Central

Forest project focuses on planning and managing for fire at landscape scale

Federal agencies, state government, collaborative groups and businesses have been attempting to increase the pace and scale of restoration in fire-adapted forests east of the Cascades in Oregon. But achieving landscape-scale outcomes ...

Mar 2019 | Impact Story

OSU Extension provides leadership for statewide Outdoor School

Outdoor School is a transformative, immersive experience that instills environmental literacy and positive learning behaviors in students. It also encourages a belief that Oregon is a special place, with ecosystems they can enjoy and...

Mar 2024 | Impact Story

Juntos program empowers Latino families around education, earns accolades

Nearly 25% of Oregon's public school students are Latino. In an environment where Latino students experience persistent disparities in high school completion and college access, it is imperative to offer pre-college support that ...

Jan 2021 | 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 spending too much time being inactive are not only associated with poor health, but also with poor educational outcomes. In 2007, a new Oregon law...

Oct 2022 | Impact Story

Organic farmers save money on fertilizer with OSU Extension tool

Farmers must walk a fine line when applying nitrogen fertilizer. Too little affects yield. Too much wastes money, makes crops more susceptible to some pests and threatens water quality. Managing nitrogen is especially complex for ...

Mar 2022 | Impact Story

OSU creates new barley varieties for food, beer and forage

Barley has been an underappreciated cousin of wheat, even though it is one of the world's oldest cultivated crops. But that's changing amid a growing interest in microbrews and whole-grain diets. Helping lead the way is its ...

Feb 2019 | Impact Story

OSU educates growers about invasive, fruit-damaging fly

Spotted-wing drosophila (SWD) is a notorious pest that feeds on ripening soft-skinned fruits such as blueberries, cherries, and peaches. Controlling it is difficult for a host of reasons, including its short generation time, wide ...

Jun 2021 | Impact Story

OSU foresters confront Swiss needle cast disease, mountain pine beetles

A serious epidemic of Swiss needle cast has hit the west slope of the Oregon Coast Range. This native fungal foliage disease can significantly reduce growth rates and the competitiveness of Douglas-fir, the most important timber...

Impact Story

OSU Honey Bee Lab helps keep pollinators healthy and thriving

Honeybees are crucial pollinators for many crops, including apples, blueberries, cherries, carrots, clover, melons, almonds and broccoli. Nationwide, they pollinate an estimated $20 billion in food crops each year. But the total number...

Jun 2021 | Impact Story

OSU research results in glysophate alternatives for wheat farmers

Eastern Oregon wheat farmers face a daunting situation – persistent weeds becoming resistant to the commonly used herbicide called glyphosate. In the Pacific Northwest, Russian thistle infests nearly 5 million acres and costs ...

Apr 2022 | Impact Story