Science of Conservation, Restoration and Sustainable Management

Conservation Restoration Sustainable Management

Science of Conservation, Restoration and Sustainable Management

Forests have long been influenced by anthropogenic and natural disturbances. To sustain the variety of ecosystem services generated by healthy forests requires understanding these processes and evaluating different management practices that can restore and sustain multiple values.

Members of FES examine the impact of disturbances such as fire on the age class structure and habitat suitability of forests, with an eye toward understanding how management can be used to restore desired forest conditions. Others are exploring silvicultural practices that maintain ecosystem resilience and adaptability, while providing services such as timber, habitat, and clean water. Another line of research focuses on the biological control of introduced insect pests. Still other research uses spatial statistics for stream networks to understand the factors that affect the spatial distribution of fish in headwater streams.

Faculty Research Programs

Our goal is to create sustainable and resilient natural systems in which people engage with the Earth with reciprocity. Indigenous peoples have stewarded natural resources for millennia through their knowledge and traditional practices. The TEK Lab explores, facilitates, and honors the synergies between TEK, Western science, and other ways of knowing.

The aim of the Pacific Northwest Permanent Study Plot Program (PNW-PSP) is to study and quantify the long-term dynamics of forest vegetation. We manage more than 140 plot installations across a diversity of forest types in Oregon and Washington. These include coastal forests of spruce and hemlock, Douglas-fir-dominated forests of the western Cascades, higher-elevation forests of mountain hemlock and silver fir, and ponderosa pine forests in Central Oregon.

The Landscape Fire and Conservation Science Research Group focuses on landscape ecology, biogeography, pyrogeography, and conservation science. We work at scales from local to global, addressing the causes and effects of ecological disturbances, with a particular interest in landscape fire.

The mission of the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest is to support research on forests, streams, and watersheds, and to foster strong collaboration among ecosystem science, education, natural resource management, and the humanities. Located in the western Cascade mountains of Oregon, the 16,000-acre site is administered cooperatively by Oregon State University, the USDA Forest Service's Pacific Northwest Research Station, and the Willamette National Forest.
The Andrews Forest has been a US Forest Service Experimental Forest since 1948, and a National Science Foundation Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site since 1980. Facilities, including labs, offices, and housing, are available for research and workshop use. Researchers and graduate students interested in conducting work at the Andrews Forest are welcomed and encouraged—participants benefit from a rich data history and from collaborations across disciplines. See the Andrews Forest webpage, http://andrewsforest.oregonstate.edu, for ways to connect. Andrews Forest Facebook. Andrews Forest Newsletter. Andrews Forest webcam.

The Global Trophic Cascades Program is a research and educational program with the purpose of investigating the role of predators in structuring ecological communities. This program puts special emphasis on the role of potential keystone species in top-down community regulation, with linkages to biodiversity via trophic cascades. OSU Distiguished Professor Bill Ripple is the director of the program.

H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest and Long-Term Ecological Research Site

The mission of the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest is to support research on forests, streams, and watersheds, and to foster strong collaboration among ecosystem science, education, natural resource management, and the humanities. Located in the western Cascade mountains of Oregon, the 16,000-acre site is administered cooperatively by Oregon State University, the USDA Forest Service's Pacific Northwest Research Station, and the Willamette National Forest.

Pacific Northwest Permanent Study Plot Program

The aim of the Pacific Northwest Permanent Study Plot Program (PNW-PSP) is to study and quantify the long-term dynamics of forest vegetation. We manage more than 140 plot installations across a diversity of forest types in Oregon and Washington. These include coastal forests of spruce and hemlock, Douglas-fir-dominated forests of the western Cascades, higher-elevation forests of mountain hemlock and silver fir, and ponderosa pine forests in Central Oregon.

Global Trophic Cascades Program

The Global Trophic Cascades Program is a research and educational program with the purpose of investigating the role of predators in structuring ecological communities. This program puts special emphasis on the role of potential keystone species in top-down community regulation, with linkages to biodiversity via trophic cascades. OSU Distiguished Professor Bill Ripple is the director of the program.