The Oregon Master Naturalist Program – 150 Million Years in the Making

Think about it. An entire course dedicated to teaching Oregonians about the natural history that has made Oregon, well, uniquely Oregon. Some might say that there is no better place than Oregon to create such a program, owing to its dramatic scenery, wild places, productive landscapes, and regionally diverse ecology. A land of extremes, Oregon is bookended by temperate rainforests along its coast and deserts to the east, with dozens of natural communities in between. It has been a 150 million year history of dramatic geological and biological changes for this state: continental plates colliding with oceanic plates and violent uplifting of mountains, with the creation and transformation of diverse living ecosystems as a result. Furthermore, the state has seen dramatic change in its land and people since it was designated a state in 1859, just over 150 years ago; changes that continue even today.