Educating forest landowners
In Oregon, more than 60,000 people own between 10 and 5,000 acres of forestland. Most of these small private landowners, also known as family forest landowners, own 50 acres or less. They care for a combined 4.3 million acres of forestland, which accounts for about one-third of private forestland in Oregon, or about 14 percent of the state’s total forestland.
A recent survey of family forest landowners found that most don’t have a background in forestry or forest management. They include retirees, librarians, clergy, teachers, attorneys, farmers, ranchers and florists.
To encourage sustainable forestry practices on family forests, the Oregon Forest Resources Institute works with other organizations to inform and train Oregon’s forest landowners. OFRI’s landowner education program offers a variety of training opportunities such as workshops, forest tours and webinars. OFRI also produces educational publications on topics such as forest wildlife and Oregon’s forest protection laws.
OFRI is a member of the Partnership for Forestry Education, a collaboration of state, federal and private organizations dedicated to educating forest landowners about sustainable forestry. In collaboration with the partnership, OFRI offers a variety of online resources on a website built specifically for the small forest landowners of Oregon, KnowYourForest.org. You can review this Landowner Education Summary Sheet for more detail on the program.
Training opportunities
OFRI co-sponsors educational workshops, conferences, forest field tours and webinars for forest landowners, covering topics such as fish passage, forest wildlife habitat management, slash pile burning and timber harvest methods.
More information about forest landowner training opportunities.
Publications
OFRI and its partners have produced an extensive library of resources where forest landowners can find practical information on managing their forestland. Among the OFRI publications targeted specifically to forest landowners are the “Wildlife in Managed Forests” series, which provides education about balancing timber production with protecting wildlife habitat, and Oregon’s Forest Protection Laws: An Illustrated Manual, offering details and illustrations describing Oregon’s forest protection requirements.
Learn more about educational publications for forest landowners
Partnership for Forestry Education
The Partnership for Forestry Education is a collaboration of state, federal and private organizations that provides educational resources to Oregon’s forest landowners, managers and operators. Partnership activities include jointly planned and delivered educational programs, a partnership website, a shared database and joint outreach mailings.
Partnership members:
- Associated Oregon Loggers
- Committee for Family Forestlands
- Ecotrust
- Northwest Natural Resource Group
- Oregon Forest Resources Institute
- Oregon Department of Forestry
- Oregon Small Woodlands Association
- Oregon Society of American Foresters
- Oregon Tree Farm System
- Oregon State University Forestry and Natural Resources
- Pinchot Institute
- USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station
- USDA Forest Service, Region 6
- USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service
- Western Forestry and Conservation Association