Oregon State University’s College of Forestry hosted the annual Western Forestry Graduate Research Symposium to showcase current graduate student research. The OSU website notes, "The purpose of this symposium is to promote academic excellence by challenging students to present their work to and receive feedback from their academic and professional peers on their proposed and current research from a diverse audience, fostering student engagement, enthusiasm, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Topics stretch across the realm of forests including ecology, forest management, forest products, human uses, and interconnections between the two in forest settings."
Two ARCS forestry scholars participated. Gretchen Engbring presented her ongoing work with the community in Oaxaca, Mexico, addressing environmental concerns and economic stresses "win-win" strategies for forestry enterprises. Christy Johnson outlined her plans to study whether "different spacial arrangements of trees relate to differences in climate responses, fire behavior, and understory vegetation." Jean and Rich Josephson attended the poster session and enjoyed lively, in-depth explanations from both scholars.
