International Forestry Students' Association
IFSA is a recognized student organization that allows students to connect to others in the forestry sector on an international level. Comprised of Local Committees (LC), the International Forestry Students’ Association is the largest international network of students in forestry and related sciences. IFSA is a globally organized and locally operating students’ organization connecting forest and related science students to their peers and forest related organizations and policy platforms.
With more than 130 member associations spread across over 60 countries, IFSA unites more than 12,000 students in their endeavor to learn about forests, cultures and the environment. IFSA is a non-political, non-profit, and non-religious organization that is entirely run by students.
In IFSA we seek to create global cooperation among students of forest and related sciences, to broaden knowledge and understanding and a space for youth in international forest processes to achieve a sustainable future for our forests. Through our network, we facilitate student meetings, enable participation in scientific debate, and support the involvement of youth in decision making processes regionally and globally.
Next Events
Club Information
Sebastian Bartlett, President
Ethan Bertrand, Vice-President
Lok Mani Sapkota, Secretary
Zoey Lorenz, Treasurer
Ali Yari, Communications
Zoe Ansbro, Wildlife Commission
Luke McDonald, Event Commission
Megan McDonald, E-Campus Commission
Ben Beiser, Restoration Commission
Lok Mani Sapkota, Council Representative
Dr. Rajat Panwar, Academic Advisor
The aim of the organization is to help the students, graduate and undergraduate, who have different majors, interact with one another and to promote student interactions, discussions, and activities connected with forestry.
The objectives of OSU-IFSA are to:
- Enrich the formal education of OSU students, especially in terms of a wider, more global perspective through extracurricular activities and the exchange of information and experiences such as the ones described in Article VII.
- Provide a welcoming environment and inclusion in the Local Committee (LC) activities for visiting students, interns, and scholars.
- Contribute to a more complete professional preparation for student members of the LC.
- Promote cooperation and networking among students and the professional forestry sector, as well as with other sectors such as Agricultural Sciences, Fisheries and Wildlife, Integrative Biology, Environmental Education, Public Health and Human Sciences, and Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences.
- Encourage improvements in forestry and natural resources higher education internationally for the benefit of all students.
- The diffusion and formation of more chapters of IFSA in North America will be a special objective of OSU-IFSA given its history of pioneer in the region.
During the 2021-2022 academic year, IFSA-OSU organized a series of events. We started the Fall term with our first in-person meetings after 2 years of remote activities. We held 3 meetings during this term to gather the interests of the students to guide our goals for the year.
The first of these goals was to go out and plant trees, especially for those that had had only remote learning so far. We gathered approximately 200 seedlings that were not going to be used (extras from research projects), from different greenhouses across the University and contacted landowners in the vicinity of Corvallis to offer them to plant trees on their land. On January 15, 2022, seven members of our club planted Douglas-fir, western hemlock, and Port Orford cedar at a property in Philomath, OR (Picture below). The landowner (holding a shovel in the picture) was very grateful for our service, as we helped him to reforest little patches of his multi-age, multi-species forest. Many of our members planted trees for the first time that day!
Picture: Tree planting event that took place on January 15th, 2022, in Philomath, OR.
Another of the goals stated during our Fall term meetings was the need to reinstate the “International Conversations” series. This series of events consists of inviting different guests from our college community (either professors or graduate students) that work on certain topics of interest to our club members, to have a distended conversation about their international experiences. This international experience is normally associated with the individual being from a different country and/or having work/research experience overseas. During the 2021-2022 academic year, our club hosted three “International Conversations” events that were available both in-person and online. The specific events were:
1. "Rural Development and Community Forestry" with Drs. Reem Hajjar and Mindy Crandall (hosted on February 16th, 2022).
2. “Sustainable Development Solutions” with Dr. Rajat Panwar (hosted on March 2nd, 2022).
3. “Partnership between OSU and Peru” with Jazmin Gonzales (post-doc), Paula Lopez, Alejandro Chiroque, Yury Llancari, Raul Pacsi, Yamile Sanchez, and Jose Ibaja (all from the Masters of Natural Resources online-program). This event was hosted on June 1st, 2022 (Picture below).
Picture: Example flyer for one of our three “International Conversations” events of the 2021-2022 AY.
During the 2022-2023 academic year, we continued developing activities that our members wanted to experience.
On the morning of November 6, 2022, a group of 12 club members went on a hike to Alsea Falls, OR, which included plant and mushroom identification, followed by a mushroom foraging workshop (Picture below). We enjoyed the activities regardless of the snow that surprised us that morning. The foraged mushrooms were cooked and shared at our following meeting on campus.
Picture: IFSA-OSU foraging mushrooms near Alsea Falls, OR.
Getting advantage of the winter weather, we decided to go out and plant trees again. This time at a permaculture farm near Sherwood, OR. On December 10th, 2022, seven members of our club planted approximately 150 Douglas-fir and incense cedar seedlings (Picture below). The land stewards were very grateful as we also left with them another 100 seedlings for them to plant at another property near Roseburg, OR. More opportunities for collaboration may develop with them and other organizations, which is very exciting for us!
Picture: Tree planting event that took place on December 10th, 2022, in Sherwood, OR.
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