George W. Peavy and the roots of OSU’s research forest network
When George W. Peavy arrived in Corvallis in 1910 to head the newly created Department of Forestry at Oregon Agricultural College, he brought with him a belief that would define forestry education at the school: students needed forests to learn in, not just classrooms to learn from.
At the time, forestry was still an emerging discipline. Peavy became the first dean of the School of Forestry in 1913 and would serve in that role until his retirement in 1940. From the outset, he pushed for an approach grounded in hands-on, field-based learning. He believed forestry education should unfold over decades, shaped by real forests that could be studied, managed and observed over time.