Dennis Dykstra: Carrying the message around the world

Dennis Dykstra '66 and '76 is bringing his career in international forestry research back home. Dykstra is the new director of the World Forestry Center in Portland; he succeeded John Blackwell, who retired at the end of April after 27 years with the educational foundation.

Dykstra, who earned his bachelor's and doctorate at OSU (in Forest Engineering and Industrial Engineering, respectively) brings a distinguished record of conducting, coordinating, and securing funding for forestry research, especially research aimed at improving the sustainability of tropical forests. He's spent the past five years at the headquarters of CIFOR (Center for International Forestry Research) in Bogor, Indonesia, most recently as deputy director general for research, making him the second most senior officer there.

Before that, Dykstra served in Rome with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. His job there was to provide technical advice on reducing environmental impacts of industrial timber harvesting. In 1996 he developed a model code of forest harvesting practices for tropical forests, which become one of the FAO forestry department's most widely requested publications.

He has taught and conducted research in Tanzania and Austria, as well as at Yale, Northern Arizona University, and OSU, and he's worked in private industry as a forest economist and systems analyst, developing modeling tools for improving harvesting and manufacturing decisions. He has twice served as an associate editor of the journal Forest Science, and since 1987 he's been on the editorial board of Forest Ecology and Management, a major international journal.

Focus on Forestry caught up with Dykstra as he and his wife, Nell, were packing for the move to Portland. We enjoyed a series of enlightening e-mail conversations with him, and we'd like to share some of his comments with readers.

FoF How did your upbringing prepare you for a career in forestry research?

Dykstra I grew up on a 40-acre "stump farm" about 10 miles east of Lebanon. My father was a logger, and my mother taught in the two one-room schools I attended for seven of my first eight years in school. When I was 10, my brothers and I joined a 4-H Forestry Club, led by two OSU forestry graduates, Ralph Wilkinson and Bert Udell. Both Ralph and Bert were professionals who gave tremendously of their time to educate youngsters about forests and forestry.

My parents strongly influenced my choice of careers, although they originally hoped I'd become a more conventional type of engineer. When I went to Oregon State I started off in electrical engineering, but after one term I knew that wasn't what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, so I went over to the School of Forestry and talked to Bob Wilson about switching to Forest Engineering. That was one of my life-changing decisions.

FoF When did you become interested in tropical forestry?

Dykstra The day after I graduated from OSU, I received a draft order from President Lyndon Johnson. This annoyed me, because I'd been offered graduate fellowships at both Yale and Duke. Therefore, to avoid the draft and to prevent the local draft board from getting credit for another draftee, I enlisted in the Army. Eventually I landed in Vietnam, where I became an artillery fire direction officer, and later an artillery liaison officer in charge of four artillery forward observer teams. [Dykstra was awarded three decorations, including the Bronze Star.]

This experience gave me two things: confidence in my own leadership skills, and my first experience in a tropical country. Even though the Army treated the forest as a nuisance, I found it fascinating. The variety of trees and other plant life was tremendous compared to the familiar forests of the Pacific Northwest. I resolved to start learning about tropical forests as soon as I got back home.

FoF When did you realize you were headed for an international career?

Dykstra As a young student, I had a glimmer of hope that I might someday work overseas. When I was an undergraduate, I wrote to the head of the FAO forestry department asking about job opportunities. He told me to get a Ph.D. and then get back in touch. Until much later, though, I had no intention of getting a Ph.D. at all. My objective was to get an MBA and go to work in the forest industry, moving up the ladder as far as I could go. [Dykstra did earn an MBA from the University of Oregon in 1971, and later worked for a San Francisco firm as operations research analyst.] But I found there was no freedom to pursue things that interested me.

When an instructor's job in the Forest Engineering department at OSU opened up, I applied and was hired. This allowed me to work on a Ph.D. while doing research on aerial logging systems. And so I got the Ph.D. after all, and that was my first step.

Going back even further, I remember that very early in my life I wanted to see other lands and other kinds of people. My rural community was very isolated--we had no television, no telephone. Instead, my brothers and I read books. Our favorites were adventure stories about traveling to distant lands. I dreamed that one day I would go to faraway places, and that dream somehow never died.

FoF What are your priorities as you assume the leadership of the World Forestry Center?

Dykstra My desire is that the World Forestry Center become recognized as an active player in the debates on forests and forestry that are occurring regionally, nationally, and internationally. What we can bring to the table is active involvement from the private sector, and a focus on public education.

I was recruited to lead the WFC because of the networks I've developed during the 12 years I've lived overseas. The WFC's board of directors wants to carry the organization's message to international audiences. What is that message? That a major fraction of the world's forests can and should be managed for sustainable production of multiple goods and services.

FoF How does it feel to be back home?

Dykstra It's been great to live in five different countries on four continents, getting to know the cultures and the problems of different people in different places. And those experiences have made it even greater for Nell and me to finally come home. It's great to be able to see our family regularly, and to get reacquainted with all our old friends. We also expect a substantial reduction on our overseas telephone bill!

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