• College of Liberal Arts
• College Colloquium
  • Course Offerings
  • Registration
  • FAQ
  • Opening Days Schedule
  • Contact Information
  • Faculty Resources
  • Colloquium Course WISE sites

Course Offerings

Zena Forest: Words, Work, and Wildlife

Oregon and the Pacific Northwest are indelibly associated with the region’s diverse forests, which have first for Native American tribes and then later European colonizers and settlers served as sources of sustenance, inspiration, culture, and conflict. Willamette University’s Zena Forest will serve as the central focus for this colloquium, in which students will learn, work, and reflect upon the meaning, function, and significance of forests within our region. In addition to reading such quintessential texts as Kesey’s Sometimes a Great Notion as well as some contemporary research on the structure and function of forest ecosystems, we will meet with foresters and environmental activists who have not always seen eye to eye regarding forest management. Additionally, students will gain first hand experience actually working in and managing Zena Forest, from surveying vegetation to thinning young stands. Participants should be prepared to critically interrogate their preconceptions, get their hands dirty and pitchy, and spend many a lunch hour amidst the oaks and firs of Zena discussing the future of forests and forestry in Oregon and beyond, and mulling such questions as, “Can forestry be both ecologically and economically sustainable?” and “What is the appropriate role of citizens in public and private forest management?”

Course taught by

Joe Bowersox III