Overview

Dr. Robin Rose, Professor

Course:         FOR 442/542
When:           Fall 
Where:          RM 242 Peavy Hall*, College of Forestry
Who:            Undergraduate Foresters and ...others
Why:            Our World loses 9.4 million hectares of forest per year!
Course No:      34213
Credits:        4
Lab:            Yes - bring note book, dress appropriately
Difficulty:   4 Stars
*Campus Map
Welcome to your gateway to FOR 442, Reforestation, in the Department of Forest Resources, College of Forestry, Oregon State University

Purpose

The purpose of this web site is to make you, the student, more productive
  1. by making portions of the class notes readily available
  2. by making available some photos used in lecture so that you can review and learn them
  3. by making it possible for you to access this site from your home, apartment, or living space any time of the day or night
  4. and to feed your addiction for new technology!


Raised bed teak nursery in India

What is this course all about?

Forest regeneration is considered to be a part of the larger branch of silviculture in forestry. It is a compilation of a whole host of disciplines such as botany, ecology, soil science, plant physiology, statistics, and a few more. This area of forestry is well suited to the student with eclectic interests since forest regeneration starts with understanding seed, moves through internal plant processes, like dormancy and nutrition, onto nursery management. From nursery management the subjects change to soils and planting problems. In short, forest regeneration is a very broad field. Knowledge in this area is critical to the career of anyone interested in "saving the planet" whether their interest is ecological restoration or plantation forestry.

The information in this course can be used throughout the world.  There are great similarities between solving a planting problem in Afghanistan as there is Eastern Oregon or NE Thailand.  This is a small planet we live on and this course is aimed at teaching you "stuff" you can and will use in your career.  Want to reverse deforestation in N. India, this course could help.  Want to better manage vegetation in the coast range of Oregon or highlands of Vietnam, then this is the course for you. 

Graphic Images Say It Better!


Natural Fire on BLM land in 1987

Thousands of acres of land burnt up due to lightning strikes, carelessness, and arson from 1986 to 1988. Oregon thought it had all of the nursery capacity it would ever need and then these fires tested every aspect of the State's ability to reforest. One of the big surprises was the lack of seed and a shortage of seedling stocktypes to meet immediate needs. The site in this picture is very typical of what a devastating burn can look like. On the facing hill side there are a great many logs that were ready to be trucked off and then the fire struck a few miles away taking this site with it. The public does not realize that there are many other reasons than logging for practicing reforestation.

In 2002 the state of Oregon and the PNW Region suffered terribly from fire.  Hundreds of thousands of acres burnt up.  It is critical that every practicing forester have a working knowledge of forest regeneration.  No matter where one ends up, there comes a time when the question gets asked. "How do put the forest back that we just lost?"

If you think the fires back then were bad, take a look at the Biscuit Fire website in July 13, 2002! This was one of the worst fires in American history. Some 499,965 acres went up in smoke.



Mycorrhizae Close-up


This is a scanning electron microscope (SEM) picture of a mycorrhizal fungus. Mycorrhizae are a symbiotic relationship between a root and a fungus. This picture shows an ectomycorrhizal fungus with hyphae reaching out into the soil. The root provides carbohydrates to the fungus and the fungus provides nutrients to the root. What role do you think mycorrhizae might play in reforesting the BLM site?