managing forests to provide habitat for an array of wildlife. The Managing Forests as Habitat in a Changing World webinars will be held on the third Tuesday of each month starting Jan. 21. Each session will include a panel presentation, panel discussion and facilitated question-and-answer time with the audience. Register for the full series via Zoom.

Register soon for Tree School Clackamas

Registration for Oregon State University Extension’s 2025 Tree School Clackamas opens Feb. 4. The full-day event on March 22 will offer classes covering a diverse array of topics aimed at addressing the goals and challenges facing Oregon’s forest landowners. It will be held at Clackamas Community College in Oregon City, and OFRI plans to have a booth there to distribute print copies of Oregon’s Forest Protection Laws: An Illustrated Manual. More information about Tree School Clackamas and the course catalog are available on OSU Extension’s website.

2025 Oregon Logging Conference planned for Feb. 20-22 

The 87th annual Oregon Logging Conference returns to the Lane Events Center and Fairgrounds in Eugene next month. The theme for the Feb. 20-22 conference and the accompanying logging, construction, trucking and heavy equipment expo is “Timber Builds Dreams.” A full agenda and registration information are available on the conference website.

Douglas County family named Tree Farmers of the Year 

The Oregon Tree Farm System has selected Douglas County’s Kesterson family as Oregon’s Outstanding Tree Farmers of the Year for 2025. The Kesterson’s 2,200-acre property near Elkton has been in the family since 1905 and is managed for wood, recreation, wildlife and water quality. Learn more about the Kesterson family and others recently recognized for exemplary management of their family forests on the Oregon Department of Forestry website. 

Webinars focus on fire ecology  

An Oregon State University Extension webinar series focusing on Oregon’s fire ecology continues this spring on selected Thursday evenings through March 27. A complete schedule of the Fire Ecology of Oregon webinars and topics they’ll cover, along with registration details, is available on the OSU Extension website. 

The Wildlife Society and SAF chapters holding joint meeting

The Oregon chapters of The Wildlife Society and Society of American Foresters will hold a joint meeting Feb. 5-7 at the Salem Convention Center in Salem. More information about the joint meeting, along with registration details, is available on the Oregon Chapter of The Wildlife Society website.

Associated Oregon Loggers Convention

January 24-25, Grand Ronde

Artist Talk: Following Fire and Fire Maps

January 30, Portland 

Oregon Chapter of The Wildlife Society and Oregon Society of American Foresters 2025 Joint Meeting

February 5-7, Salem

Planting Forest Tree Seedlings Workshop

February 8, Oregon City 

Forest Pub: Indigenous Land Management in the Willamette Valley

February 10, Portland

Linn County Small Woodlands Association Seedling Sale

February 15, Albany 

Starker Lecture: Interagency Infrastructure for Landslide Risk Reduction in Southeast Alaska

February 19, Corvallis

2025 Oregon Logging Conference

February 20-22, Eugene

Starker Lecture: The Dynamic Aquatic Landscape: A New Perspective and Approach

March 12, Corvallis

Free Sunday at World Forestry Center

March 16, Portland 

Tree School Clackamas

March 22, Oregon City

International Mass Timber Conference

March 25-27, Portland

Starker Lecture: The Northern Colorado Fireshed Collaborative: Building a Structure and Strategy for Collective Action Towards Long-Term Wildfire and Watershed Resilience

April 9, Corvallis