Winter is a crucial time for Oregon’s forests. The season’s cloudy, wet and cold days foster the explosion of new growth we see in spring forests by invigorating trees and plants with plenty of moisture. Winter is also the height of tree-planting season in Oregon’s forests.

Every year, forest landowners plant millions of trees across Oregon. Most are planted to replace trees harvested to make wood products. Others are planted to help restore forestland burned in wildfires.

The much-anticipated fourth edition of Oregon’s Forest Protection Laws: An Illustrated Manual, which includes information about recent updates to state forest practice regulations, is finally here!

As my time working for OFRI sets like the summer sun, I am reminded of the incredible opportunities the agency provided me with through its social media and outreach internship. I started the internship in February 2023 during my junior year as an undergrad at the University of Oregon. Now, with my bachelor’s degree in hand I am heading to the big city of Chicago. Before I leave, I’d like to share my favorite adventures and some of what I’ve learned during my time at OFRI.

Hello! My name is Henry Thomas, and I am the new social media intern for the Oregon Forest Resources Institute (OFRI).

When you picture a recently harvested forest, bees and wildflowers might not be the first things that come to mind. But at Portland-based Hampton Lumber, a growing initiative is turning clearcuts into pollinator havens.

For many of us, the bald eagle conjures the image of a majestic sky predator. Folks rarely think of a freshly hatched, defenseless puffball. However, the pipeline from puny to powerful only takes three months. Let’s start at the beginning. Making a house a home

Hello, my name is Emma Knapton, and I’m the new social media intern for the Oregon Forest Resources Institute (OFRI).

The northwestern pond turtle may be small — just 6-8 inches long — but it’s got a big story. With a marbled brown shell and a uniquely patterned yellow and black belly, this shy reptile is known to live up to 70 years.

As fall starts to settle in the Pacific Northwest, blooms turn to seeds, deciduous trees blush with warm shades and crisp mornings bring a sense of change.

In the dusky stillness of a cave nestled in the forested hills of Oregon, a young little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) opens her eyes for the first time that evening. A little more than a year ago, she was born with light brown fur, joining a colony of little brown bats whose coats range in color from reddish brown to dark brown. 

Image Welcome to OFRI’s new and improved website, including our blog.

Image The signs are everywhere.

Image The arrival of spring (finally!) reminds us of the restorative power of nature, powered by what so

Image This past weekend, May 19 and 20, kicked

Image If you live in Oregon’s western “wet side” you are surrounded by a rock star of a tree,

"We do forestry right in Oregon, and we should all be proud of that." That's what Sara Wu, the director of the World Forest Institute, said when accepting the International Business Award from the Oregon Consular Corps (see story). What a refreshing comment. In an era where lawsuits against forest landowners still make headlines, Sara's comment is a great reminder of how far the forest sector has come. That's not to say we always get it right or there isn't more to learn. We're learning every day, and forest practices change to keep up with the times. As we built our new website, I was amazed to learn that the Oregon Legislature has amended the Oregon Forest Practices Act 20 times since it was first passed in 1971. And the Oregon Board of Forestry has modified the administrative rules and regulations dozens of times...

The threat of shifting regulations injects an unknown quantity into business planning that gives a business owner reason to pause before investing in new projects, new equipment or new people, all of which spell j-o-b-s. That’s what’s happening right now with logging roads. Last year, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reclassified logging roads as “point sources” of water pollution. The impact of that ruling could require forest landowners to get industrial discharge permits, typically required of factories and sewage plants, for each drainage pipe or rainwater ditch on thousands of miles of logging roads across Oregon. This is a network of roads and stream crossings that has seen tens of millions of dollars of investment to meet Oregon’s tough water quality standards. A permit system would impose significant new costs and expose landowners to legal costs associated with challenges and lawsuits...