Environmental Health

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

More than 800 Douglas County fifth graders learn importance of Oregon’s forests

Oregon’s forests, an economic and recreational powerhouse, can be a topic of contention. Information – and sometimes misinformation – filters down to children, who when misinformed may grow up with distrust in the state’s ...

Apr 2024 | Impact Story

Extension partnership focuses on reduction of invasive annual grasses in Wallowa County

Invasive annual grasses were first reported in Wallowa County over 50 years ago. Initially they were found as outliers – a single small and inconspicuous plant. Today, however, these annual invaders are scattered countywide, from...

Apr 2024 | Impact Story

Living on the Land supports small-acreage landowners in the south Willamette Valley

Living on the Land Stewardship for Small Acreages is a class series that teaches small-acreage landowners and land managers how to improve their management practices with natural resources in mind. The Oregon State University ...

Apr 2024 | Impact Story

Dormant-season grazing research project reduces fine fuels in Malheur County

About 72% of Malheur County is publicly owned and federally managed. Cow-calf producers with public land grazing permits rely on the use of these rangelands. The greatest threat to southeastern Oregon sagebrush rangelands includes ...

Apr 2024 | Impact Story

Extension collaboration helps develop first-of-its-kind stream assessment tool

Riparian areas – which are associated with streams, rivers, creeks and wetlands – support 80% of wildlife in arid rangelands but comprise only about 2% of sagebrush landscapes. In recent years natural resource professionals who...

Apr 2024 | 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

Partnership builds forest management expertise in northeast Oregon

Forest landowners in northeast Oregon face the ramifications of nearly 100 years of fire suppression. Facing marginal timber prices, landowners require financial assistance to carry out much-needed fuels reduction and forest thinning ...

Mar 2024 | Impact Story

After five-year hiatus, Tree School East returns to serve forestland owners

There are more than 79,000 family forest owners who manage 3.6 million acres of private forestland in Oregon. Oregon State University Extension Service’s Tree School provides a major opportunity for these managers to learn new ...

Mar 2024 | Impact Story