Benton County received its first County Extension Agent in 1917. The Oregon State University Extension Service established a farm forestry project in 1944; by the early 1980s, the Extension Forestry program included 10 county agents and 8 central staff forestry specialists.
Rick Fletcher served as Extension Forestry Agent for Benton County from 1979 until his retirement in 2011. Bert W. Udell graduated from Oregon State College in 1940 with a degree in logging engineering. He established the Happy Valley Tree Farm near Lebanon, Oregon, where he hosted an annual tree day for the public. The tree farm was the site for 4-H activities and educational tours. Udell was also active in the Oregon Small Woodlands Association. He died in Lebanon in 2010.
The Benton County (Or.) Extension Service Records consist of materials generated and assembled by the Extension Service Office in Benton County. The Records primarily document a variety of activities and programs, primarily pertaining to forestry operations and Christmas tree farms during the tenure of Extension Forester Richard A. (Rick) Fletcher. The collection includes brochures, bylaws, cds, correspondence, meeting minutes, newsletters, newspaper clippings, photographs, research data, reports, and survey records. Information about forestry demonstration projects, tours and workshops, 4-H forestry programs, and collaboration with local forestry operations and Christmas tree farms are included as well as Extension Service planning materials, surveys, and research records. About a third of the materials reflect research projects in the Benton County area, primarily relating to Christmas tree farming. Materials documenting research on the cultivation of cottonwoods and ponderosa pines are also included. Records of the Oregon Small Woodlands Association are part of the collection.
The photographs consist of 95 slides and 60 prints depicting a forestry tour in Japan, the 1996 National Tree Farm Conference, examples of agro-forestry farming, and Bert Udell.
Collection is open for research.
Benton County (Or.) Extension Service Records (RG 249), Oregon State University Special Collections & Archives Research Center, Corvallis, Oregon.
This collection is not fully processed; this guide is preliminary.
This collection was transferred to the Special Collections & Archives Research Center in 2012 by the Benton County Extension Office.
Preliminary container
list available
Additions to the collection are expected.
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