Josephine

FireBright provides career paths and builds wildfire-resilient communities

To build strong long-term community resilience against wildfires, it's important to involve students. This helps them understand our wildfire-adapted environment and opens career opportunities for them. Agencies like the Oregon Department...

Feb 2025 | Impact Story

BEPA 2.0 has students stepping up their physical activity

Data show that among school-age children, low physical activity, poor diet, and extended periods of inactivity are associated not only with poor health but also with poor educational outcomes. In 2007, Oregon passed a law ...

Jan 2025 | Impact Story

OSU study identifies causes of Douglas-fir decline in southwest Oregon

Douglas-fir is one of the world’s most economically important tree species. In southwest Oregon, it is the dominant tree in many low- to mid-elevation forests. Douglas-fir provides critical wildlife habitat, stores carbon and ...

Jan 2025 | Impact Story

OSU study identifies optimal forest management practices for carbon sequestration

Forest managers in the Pacific Northwest face the challenge of balancing timber harvests with maximizing carbon storage. Carbon stored in forests helps offset climate change — U.S. forests absorb about 13% of the country’s ...

Jan 2025 | Impact Story

Stinging nettle publication uplifts importance of Indigenous ‘superfood’

Stinging nettle is a plant that can sting and cause welts, but when the sting is removed a traditional “superfood” emerges. Native Indigenous peoples have gathered stinging nettles since time immemorial. They can be used ...

Dec 2024 | Impact Story

OSU research enhances landslide hazard assessment following wildfire

Landslides, often triggered by extreme events such as heavy precipitation, wildfires and earthquakes, pose significant environmental, societal and economic risks. In the mountainous, forested terrain of the West, including Oregon, shallow...

Dec 2024 | Impact Story

Viticulturist finds that Southern Oregon vineyards could save costs on water

The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s AgriMet network is a free weather station widely used by growers to determine how much water they need to irrigate their crops. Many wine grape growers in the Pacific Northwest use personal ...

Nov 2024 | Impact Story

Using science to inform policy for a wildfire-adapted Oregon

In response to longer and more severe wildfire seasons, a growing population living in the wildland-urban interface and the extensive impacts of the 2020 Labor Day fires, the Oregon Legislature passed Senate Bill 762 in 2021, ...

Sep 2024 | Impact Story

OSU Extension Fire Program fosters place-based partnerships

As a land grant university, Oregon State University takes research and innovation out of the labs and puts them into practice in the communities and landscapes around the state through Extension programs. While OSU’s influence ...

Aug 2024 | Impact Story

OSU Extension helps livestock producers follow stricter antibiotic rules

Antibiotics are a powerful tool against bacterial disease, but widespread use in people and animals has led some bacteria to evolve into drug‑resistant strains. Each year in the United States, more than 2.8 million ...

Jun 2024 | Impact Story