PLEASE NOTE: As space is very limited please only register for the Pre-Conference Trip if you are certain you will be going.

The HJ Andrews Experimental Forest in the Oregon Cascades is site to lush stands of 500-year-old Douglas firs, the beauty of which has inspired work by Alison Deming, Robin Kimmerer, Kathleen Dean Moore, and Scott Russell Sanders. Located east of Eugene, it has been the site of long-term ecosystem research since its establishment in 1948. Beginning in 2004, the site has also hosted more than 130 residencies by creative artists and thinkers in the humanities and arts. The Spring Creek Project for Ideas, Nature, and the Written Word partners with the Andrews Forest science program to carry out the Long-Term Ecological Reflections program to host these residencies and other activities on topics of critical concern, including those related to this conference.

In keeping with the conference theme, the pre-conference field trip will consider the risks that accompany this forest through a deep examination of the effects of the devastating 2023 Lookout Fire, which burned through large swathes of the forest. Participants will also visit the Andrews Forest headquarters and other sites of long-term ecological research and humanities/arts inquiry, including a site in the Following Fire project (see link below). The drive time to and from Andrews Forest is nearly 2 hours through the verdant Willamette Valley and up the McKenzie River.

Logistics: The trip will take place from 8am to 5pm on Wednesday, August 20, 2025. Participants will gather at the parking lot just north of the PRAx building at 7:45am for an 8:00am departure. We will return to the same parking lot by 5pm that day. Please wear clothing and footwear suitable for walking on roads and trails and for the weather (generally warm and dry at this time of year). Bring your own lunch and a water bottle.

Warning: Active wildfires in three of the past four summers have led to closure of the forest. There is a chance that the trip will be affected by smoky conditions. In the event of active fires, the trip may even have to be cancelled.

Registration: The trip is free and open to all SLSA attendees. Please sign up at the following link. Spaces are limited, so please register early.

Webpages:
Andrews Forest
Spring Creek Project/Long-Term Ecological Reflections
Forest Under Story: Creative Inquiry in an Old-Growth Forest
Following Fire: A Resilient Forest / An Uncertain Future

Funding for this field trip is co-sponsored by Spring Creek Project for Ideas, Nature, and the Written Word and the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest.