Linda R. McMahan, Ph.D.

Staff Chair & Faculty for Community Horticulture
Oregon State University Extension Service
Yamhill County
2050 Lafayette Ave
McMinnville, OR 97128
Phone: 503-434-8910

Linda R. McMahan, Ph.D., is the Field Faculty for Consumer Horticulture for the County. She carries out this assignment as well as one of Staff Chair for the county office. Linda is an Associate Professor in the Horticulture Department at Oregon State University and specializes in native plant gardening and ecosystem gardening.

Linda was born and raised on a small farm near Corvallis, Oregon. She attended Oregon State University for several years before transferring to The University of Texas at Austin where she earned her B.A. and Ph.D. in botany. After graduation in 1972, she accepted a faculty position in the Department of Biology at Utica College of Syracuse University.

After teaching for four years, Linda left to pursue a law degree, which she completed at Washington College of Law at American University in Washington, DC.

From 1980 to 2000, Linda worked in the field of plant conservation. She held positions at the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of the Interior, the World Wildlife Fund, and the Center for Plant Conservation, located at The Arnold Arboretum in Boston. In 1989, she became Executive Director of The Berry Botanic Garden, a small nonprofit botanic garden in Portland, Oregon dedicated to conserving a historic garden, promoting gardening with Northwest Native Plants, and conserving rare and endangered plants through seed banking and research. For seven years in the 1990's, Linda served as Commissioner of Oregon's Department of Environmental Quality, a position appointed by the Governor.

In September 2000, Linda accepted her current position just 30 miles south of Portland in McMinnville. In many ways, her position brings her full circle--back to Oregon State University and to both her academic and farming roots. In her current capacity, she ensures smooth operations of the county office and oversees the county's extensive OSU Extension Master Gardener™ Program.