mark schulze

Director of the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest, Assistant Professor, and Senior Researcher at Oregon State University

HJ Andrews Experimental Forest, OR

August 26th, 2025

Nestled deep in the Willamette National Forest of Central Oregon, the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest sits as a pivotal center of Northwest Forest research. Mark Schulze serves as the director of research in this forest, where groundbreaking science meets the humanities. As one of the 82 designated experimental forests and rangelands in the United States, the Andrews Forest originally was designated to examine the effects of logging operations on environmental factors in forests, as well as to inform management policy on federal forest land.

Mark showed us several research sites and regaled us with the rich history of the Andrews. He was excited to speak about groundbreaking research conducted by Jerry Franklin, Mark E. Harmon, and several others, who discovered fundamental knowledge about the role of dead wood, endangered species, carbon sequestration, and old-growth forests. The research conducted at the forest led to the site being selected as one of 26 in the National Science Foundation’s Long-Term Ecological Research Program (LTER). It also informed the Clinton-era Northwest Forest Plan (1994).

As director, Mark’s job is to strike a balance between conserving the forest and implementing active management, as well as determining which experiments are conducted in the forest. He showed us a sediment catch basin site. He emphasized the need for adaptive management strategies, as well as the importance of minimizing the impact of fire and logging on forest ecosystems..

Thank you, Mark, for taking the time to show us around the Andrews Forest. It’s exciting to learn about the groundbreaking research being conducted here!

By Trevor Maziek