The Oregon State University College of Forestry is known for collaborative research that brings real solutions to issues facing our forest landscapes and ecosystems. College research provides innovative approaches to enhancing people’s lives while also improving the health of our lands, businesses and vital ecosystems. The College of Forestry has a longstanding role as Oregon’s principal research engine for providing science-based information about forests and their value to people and communities. FACULTY CONTINUE PUBLISHING PROLIFICALLY College faculty continue to be recognized as active leaders in research related to our forest landscapes, ecosystems and products. During calendar years 2018 and 2019, faculty produced more than 400 refereed publications. RESEARCH AWARDS Thecollegereceivedatotalof$26.26millioninresearchawardsinFY2019 and FY 2020. A total of $19.73 million was received from sponsored research awardswith$6.53millionfromspecialprogramsincludingresearchcooperativedues.Federalsupportaccountedfor66percentofourresearch portfolio, with state agency support at 13 percent and non-profits,industry,foundationsandothersat21percent. College researchers submitted 213 proposals to a wide range of outside sponsors with the National Science Foundation, U.S. Forest Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture comprising $32 million in requested funding. The remaining $14.7 million requested was to a wide range of other federal and non-federal sponsors including the U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Oregon Departments of Transportation and Forestry, non-profits,foundations,industryandotherorganizations. RESEARCH EXPENDITURES Infiscalyears2019and2020,thecollege’stotalresearchexpenditureswere$49,353,816.Theseexpenditureswereevenlysplitbetweenthe

two years. Approximately 52 percent of the expenditures represented externallysponsoredresearchefforts. SAMPLING OF RESEARCH ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND IMPACTS • The forest soils and watershed hydrology group continues to address essential questions to facilitate informed forest management and policy decisionsrelatedtowildfire,salvageharvesting,andforest.Specifically,in the past couple of years, they have completed research projects that improveourunderstandingoftheeffectivenessofcurrentBMPsatmitigatingforestharvestingeffectsonstreamflow,streamtemperature,andsuspendedsediment.Similarly,theyhaveinvestigatedtheeffectsofwildfireandvariouspost-fireforestmanagementstrategies(e.g.,salvagelogging, subsoiling, herbicide application) at mitigating both short-term and long-term impacts on water supply, water quality, and aquatic ecosystem health. • NIOSH recognized a team of FERM faculty members for their successful completion of a four-year project to demonstrate safe operation of new logging systems, assess the practical and physiological response of logging workers, develop guidelines and design criteria for new logging systems and develop and deliver outreach programs to introduce safe mechanization to loggers.

• Associate professor of geotechnical engineering Ben Leshchinsky and colleagues developed an approach to take landslide inventories, analyze their failure mechanism, understand their mechanical properties, and use this data for regional-scale landslide hazard, susceptibility and risk. These tools present an advance towards how we can use landslide databases to better predict landslide hazards, which is of utility to planners, engineers, and scientists.

• Assistant professor of wildlife ecology Jim Rivers and colleagues summarized the largest experimental evaluation of birds’ demographic response to forest herbicides as part of the Intensive Forest Management

Research Highlights

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STATE $799,797 $2,079,012 $2,878,809

Oregon Division of State Lands $600,000 $470,204 $1,070,204

California Department of Forestry & Fire Protection $19,096 $694,371 $713,467

Oregon Department of Transportation $10,000 $451,779 $461,779

Oregon Department of Forestry $170,701 $100,700 $271,401

Other State & Local $0 $140,427 $140,427

Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife $0 $121,531 $121,531

Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board $0 $100,000 $100,000

NEW AND CONTINUING AWARDS BY SPONSORFY 2019 – FY 2020

SPONSORS FY 2019 FY 2020 TOTAL

FEDERAL $6,592,923 $8,283,888 $14,876,811

National Science Foundation $3,227,034 $3,275,750 $6,502,784

USDA United States Forest Service $1,724,235 $3,259,475 $4,983,710

USDA Agricultural Research Service $873,030 $437,250 $1,310,280

USDA National Institute of Food & Agriculture $485,800 $609,054 $1,094,854

US Department of Energy $20,918 $277,675 $298,593

USDA Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service $124,719 $120,000 $244,719

