Program Areas

4-H Youth Development

Approximately 400 youth between grades 4th through 12th are educated by around 100 leaders in Clatsop County. There are a variety of projects that youth enroll in, which include beef, sheep, swine, horse, small animals, clothing, cooking, art, and gardening, etc.. The program is active year round and teaches youth responsibility, confidence, and general life skills through project participation. Clatsop County 4-H members have been selected as Oregon Ambassadors National 4-H Congress delegates held in Atlanta, Georgia, and are representing Oregon in poultry and dairy judging teams across the U.S.

Agriculture

Agriculture in Clatsop County amounts to about $7 million annually, of which $6 million is livestock production, divided equally between dairy, beef cattle, and mink production. There is about $1 million of crops produced, including cranberries, blueberries, and cut flowers. Hay and grass silage account for most crop land, though most of that is consumed on-farm.

Master Gardeners Program

Master Gardeners are members of the Clatsop County community who have an active interest in gardening and a willingness to share their knowledge with others, learners who are given over 40 hours of special training in home agriculture by Oregon State University Extension staff, and teachers and communicators who volunteer time to the Clatsop County Master Gardener Program.

Forestry

Over 90% of Clatsop County is covered by some of the most productive forest land in the world. Forestry and wood products account for about 10% of the employment and 20% of the payroll in the county.  The major forest landholders are Oregon Department of Forestry, a few large corporate landowners, and hundreds of small woodland owners. Small woodland owners manage their lands to meet a variety of objectives, including scenic beauty, privacy, personal attachment to the land, wildlife habitat, income from timber, and to practice conservation. As a part of ownership objectives, the small woodland owners of Clatsop County harvest 5 to 10 million board feet of wood annually.

Family and Community Development

Educating families to meet the practical challenges of daily life, the program addresses critical issues for individuals and families in Clatsop County through interdisciplinary educational programs and community partnerships. Program activities empower and enable individuals, families, and communities to manage their resources to meet needs for food, clothing, finance, shelter, parenting, and human relationships.

Extension faculty brings the research and expertise of OSU and the USDA to Clatsop County through workshops, seminars, volunteer training, newsletters, consumer bulletins, home study courses, presentations to community groups, and mass media.

Marine, Sea Grant

Program areas and specialties include collaborative research projects involving fisherman and scientists, fisheries management options, seafood quality, commercial and recreational fisheries of Oregon.

Coastal Storms Program

The Oregon State University Sea Grant Extension program, in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Washington Sea Grant, connects residents and stakeholders in the coastal areas of Oregon and SW Washington with new weather and storm related tools. The goal of the Coastal Storms Program (CSP) is to reduce the loss of life, and negative impacts on coastal property and the environment due to severe coastal storms.

Water Resources & Community Development

The Extension watersheds and ecosystems team has two primary focus areas:

• The OSU Watershed Extension effort, including the Master Watershed Steward program, which provides basic and advanced education programming for watershed council members and other audiences on topics ranging from working together effectively to riparian hydrology
• Additional watershed extension programming conducted by community-based extension faculty who help apply research-based watershed principles to the state’s salmon recovery and stream restoration goals.
• In addition, team members educate the public about water quality issues, including non-point source pollution and the growing problem of invasive non-native species that threaten to crowd out native plants and animals.