This story was originally published on LincolnChronicle.org and is used with permission.
Oregon Coast Community College plans to launch a natural resources program in partnership with Yakona Nature Preserve and pending several higher education approvals, intends to start taking students next fall.
With a focus on conservation, the Natural Resources program aims to cover a wide curriculum about forest ecosystems, animal habitats and sustainable systems, blending the traditional classroom with the preserve’s outdoor “living laboratory.”
The proposed Associate of Science degree places students on a path that could lead to jobs in land management, education, conservation and natural sciences, the college announced Friday. The program is designed to transfer into Oregon State University’s natural resources program that leads to a bachelor’s degree. The college also intends to offer dual credit and early college programs for Lincoln County high school students.
Over the past 12 years, JoAnn and Bill Barton of Newport have steadily acquired 450 acres of forest by the Yaquina Bay with a goal to bring it back to what it once was before monocultures of Douglas firs changed the landscape. The intention was to preserve the old growth forests – a vision with a 300-year timeline – but also to be a space for education, science and art.
Yakona is already working with Siletz Valley School and other organizations. In 2024, 18 preschoolers, 207 elementary students and 394 middle and high school students participated in the preserve’s education programs, according to the nonprofit’s annual report.
The Bartons had the idea to partner with the community college for the program 10 years ago.
“We wanted to start a forestry type program that wasn’t geared toward extraction, but nurturing and diversifying forests,” she said.
Walking through Yakona Nature Preserve, visitors can see, feel and hear a physical difference between the trails that meander through mixed conifer forest with its thick carpet of deer fern and the 60 acres of monoculture Douglas fir coated with Swiss needle cast. The fungus impairs photosynthesis and stunts the trees’ growth.
To Barton, the two spaces represent what was common all throughout forested lands in western Oregon and what that land is like now. But students won’t just get to read about it in a textbook or take Barton’s word for it – they will be able to see it for themselves.
“Students will be using Yakona as a living laboratory,” she said.
Years in the making
Although the idea first took shape 10 years ago, making the college’s proposed program a reality took a little longer – and there are still some logistical hoops to jump through, including state approval and higher education accreditation.
The community college was getting ready to roll out the program last year but restructuring within OSU’s programs delayed that. The college wanted to make sure the two programs would gracefully align, said Bruce Clemetsen, vice president of Academic & Student Affairs.
The program will also offer dual enrollment credit for local high schoolers. Already, Siletz Valley School has a biology program that partners with Yakona that would count as dual credit, Clemetsen told the Lincoln Chronicle. The college is working to add 3-4 additional classes for different schools to the list, he said.
The community college program would be between 90-96 units and offer a range of different courses from plant and animal conservation to learning about forest ecosystems and the intersections of animal habitat with plants, air and water, Clemetsen said.
What makes the program special is the partnership with Yakona, he said, where students can access what they are learning in a practical way.
“Our students will have an advantage,” he said. “Yakona is one of the best places to have a long-term ecosystem management perspective.”
The curriculum is shaped to reflect the 300-year timeline Yakona employs in its own forest management practices, according to the college’s announcement made Friday.
The program will set students up to work in jobs such as forest management fields for federal lands, parks and recreation, watershed management, environmental consultation for projects and various private and nonprofit organizations that manage land for education or preservation, Clementsen said.
“This is a milestone moment for Oregon Coast Community College,” OCCC president Marshall Mease Roache said in a statement. “The Natural Resources program will provide local students with an affordable, high-quality educational pathway that is rooted in stewardship, science, and sustainability — values we share with Yakona and with the Bartons, whose vision and generosity have made this possible.”
The Bartons are one of the college’s largest benefactors and the partnership with Yakona is expected to grow in the coming years, to include field research, internships, and guest instruction from experts.
“The overarching hope and dream is that more people would care about important ecosystems, how important they are, how they interact with the natural world,” JoAnn Barton said. “To begin to see ourselves as stewards of the natural world for the benefit of humanity.”
- Shayla Escudero covers Lincoln County government, education, Newport, housing and social services for Lincoln Chronicle and can be reached at Shayla@LincolnChronicle.org