Other Federal (various) $90,188 $102,755 $192,943

USDI United States Geological Survey $47,000 $101,929 $148,929

USDI Bureau of Land Management $0 $100,000 $100,000

TOTAL SPONSORED AWARDS $8,271,586 $11,457,588 $19,729,174

SPECIAL PROGRAMS $2,973,107 $3,553,593 $6,526,700

OSU Cooperatives (10) - Industry, State, Federal $1,577,563 $2,118,360 $3,695,923

McIntire Stennis - USDA Formula Funds $1,111,988 $1,187,877 $2,299,865

Fish & Wildlife Habitat in Managed Forests (FRL) $283,556 $247,356 $530,912

GRAND TOTAL $11,244,693 $15,011,181 $26,255,873

OTHER $878,866 $1,094,688 $1,973,553

Non-profits (various) $80,624 $252,792 $333,416

National Park Foundation $0 $278,300 $278,300

Foundations $64,480 $185,207 $249,687

Sustainable Northwest $244,741 $0 $244,741

Subawards $120,197 $124,413 $244,610

Oregon Forest Resources Institute $57,690 $167,667 $225,357

National Council for Air & Stream Improvement $139,000 $0 $139,000

International $133,500 $0 $133,500

Industry $38,633 $86,309 $124,942

Research Highlights

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SOURCES FY 2019 FY 2020 %

Grants and contracts

$10,443,001 $11,659,901 44.8%

Forest Research Lab Appropriation

$5,343,614 $5,668,810 22.3%

Forest Research Lab Harvest Tax

$3,442,658 $3,188,378 13.4%

Research cooperatives

$1,597,664 $1,792,041 6.9%

Endowments and gifts

$1,711,693 $1,372,527 6.2%

McIntire-Stennis Federal Appropriation

$1,027,495 $962,863 4.0%

Indirect cost recovery

$423,997 $418,201 1.7%

Other (sales and service)

$103,311 $197,660 0.6%

TOTAL $24,093,434 $25,260,382 100 %

RESEARCH EXPENDITURES BY SOURCEFY 2019 – FY 2020

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study. Against initial predictions, they found that demographic measures of bothnestandjuvenilesurvivalwereuninfluencedbyherbicideapplicationintensity,despiteherbicidetreatmentshavingapowerfulinfluenceonvegetation cover.

• Professor in forest biometrics and measurements Temesgen Hailemariam and colleagues used LiDAR to develop tree-lists for forest growth models. Knowledge of tree-list or diameter distribution within a stand is useful in planning and designing new processing facilities, supplying and operating existing processing facilities, and assessing stand structure diversity.

• Stewart Professor of Operations Woodam Chung has developed machine vision technology for forest engineering applications. Potential applications ofartificialintelligenceandautomationinforestoperationsarecurrentlyresearchedworldwidetoreducedangerous,difficultandroutinehumantasks.

•ResearchfindingsfromtheSwissNeedleCastResearchCooperativehighlightedhow:a)Swissneedlecastcaninfluencecatchment-scalehydrology,afirsttoshowthisforaforestpathogen;b)Diseaseseverityismoresignificantinthefoliageofyoung(~20-30years)trees/standsthannearby mature and older (90-400 years) stands; and, c) Swiss needle cast diseasesymptomsarestronglyinfluencedbyshortterm(decadal)climatepatterns and more likely to be observed on private versus public land in the western Oregon Coast Range. • COF International Programs coordinated a tour of forest management and forest products facilities. The visit launched an 18 member advisory committee for cooperative work to support forestry education and research in Peru. Project funded by USFS International Programs. COF International Programs and the US Forest Service International Programs are collaborating on a project to build capacity in the Peruvian forestry sector.Asafirststep,COFInternationalProgramscoordinatedatourof forest management and forest products facilities for an 18 member advisory committee made up of senior leadership from the Peruvian government and private enterprise.

• The Vegetation Management Research Cooperative research network continued to grow with four new study sites covering a wide range of soil and climatic conditions. This study network’s results are increasing the understanding of how vegetation management treatments impact several aspectsofforestryinthePacificNorthwest. • In partnership with Skolkovo School of Management, Moscow, Russia, professorofsilviculture,forestandfirehealth John Bailey and COF International Programs received a grant from US Russia Foundation for ‘Future Leaders in the Bio Economy.’ Two 5-day workshops will introduce up-and-coming leaders in Russia’s forest sector to the promise of sustainable forestry practices, focusing on Oregon’s blend of private and public forests and growing renewable materials manufacturing.

