Forestry Currents

Kudos for Faculty

Mike Newton

Mike Newton, professor of forest ecology, was honored in May with the second annual Outstanding Forest Science Faculty Award. The award was developed by the forest science students in 1990; students select the recipient each year. Newton was chosen for his excellence in teaching and research and his dedication to helping students achieve their goals. He had been on the Forest Science faculty since 1960.

Brian Greber, associate professor of forest resources, received the 1992 Aufderheide Award for excellence in teaching. The award is based on nominations from students, and the winner is chosen by a student committee. It was presented to Greber at Fernhopper Day, the annual alumni reunion event, in April.

Brian Greber

Greber was also honored with the Oregon Society of American Foresters' Tough Tree award at the OSAF annual meeting in April. The award is given to those who have demonstrated "sustained excellent professional performance in an extremely adverse work climate."

Logan Norris

Logan Norris, head of the Department of Forest Science, has been selected to chair the Society of American Foresters' national Task Force on Sustaining Long-term Forest productivity. "The charter of this task force if to look at sustaining all values across broad time spans and geographic scales, as well as diverse ownerships," says Norris. "I can't think of anything that's more at the soul of forestry in this country today." The 10-member panel, representing universities, industry, and public agencies, was chosen in May of 1991. I will report its findings to the SAF leadership this fall.

Hank Froehlich

The Oregon Society of American Foresters has chosen Henry A. Froehlich, professor of forest engineering, to receive its 1992 Lifetime Achievement Award. Froehlich was recognized for his contributions to knowledge about forest hydrology and soils. His work on soil compaction from ground skidding of logs is internationally known, and he is also recognized for his research on woody debris in streams, stability of streambanks and slopes, and other forest engineering issues. He will retire this year after 21 years on the College faculty. He received the award at the OSAF annual meeting last April.

At the same meeting, David Hann, associate professor of forest biometry, received the OSAF 1992 Research Award. Hann was honored for his work on mathematical stand growth models, and particularly for his computer model, ORGANON, used to forecast growth in various types of stands. Although ORGANON was originally written for the forests of southwestern Oregon, Hann is tailoring the model to handle conditions in other regions of the state.

Bill Ripple

Two awards from the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing went to Bill Ripple, associate professor of forest resources. One was a presidential citation for meritorious service; the other was "in recognition of significant contributions to the aims and objectives of the Society." Ripple is also director of ERSAL, the Environmental Remote Sensing Applications Laboratory, at the College of Forestry.

George Stankey

George Stankey, professor of forest resources, received the 1991 Australian Award in Park and Recreation Administration. The award was given by the Royal Australian Institute of Parks and Recreation to honor Stankey for his scientific leadership and research for park management and planning in Australia. Stankey has worked with Australian authorities for almost 15 years to help improve the country's recreation planning and management through teaching, research, and continuing education. He has lived in Australia twice-in 1980-82, when he taught at Canberra College (now the University of Canberra), an in 1987-89, when he worked for both the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Sydney Institute of Technology.

The 1991 Technology Transfer and Extension Award of the Society of American Foresters went to Jack Walstad, professor and head of the Forest Resources department. He was honored for his key role in many technology-transfer efforts, including those of the FIR Program (Forestry Intensified Research), for which he was program leader for seven years. Walstad has written on vegetation management, fire, reforestation, and animal damage. He has coordinated the work of multiple specialist-authors in the production of two comprehensive books aimed at forestry practitioners: Forest Vegetation and Conifer Production (Walstad and Kuch 1987) and Natural and Prescribed Fire in Pacific Northwest Forests (Walstad at al. 1990). Walstad received the Oregon SAF's chapter achievement award in 1987, and he was elected an SAF Fellow in 1990.

Jeff Hino

Jeffrey Hino, media production specialist in the College's Forestry Media Center, won first-place honors from the Agricultural Communicators in Education for a video package, titled "Pesticides in forestry: behavior, toxicology, and risk analysis," was co-written by Logan Norris, professor and head of the Forest Science department, and Frank Dost, recently retired professor of agriculture chemistry at OSU. Hino also received the organization's Outstanding Professional Skill Award for his role in creating the video production.

The Forestry Extension faculty conferred its 1992 Awesome Force award on Mike Bondi, Forestry Extension agent for Clackamas County. Bondi was honored for his expertise in management planning for woodland owners and for his work in Christmas trees, youth environmental education, and forest marketing.

Last year's Awesome Force award went to Bill Emmingham, associate professor of forest science and Extension silviculture specialist. He was honored for his dedication to applied research and extension demonstrations and for his success at getting Extension agents involved in research. Last summer he and Bondi were co-leaders of Eurosilva, an Extension tour to the forests of Germany and central Europe.

The Awesome Force award got its name from an apocryphal story about a group of campus-based specialists who toured a field demonstration site. One of the group is said to have exclaimed, "What an awesome force this Forestry Extension team is when we get together on a problem!" The award is presented yearly to a Forestry Extension team member.

John Tappeiner

John Tappeiner, professor of forest resources, has taken a position as a silvicultural scientist with the new Bureau of Land Management cooperative research unit headquartered at OSU. He will formulate, coordinate, and conduct research for the BLM on alternative silvicultural practices and strategies. Tappeiner will continue with a joint appointment at OSU, teaching and advising students and conducting research part-time at the College of Forestry.