The Oregon State University College of Forestry owns and manages the McDonald-Dunn Research Forest, an 11,500-acre, heavily visited forest north of Corvallis. After three years of collaboration among scientists, educators, tribes and other partners, the updated McDonald-Dunn Forest Plan added a new management focus: monitoring to assess changes in biodiversity over time.
By training forest visitors and community members to contribute usable observations usable for science, OSU Extension helps expand monitoring capacity while strengthening public trust and shared responsibility for managing working and research forests.
While consultants can support fine-scale monitoring for certain species groups, ongoing monitoring is limited by staff capacity. Without scalable approaches, land managers have fewer tools to detect changes early and respond with sound, science-based decisions.
In partnership with OSU Research Forests, Oregon State University Extension’s Forestry and Natural Resources program is building a participatory science approach that engages forest users, community members, and OSU students and faculty in annual biodiversity surveys. The goal is to produce scientifically useful observations while expanding public understanding of forest ecosystems.
As a pilot effort, Forestry and Natural Resources Extension facilitated a fungal diversity monitoring “test run” on Nov. 15, 2025, by partnering with the Mycology Program in OSU’s Department of Botany and Plant Pathology.
Together, the team designed training that equipped participants to contribute high-quality observations to a dedicated iNaturalist project that supports fungal diversity monitoring in the McDonald-Dunn. The iNaturalist project remains open, allowing any McDonald-Dunn visitor to submit fungal observations beyond the event.
Programming included sessions on fungal features and identification, macrofungi photography, microscope use to examine spores, and how to make spore prints. Educational walks emphasized fungi’s role in forest ecosystems while participants collected samples for identification and documentation.
More than 80 community members, students and faculty participated in the first Mycology Field Day, based at the Forestry Club Cabin in the McDonald-Dunn. Training and support were provided by three mycologists from OSU’s Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, one external expert in fungal field taxonomy, one OSU Research Forest staff member and three Forestry and Natural Resources Extension staff members.
Over the five-hour event, participants collected, identified and documented 116 species of fungi.
Follow-up survey results showed meaningful skill gains:
- 40% of respondents said their fungal identification skills increased “a substantial amount.”
- 30% reported “a moderate amount.”
- 30% reported “a small amount.”
Participants also reported a strong sense of learning and connection, and they provided feedback to improve future events, including refining data-collection processes to increase scientific value.
Building on this pilot, Forestry and Natural Resources Extension and OSU Research Forests plan similar participatory science events in 2026, with an improved protocol for data collection.
Extension is also evaluating additional participatory science platforms to support more detailed monitoring methods that can be applied beyond the McDonald-Dunn. Planned 2026 outreach already includes workshops on participatory science tools at the Oregon Chapter of The Wildlife Society annual meeting and at Tree School Clackamas.
When research forests have reliable, repeatable biodiversity monitoring, land managers can better track ecological change, prioritize stewardship actions and maintain the forest values Oregonians rely on — from habitat and water quality to recreation and education.
By training forest visitors and community members to contribute usable observations usable for science, OSU Extension helps expand monitoring capacity while strengthening public trust and shared responsibility for managing working and research forests.
