Oregon forests from a global perspective

By Paul Barnum, OFRI Executive Director

As part of the United Nations-declared “2011 International Year of Forests,” this year’s Starker Lectures will examine “Oregon’s Place in World Forests and Forestry.” Unless you have regular contact with imports or exports, or travel frequently outside the United States, it’s easy to forget that Oregon is vitally connected to the global community.

Why look at Oregon’s forests from a global perspective? Doug Maguire, the Giustina Professor of Forest Management at the OSU College of Forestry, offers these observations:

• The Douglas-fir region is one of the most productive forest regions in the world.
• Unlike other areas in the United States or Europe, a significant amount of primary forest cover still exists in the region.
• Oregon is at the forefront of developing silvicultural systems that conserve native biodiversity and more generally provide a balance of ecosystem services, including timber production, conservation, water quality, carbon sequestration, and enhanced economic and social health.
• Oregon forest products companies compete in a world market, both for buying and selling logs as an industrial raw material, and for marketing manufactured products.
• Oregon has the will and potential to lead a sustainable balance among consumption of wood products, the growing and harvesting of timber, and providing critical levels of ecosystem services.

To this list, I would add that Oregon leads in talent, with the OSU College of Forestry providing a long line of well-educated, qualified forestry professionals and researchers. Plus, the contributions of the U.S. Forest Service Forest Sciences Laboratory and the work of scientists in both the public and private sectors have made us a global leader in advancing scientific forest management.

As newer sectors such as high-tech, clean energy and sportswear have come to the fore, forestry and wood products have had to share the limelight. That’s a good thing, because just as diversity is essential to a forest ecosystem, it’s also necessary for a healthy state economy.

The International Year of Forests is a good time to celebrate the global importance of Oregon forests. Regardless of what sector you hail from, we all can take pride in Oregon forests, enlightened forest management that seeks to conserve and protect the values we love, robust public discussion about how best to accomplish the goal, and the legacy we hope to leave for future generations.

Excerpted from the Oregon Forest Resources Institute's 2011 Winter Outlook.