It wasn't the most auspicious beginning to a day of truffle foraging during the recent Oregon Truffle Festival in Eugene. Dr. Daniel Luoma of Oregon State University began his introduction to Oregon truffles with the words, "There are 350 different kinds of truffles in the Northwest and most of them are really good squirrel food."

Sarah Frey's research is highlighted in OSU's Terra Magazine.  It all started in 2008 at an American Ornithologists’ Union conference in Portland, where Sarah ran into OSU forest ecologist Matt Betts, an acquaintance from an earlier population-modeling workshop. “How about starting your Ph.D. next month?” he asked. A few weeks later, she was enrolled in the College of Forestry with a minor in Ecosystem Informatics.

Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar announced Tuesday he wants the Bureau of Land Management to expand an experimental timber project that incorporate ecological principles.  Two forestry professors, Jerry Franklin of the University of Washington and Norm Johnson of Oregon State University, have developed the concept for the BLM’s first three such pilot timber sales, which mimic some of the effects of fire on the forest ecosystem.

On the 15th anniversary of the return of wolves to Yellowstone National Park, a quiet but profound rebirth of life and ecosystem health is emerging, scientists conclude in a new report. “Yellowstone increasingly looks like a different place,” said William Ripple, a professor in the Department of Forest Ecosystems and Society at Oregon State University, and lead author of the study. “These are still the early stages of recovery, and some of this may still take decades,” Ripple said. “But trees and shrubs are starting to come back and beaver numbers are increasing.