• The Center for Intensive Planted-forest Silviculture (CIPS) continued its centralfocusondevelopingandrefiningtheCIPSANONgrowthandyieldmodel.Thenumerouscollaborativeeffortsaimtosynthesizetheabundantbut fragmented data available for growth responses to a wide variety of silviculturaltreatmentsandregimesinDouglas-firandotherintensivelymanaged species. The primary strategy is to develop models that can simulate periodic and cumulative growth responses to tree improvement, nursery and planting technology, site preparation, competing for vegetation control, thinning, forest nutrient management, and amelioration of insect, disease and environmental stress.

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• Assistant professor Tak Iwamura joinstheCollegetofillneedsin“bigdata” and forest biodiversity conservation. His work on emerging infectious diseases aligns with Oregon State University’s strategic initiatives on sustainable Earth systems and improving human health and wellness.

• Associate professor of forest, wildlife and landscape ecology Dana Warren received NSF funding for a remarkably innovative, interdisciplinary project to use scholarly techniques and tools from history and ecology to reconstruct eastern forests’ features from 19th-century landscape paintings. • Distinguished Professor of Forest Biotechnology and Leopold Fellow Steve StraussreceivedNSFfundingof~$4milliontodevelopnewphenomicand genomic insights into genetic diversity in the capacity to regenerate new shoots and roots in poplar. The team has created and submitted for publication a new annotation tool using machine learning to enable researchers to rapidly and precisely code images of plant material. These data are then used in machine vision models to estimate regeneration rates in thousands of samples used in genetic analysis. Work at this scale was previously not possible using existing techniques. • Professor and Forest Ecosystems and Society Department Head Troy Hall, assistant professor of social and ecological systems Reem Hajjar and associateprofessoroffireandlandscapeecologyMeg Krawchuk secured a National Needs Fellowship from NIFA to support three grad students workingintheareaofwildfire,communityengagement,andgovernance.The goal of the NNF program is to increase the quality, capacity and impact of graduate programs. • Assistant professor of sustainable recreation and tourism Ashley D’Antonio received a competitive National Park Foundation Science Fellowship to advance her interdisciplinary research on the impacts of

recreation to wildlife in national parks, including Yellowstone and Grand Teton. • Associate professor Glenn Howe’sPacificNorthwestTreeImprovement Coop partnered with the Center for Intensive Plantation Silviculture to develop low-cost genotyping methods to measure single nucleotidepolymorphismsinDouglas-firthatcanserveasgeneticmarkersforvarious commercial uses. The cooperative also continues to provide tools for seedselectioninthefaceofchangingclimatezonesinthePacificNorthwest. • Northwest Tree Improvement Cooperative Director Keith Jayawickrama worked with redwood growers in California and Oregon to establish a new Redwood Tree Improvement Cooperative with 15 members. The NWTIC increasedto50members,withresearchinfluencingtreeimprovementalongtheentirePacificNorthwest.Thecooperativeinitiatedthird-cycletrialsofDouglas-firatvarioussites. • Professor of forest, wildlife and landscape ecology Matt Betts continued research on intensive forest management furthers partnerships with industry andotherexternalstakeholdersaroundthetradeoffsassociatedwithdifferentlevelsofforestmanagement. • Associate professor of anatomy of renewable materials Seri Robinson’s fungus work in application to solar cells and inkjet printing continues. The yellow rot fungus Scytalidium ganodermophthorum has been seen to form a purple crystal at very high concentrations, making it the next contender for photovoltaic cell testing. In its yellow stage, the pigment comprises a filmthathasnotshownconductivity.Still,athigherconcentrations,crystalsform, which will aid in purifying the currently unknown compound. The red pigment from wood-rotting Scytalidium cuboideum is presently being tested in inkjet photoprinters after its success in inkjet fabric printers.

The advanced wood products manufacturing bay within the AWP is outfitted with state-of-the-art fabrication equipment that includes a high-accuracy Kuka robot mounted on a linear track (left) system and a Minda 8'-x-10' CLT press (right).

4 4 2 0 1 9 – 2 0 2 0 B I E N N I A L R E P O R T

• Associate professor of wood design and architecture Mariapaola Riggio implemented a data platform of the structural health monitoring project of Peavy Hall to facilitate public access to the sensor data as a tool to inform decision-making processes of the mass timber industry. • In collaboration with Freres Lumber, the Department of Wood Science and Engineering facilitated expanding the market for mass timber panels with the introduction, code acceptance and demonstrated application (Emmerson and FSC) of a new product called Mass Plywood Panels (MPP). The entire process was made possible by a holistic performance evaluation campaign led by Arijit Sinha, associate professor of renewable materials.

