Online Course
The Online Course serves as your first training course to become an Oregon Naturalist.
Photo by Jason O'Brien (Cropped from original)
The Online Course serves as your first training course to become an Oregon Naturalist.
Registration for the 2026-2027 Oregon Naturalist Online Course offerings will begin in July, 2026. Online Courses will occur from September to December (2026) and January to April (2027).
There is a waitlist and a spot in the online course this year is not guaranteed. Please click the link below to be taken to OSU's Professional and Continuing Education (PACE) website to access a waiting list for the online course.
This course is delivered entirely online using Oregon State University's online learning system called Canvas. A new topic (see below) is covered each week. For each topic, there is a main interactive reading containing images, figures and video, a written assignment with class discussion (via a discussion board), and a quiz. One new topic is released each week, for a total of 8 weeks. Four additional weeks are available for those who need extra time. Successfully completing the course requires passing a 25-question multiple choice, true-false final exam.
How ecoregions frame the Oregon Naturalist program and help organize Oregon’s natural diversity.
The geological processes of Oregon (e.g., 400 million year history of plate tectonics, volcanism, earthquakes and tsunamis, Pleistocene floods). And the atmospheric, hydrological, and biological connections to geology.
Basic physical, biological, and chemical processes, and watershed management issues.
Foundational ecological concepts related to wildlife and plant communities. And wildlife management history and science.
Forest community types, biological & successional processes, forest wildlife, sustainable management strategies, and contemporary conservation issues.
High desert sagebrush, shrub-steppe and bunchgrass ecology, dryland plant and wildlife adaptations, rangeland management concepts.
Pre-historic climate conditions, contemporary climate trends, basic climate change science, projected impacts on Oregon landscapes.