Michael Green: Why Build with Wood
Architect Michael Green talks about issues related to green building, wood products and forest management in this video series adapted for OFRI.
Architect Michael Green talks about issues related to green building, wood products and forest management in this video series adapted for OFRI.
Join Mike Cloughesy and Nicole Strong as they discuss why foresters use herbicides in a newly planted forest. By giving young trees an early advantage, herbicides can speed the time it takes to develop a mature forest. After a few early applications, foresters rarely use herbicides again until harvest.
Join Mike Cloughesy and Nicole Strong as they talk about clearcutting in Oregon’s forests. People are surprised to learn that there is not only an economic advantage to clearcutting, but an ecological one as well – at least for Oregon’s state tree, the Douglas-fir.
Join Mike Cloughesy and Nicole Strong as they describe how forest operators are protecting the quality of Oregon’s drinking water. Modern logging techniques, well-engineered roads and protective vegetative buffers around streams keep our forest streams cool and clear.
Join Mike Cloughesy and Nicole Strong as they look at how loggers and forest landowners are protecting fish habitat. In Oregon, there are programs in place that foster the improvement of fish habitat in working forests to help support populations of fish such as wild coho.
Join Mike Cloughesy and Nicole Strong as they explain the importance of quality forest roads. The roads in a working forest not only have to stand up to the punishment of heavy equipment, but also need to be designed in a way that prevents muddy water from entering forest streams. It’s a big deal.
Join Mike Cloughesy and Nicole Strong as they explain why replanting is not only Oregon law, it’s the basis of all managed forests. Getting a new forest up and running as quickly as possible is the most important aspect of long-term forest sustainability.
Join Mike Cloughesy and Nicole Strong as they discuss Oregon’s evolving forest protection laws. Everyone wants Oregon to have sustainable forests, for all our environmental, social and economic needs. Oregon’s strong laws and modern forest practices help bolster that sustainability.
Join Mike Cloughesy and Nicole Strong as they explain how scenic highways fit into the Oregon Forest Practices Act. People like a nice view when they’re driving through Oregon, and that means forests, not harvest units. So how can forest landowners manage their land and maintain a nice view for motorists? Let’s find out.
Join Mike Cloughesy and Nicole Strong as they explore the requirements of the Oregon Forest Practices Act when it comes to animal habitat. During a harvest operation, live trees, dead trees and big down logs have to be left to become homes for various species. How many of those trees depends on the size of the harvest.
Sawdust, chips and other residual material left over from logging, mill processing or forest restoration can be used to create clean energy in Oregon. Woody biomass can provide heat, electricity and liquid fuel. But it can also help give us healthier forests and healthier communities. This nine-minute video explores the uses and potential of woody biomass.
The ways Oregonians prevent, fight, manage and, to some degree, live with wildfire have grown more complicated – and more expensive. This is a preview to a more in-depth video special report that examines the state of fire suppression, prevention and management, and describes various efforts to find the way forward.
The ways Oregonians prevent, fight, manage and, to some degree, live with wildfire have grown more complicated – and more expensive. This video examines the state of fire suppression, prevention and management, and describes efforts to find the way forward. For more detail and analysis, download the 16-page State of Fire publication.
Oregon’s unique, steady approach to preserving and improving habitat in forest streams is paying off for species such as coho salmon, steelhead and cutthroat trout. And it has happened while the state has maintained a timber harvest that supports more than 60,000 jobs. This video acts as a companion piece to the OFRI special report The Oregon Way.
The choices we make about the materials used as we develop the built environment have long-term effects on our society and the environment. Wood is beautiful, strong, versatile and renewable. As trees grow, they remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it as carbon. With innovations in wood technologies, architects and engineers are now choosing wood for more and more building applications, including mid-rise and even high-rise structures.
Talk About Trees is a classroom program supported by OFRI that uses forest artifacts, displays and hands-on activities to deliver an interactive presentation about forestry and Oregon’s forests. It is one of many free forestry education programs available to Oregon students across the state.
Oregon Garden Natural Resources Education Program field trips are designed with hands-on activities and rely on interactive exploration at the Oregon Garden. The Oregon Garden Natural Resources Education Program provides students in fourth through sixth grades a hands-on approach to natural resources education by offering free field trips to the Rediscovery Forest, an OFRI-managed teaching forest at The Oregon Garden in Silverton.
To promote more growth and long-term health in the dominate 40-year old trees a commercial thinning operation was conducted. Local contractors used a computer-aided mechanical harvester that felled and delimbed selected trees and then bucked the logs. Following nearby on a trail of limbs left by the harvester to minimize soil disturbance, a forwarder then picked up the logs. In total, 10 loads of logs were hauled to local saw and chip mills.
An estimated 2.8 million Oregonians rely on water that comes from forested landscapes. This seven-minute video provides an overview of three critical areas covered in this report: How forest buffers protect streams, how forest roads and stream crossings have evolved, and how contemporary equipment and techniques lessen management impact
Randy Schild, Tillamook School District superintendent since 2001, discusses the economic contributions of Oregon's forest sector not just to his school district, but to schools across the state.