Biomass Planning and Transport

The study aims to inform policy for Oregon and stakeholders by evaluating whether large-scale biochar production is technically feasible, logistically scalable, economically competitive and environmentally beneficial at the landscape scale. If the outcome suggests biochar production meets these minimum criteria, the study could potentially trigger industrial interest in supporting the development of forest-to-farm biochar markets, benefiting rural economies that are typically based on forest and agricultural commodities.

Management, Algorithms, and Remote Sensing

This research is interested in active sustainable management of forest, by using various remote sensing techniques to acquire relevant information for the decision making process. Once raw data is collected, we develop, improve or test existing algorithms to supply the needed data for developing management plans or forecast forest dynamics. Our focus is in modeling forest understood in a broad sense using modern techniques, such as computer vision, fractals, or abstract algebra.

TERRA - PNW

The mission of the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research and Regional Analysis group (TERRA-PNW) is to quantify and understand the response of terrestrial ecosystems to natural and human-induced changes such as climate, wildfire and land management practices. Our lab has diverse interests that share a common focus: understanding the dynamics of land-based ecological communities. Our insights into climate and disturbance effects on ecological processes and global change are generated primarily by research on forest, woodland and shrubland ecosystems.

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.

Betts Forest Landscape Ecology Lab

Professor Matthew Betts and his team studies the ways that landscape composition and pattern influence animal behavior, species distributions and ecosystem function. As humans are one of the primary drivers of landscape characteristics globally, much of their work is applied and focused on management and conservation. However, understanding mechanisms is key to generalization, so a central part of the research program is basic in nature and links landscape ecology to behavioral ecology, physiology, and molecular ecology.

Forest Animal Ecology Lab

The Forest Animal Ecology Lab is headed by Assistant Professor Jim Rivers. The research questions he pursues are grounded in both basic and applied principles, and nearly all are investigated through empirical field studies of wild populations in forested ecosystems. Some of the lab's current projects include studies that are examining bee community response to biofuel harvest, testing the demographic response of early seral birds to herbicides, and evaluating the impacts of supplemental feeding on the behavior and physiology of songbirds.

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.