The US Department of Agriculture Forest Service founded HJ Andrews Experimental Forest in 1948. The National Science Foundation established the forest as a Long Term Ecological Research site in 1980. Partnered with Oregon State University and the University of Oregon, HJ Andrews fosters a strong collaboration between environmental education and ecosystem science with real time research. Studying biodiversity, climate, conservation ethics, natural resource management, stream ecology, soils, hydrology, and disturbance, just to name a few of the research topics, HJ Andrews works to understand old growth forests and make that information more readily accessible to the public.
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The Pacific Tree Climbing Institute is a team of highly skilled outfitter guides who lead tree-climbing expeditions in the forests of the Pacific Northwest. The Environmental Leadership Program is lucky enough to partner with such experienced and knowledgeable tree climbers in the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest. Our missions strongly overlap, where PTCI strives to instill environmental empathy, specifically for old growth forests, and to inspire a deeper connection to nature. Rob Miron, a certified tree climber specialist and arborist, with his climbing partner, Sarah Ward, a biologist at HJ Andrews, work in tandem to provide an incredibly meaningful, unforgettable experience as they guide us 100 feet into the canopy.
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Canopy Connections is a team of the Environmental Leadership Program, a collaborative, interdisciplinary service-learning program. Canopy Connections is in its ninth year of designing and implementing curricula for local middle school students. This year’s theme, Sense of Place, used an awareness-to-action framework to promote concern and stewardship for the old-growth forest. The stations highlighted the interconnections between flora and fauna, soil composition, and watersheds to educate students about the complex relationships that contribute to a place. In the 2017 year, we reached over 240 local middle school students from Fernridge, Prairie Mountain, McKenzie, and Ridgeline. Over 80% of these students were first-time visitors to an old-growth forest.
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