•ThenewWoodIdentification&ScreeningCenter(WISC)isaforensicservice provider and research unit dedicated to combating illegal logging domestically and internationally by furthering technology and expandingservicesinwoodidentificationfortradedtimber.Indoingso, WISC contributes to the preservation of forest ecosystems globally and supports the US forest products industry by helping to keep illegally-sourcedandartificiallylow-pricedwoodoutofglobaltrade. • The TallWood Design Institute (TDI) announced new research projects under its annual call for proposals funded by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS). The program focuses on applying interdisciplinaryscientificanddesignexpertisetoaddresscurrentopportunities and challenges in modern wood construction. In 2020, a total of $750,000 was awarded to new projects, including: Fire testing forefficienttalltimberbuildings-scopingstudyforadaptivereuseofthe NHERI tall wood building, carbon narratives for design planning, and impact of species, coatings, and relative humidity on microbial community structures within mass timber products.

• Assistant professor Gerald Presley joined WSE. He received ARS funds to study the impact of cross-laminated timber coatingsonsurfacemicroflora.Thisprojectiscurrently in the planning and initial implementation phases. • Tyler Deboodt joined WSE as a faculty research assistant, replacing long-time employee Milo Clauson. He will manage WSE research facilities and provide research support across the department. His previous research experience includes studying various construction materials, from microstructural investigation to full scale testing.

• The Oregon Wood Innovation Center is a well-known resource to help entrepreneurs and existing businesses develop and test new products. Many of the tests this year have focused on moisture performance. Tests included studies on a variety of coatings on structural panels; performance of a new line of exterior doors; testing additives for improving particleboard’s moistureresistance;moistureperformanceofmodifiedwoodcomposites, and testing moisture performance of several new mass timber products.

• The College of Forestry continues to own and operate over 15,000 acres of research forests across the state where students learn, study and work. These research forests were donated to the College of Forestry to serve as a living laboratory and outdoor classroom for students, researchers and managers to learn about forest ecosystems and management. In FY 2019 and FY 2020, harvests on the research forests generated $2 million in revenue to support college research, education, and outreach initiatives.

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Researchers test the effectiveness of signage at the nesting beaches of the Western Snowy Plover within the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area, aiming to reduce visitor impact to this federally listed species.

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FISH AND WILDLIFE HABITAT IN MANAGED FORESTS Theprogram’smissionistoprovidenewinformationaboutfishandwildlifehabitat within Oregon’s actively managed forests through research, technology transfer and service activities. Current priorities contribute to thescientificinformationbasethatsupportstheOregonForestPracticesAct and Oregon’s actively managed federal forestlands. This program provides essential information to forest managers to guide responsible stewardshipoffishandwildlifehabitatresourcesconsistentwithlandmanagement objectives while guiding forest policy and regulations. NEW - AWARDED 7/1/2020 (FY21) • Multi-scale Habitat Value of Slash Piles for Conserving Rare Carnivores – John Bailey, Katie Moriarty (two years, $103,559) • Red Tree Voles in Working Forests – John Bailey, Katie Moriarty (threeyears,$117,862) •Whereisitthemosteffectivetorestorestreams?SalmonHabitatRestoration using Large Wood: Linking Stream Geomorphic Change and RestorationEffectiveness–Catalina Segura, Sandara Villamizar, Erik Suring, Christopher Lorion(twoyears,$151,623) ONGOING - AWARDED 7/1/2019 (FY20) • DevelopmentofnativebeeidentificationkeysforthePacificNorthwest–Jim Rivers (three years, $125,405) • Assessing the response of aquatic biota to alternate riparian management practices – Dana Warren, Ashley Coble (three years, $184,305) ONGOING - AWARDED 7/1/2018 (FY19) • Biodiversity in Natural and Managed Early Seral Forests of Southern Oregon – Meg Krawchuk, Matthew Betts, James Rivers, A.J. Kroll, Jake Verschuyl, Mark Swanson (three years, $250,417) • Black-Backed Woodpecker Vital Rates in Unburned and Burned Forest Within a Fire-Prone Landscape – Jim Rivers, Jake Verschuyl (two years $95,217 - Extended) ••

4 7F O R E S T R Y. O R E G O N S T A T E . E D U