The new Discovery Pavilion: Built by relationships
After two years of planning, fundraising and construction, on Oct. 2 OFRI celebrated the now-completed Discovery Pavilion – and the 155 donors who helped make it happen.
About 140 people, including OFRI staff, board members, pavilion donors and other guests, gathered for the dedication in the Rediscovery Forest at The Oregon Garden in Silverton.
The six project partners shared stories about the process and how the building seemed to have taken on a life of its own since conception. Each piece of the project has a tale to tell; world-class materials, skilled craftsmanship and generous resources will all establish this facility’s legacy.
The pavilion is a showcase of Oregon wood products – from the glulam beams donated by Rosboro to the 10-by-10 posts from Hull-Oakes Lumber, the cedar walls from C&D Lumber and the Oregon juniper cabinets from Neil Kelly and Sustainable Northwest Wood, to name just a few. Interconnected relationships built the handcrafted ceiling. The ceiling boards started as trees from RSG Forest Products and Weyerhaeuser, delivered by Frères Lumber Co. to a two-person sawmill above Scotts Mills, where they were handcrafted and later kiln-dried by Universal Forest Products and then delivered to the site by Withers Lumber.
Each donor was an important part of the story and the success of completing the Discovery Pavilion. Our lead donor was the Seneca Jones Timber Company. Aaron, Becky, Kathy and Jody Jones provided a generous donation to help complete the project. Cascade Timber Consulting, Northwest Farm Credit Services, Weyerhaeuser Company, K&E Excavating and Rich Duncan Construction contributed over $10,000 each. Starker Forests, Inc. inspired a challenge between forest companies to contribute to the project.
The stories and wood for the building reached into all four corners of the state. Many friends of OFRI, including Society of American Foresters, Oregon Women in Timber, Oregon Small Woodlands Associations and Association of Consulting Foresters gave us encouragement and resources for the building.
In all, $250,000 was raised in cash, materials and in-kind services to build the open-air structure. It will provide a sheltered space at the Rediscovery Forest, allowing us to expand our education programs, which focus on the importance of Oregon forests, forest management and wood products.
The building was dedicated to those who had a vision over 80 years ago to plant the trees that became the pillars of the building – and to the next 80,000 students we invite to explore the trails, peek under the logs and walk through these doorways to rediscover Oregon’s forests.
A sincere thank-you to each person and organization for being part of this story, and for giving a helping hand.
Julie Woodward
Forest education program manger