{"id":414,"date":"2009-04-15T12:41:20","date_gmt":"2009-04-15T20:41:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/spotlight\/?p=414"},"modified":"2010-03-18T13:36:40","modified_gmt":"2010-03-18T21:36:40","slug":"best-practices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/spotlight\/2009\/04\/15\/best-practices\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Practices"},"content":{"rendered":"

Claire Rogan is learning what sustainable harvesting means.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n \"Claire\n
Claire Rogan<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n

When Claire Rogan tells people she is a logger, she gets a range of reactions \u2014 anything from a sense of camaraderie from those who live the same lifestyle, to anger from people who think logging is utterly destructive. But for the Oregon State sophomore and University Honors College<\/a> student, education has been the key to her understanding of the practice, its focus on sustainability, as well as the way to improvements.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like mountaintop coal removal in West Virginia,\u201d she says. \u201cPeople usually don\u2019t say \u2019this is bad and we should do this instead.\u2019 If you\u2019re going to have a strong opinion about something, you need to go in scientifically and say \u2019this is why, and this is how.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Rogan is learning how to answer questions about logging and its impacts as a dual-degree major in forest and civil engineering. And as a member of the Student Logging Crew<\/a> in the College of Forestry<\/a>, Rogan gets hands-on experience working with a crew sustainably managing stands in the McDonald-Dunn Research Forest<\/a>. \u201cPretty much any logging you see in Oregon is sustainably done. People are becoming more aware of working with, not just in, the environment,\u201d says Rogan.<\/p>\n

Working with the environment \u2014 for Rogan and others \u2014 means creating forest health, says Jeff Wimer<\/a>, who heads the student crew. \u201cWe thin, taking out trees that are dead and dying and leaving a stand that will grow healthily,\u201d he says. They also identify stands where growth has stalled and decide whether to harvest depending on the market and demand, the whole time keeping stream and water health in mind. \u201cThe majority of loggers love and enjoy the land where they work,\u201d says Wimer. \u201cThey wouldn\u2019t be there otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n

The same is true of Rogan. Growing up in rural West Virginia, she always loved being in the woods. She learned the names of trees from her grandfather. She drove a tractor around her family\u2019s small farm, and her parents instilled in her a deep regard for the natural world. She liked math, too, and science and engineering, which is why OSU was ideal. \u201cThe forest and civil engineering dual degree was perfect for me. It was exactly what I wanted to do,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

As a member of the logging crew, Rogan learned to run all aspects of a logging operation, from planning to the actual harvest. She learned to set chokers (a chain or cable used to haul logs from the woods) and cut timber. She graduated from using what she calls \u201ca teeny tiny saw\u201d to a 32-inch bar. Rogan appreciated how she wasn\u2019t treated differently on the crew because she is a woman \u2014 and still a minority in the field.<\/p>\n

For Rogan, the College of Forestry became such a home away from home that she applied to become an ambassador for it. Rogan talks to alumni at events, and helps recruit prospective students. \u201cIt\u2019s so much fun for me,\u201d she says. \u201cI love getting to tell students how awesome it is. It\u2019s provided so many opportunities for me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Claire Rogan is learning what sustainable harvesting means. When Claire Rogan tells people she is a logger, she gets a range of reactions \u2014 anything from a sense of camaraderie from those who live the same lifestyle, to anger from people who think logging is utterly destructive. But for the Oregon State sophomore and University… Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":189,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[687],"tags":[1758,1729,1782],"class_list":["post-414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment-and-natural-resources","tag-forestry","tag-healthy-planet","tag-honors-college"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/189"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":664,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414\/revisions\/664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dev.blogs.oregonstate.edu\/spotlight\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}