Institute for Natural Resources - Portland, Press Release

CHANGES AT OREGON HERITAGE

Starting on May 15^th, 2010, the Oregon Natural Heritage Information Center will be transferred from Oregon State University to Portland State University.

At PSU, it will become, the Institute for Natural Resources, Portland, or INR Portland.  INR Portland will be part of a newly established, School of the Environment, in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.  INR Portland will continue to be part of the Institute for Natural Resources, which will now operate within both Oregon State University and Portland State University.

INR Portland will have three primary programs:

• ORBIC or the Oregon Biodiversity Information Center

ORBIC will include most of our former ORNHIC staff with a mission to maintain and distribute biodiversity information for the state. This information includes at-risk species data, species data for all vertebrates and vascular plants, and data on invasive taxa from Oregon.  This center will continue to manage the Section 6 Invertebrate Species Program on behalf of the Department of State Lands.  ORBIC staff will be PSU faculty or researchers.

• Oregon Natural Areas Program

The official state natural heritage program has become the “Oregon Natural Areas Program”, through changes in the Natural Heritage Act made by the Oregon Legislature in 2009. The program is managed by the Department of State Lands. INR Portland provides staff to support the program and the Natural Areas Program’s Advisory Council, via an interagency agreement.  This program will also be managed by PSU staff in Portland.

• Pacific Northwest Landscape Assessment and Mapping Program (PNW – LAMP)

This includes INR Portland’s vegetation mapping, imagery interpretation, modeling and most GIS analysts.  Between May 15,2010 and March 31, 2012, all but one PNW-LAMP program staff will remain as OSU faculty research assistants or associates working on our “Integrated Landscape Assessment Project”, a Recovery Act project. The program is focused on mapping existing vegetation, modeling vegetation conditions and structure, improving historic and potential natural vegetation, and developing information needed for management and conservation analyses.  The PNW – LAMP is to remain a partnership between INR, the Forest Service’s PNW Research Station, and the College of Forestry at OSU.

INR Portland will be located in Suite 335 on the third floor of the University Center Building (UCB) at 527 SW Hall Street in downtown Portland. We will let everyone know our new phone numbers, web site and mailing address after we have moved.