OFRI hires forest landowner education manager

PORTLAND, Ore. – Forester and silviculturist Kathryn Charlton joined the OFRI staff this month to help deliver forest landowner education programs and manage the Institute’s demonstration forest in Silverton. 

As manager of forest landowner education, Charlton will be involved primarily in OFRI’s landowner education program, but will also assist the public and K-12 education programs as a forestry subject matter expert. She will oversee management of the 15-acre Rediscovery Forest and other OFRI assets at The Oregon Garden, which hosts field forest education programs for K-12 teachers and students, as well as for forest landowners. 

Charlton is filling a job vacancy that opened at the Institute last fall, after longtime OFRI staff member Julie Woodward was promoted to director of forestry.

Before starting her position at OFRI on May 1, Charlton worked for the Bureau of Land Management as a forester and silviculturist, most recently at the Coos Bay District Umpqua Field Office in North Bend. Prior to that, she worked for the U.S. Forest Service, as a harvest inspector for the Mount Hood National Forest and a marking crew foreman for the Tahoe National Forest in California. 

Charlton earned a bachelor’s degree in forest management from Oregon State University.

About the Oregon Forest Resources Institute:
The Oregon Legislature created the Oregon Forest Resources Institute (OFRI) in 1991 to support and enhance Oregon’s forest products industry by advancing public understanding of forests, forest management and forest products, and encouraging sustainable forestry through landowner education. OFRI is governed by a board of directors made up of 11 voting members appointed by the state forester, plus two non-voting members. It is funded by a portion of the forest products harvest tax.