Every quarter, the School of Environmental and Forest Sciences holds weekly SEFS Seminars with faculty and experts. These seminars provide a space for presentation and discussion of a variety of topics relevant to the school and its students. Each seminar is held at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesdays in the Forest Club Room of Anderson Hall. After each presentation, a reception and discussion time is held in the room. You can watch previous Seminars on the SEFS YouTube channel.

The SEFS Seminar Series is made possible with support from the Corkery Family Environmental and Forest Sciences Director’s Endowed Chair fund.

2019 Autumn SEFS Seminar Schedule

Nov. 13 – Rose Graves, post-doctoral research associate, Portland State University
Title: “Natural Climate Solutions in Oregon: Potential greenhouse gas reductions from conservation and land management”

Changes in land management, ecosystem restoration, and conservation on natural and working land (i.e., Natural Climate Solutions or NCS) have substantial potential to meet global and national greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets. However, the relative role of NCS to contribute to GHG reduction at subnational scales, particularly in states with strong land use and environmental policies, is not well known. We examined the potential for 12 NCS activities on natural and working land in Oregon to reduce GHG emissions in the context of the state’s climate mitigation goals. We evaluated three alternative NCS implementation scenarios and estimated the annual climate benefit attributable to NCS from 2020 – 2050. We found that NCS could contribute annual GHG emission reductions of 2.6 to 7 MMT CO2e by 2035 and 2.8 to 8.3 MMT CO2e by 2050. Most GHG reductions were attributed to changes in forest management including timber harvest and replanting after wildfires on federal land, followed by changes to agricultural management through no-till, cover crops, and nitrogen management. While per unit area GHG reduction benefits are relatively high for avoided conversion, particularly of forests, the existing land use policy in Oregon results in modest overall GHG reduction benefits from this pathway due to limited geographic extent of conversion. Restoration pathways, which have high per unit area GHG benefits, also have limited geographic extent resulting in lower state-level GHG reduction contributions. However, co-benefits such as improved habitat and water quality delivered by restoration NCS pathways are substantial. Ultimately, the contribution of NCS to emissions reductions depends on the adoption of alternative land management practices, conservation, and restoration at subnational scales. This study shows that states can achieve significant GHG reductions through these activities.

Nov. 20 – Heather Hansman, author
Title: “Writing Conservation Stories”

Heather Hansman, author of the book “Downriver into the Future of Water in the West” will talk about writing about complicated conservation topics, why water makes people emotional and how to tell all sides of a story.

Dec. 4 – TBD
Title: TBD