Community Engagement: A Vision for Oregon Forests

In November 2022, the Board of Forestry (the Board) along with the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) launched an effort to develop a new strategic plan. A subcommittee of the Board focused on developing the strategic plan recognized the need to hear from Oregonians on what they value and envision for Oregon forests. ODF partnered with Oregon Kitchen Table (OKT) to hear from people throughout Oregon about what they want to see in the new strategic plan. Over 4,000 people from every county in Oregon participated in the different forms of engagement activities. People participated in nine languages.

The purpose of this Oregon’s Kitchen Table project was twofold: 1. to hear from people throughout Oregon about what connects them to Oregon forests and what matters most to them for ODF and the Board to consider in updating their strategic plan; and 2. to hear from Oregonians who have not been part of state-level discussions on forests in the past. In order to meet these goals and reach those various communities, we created a number of ways for residents of Oregon to provide input in multiple languages over several months starting in June 2023 and concluding in February 2024.

The report from Oregon's Kitchen Table includes:

• An executive summary;
• A description of the project’s outreach and engagement activities;
• General observations from across the entire community engagement process;
• How people are connected to and hope to be connected to Oregon forests;
• Concerns, experiences, and perspectives people have related to Oregon forests;
• How people are thinking about extreme events and Oregon forests;
• Recommendations about future engagement efforts;
• A brief conclusion; and
• Appendices.