09/02/2026
The final weekend of our SW Oregon Naturalist Field Course packed an amazing slice of the Oregon coast into two days, from a giant forest research laboratory to an ancient coastal lake, moving dunes, the Pacific Ocean, and the nation’s first estuarine research reserve.
We started in the 83,000-acre Elliott State Research Forest, established in 1930 as Oregon’s first state forest and designated the state’s first research forest in 2024.
Research Coordinator Ryan Baumbusch took us behind the scenes to see sensors and monitoring equipment quietly collecting information around the clock. The Elliott is essentially one enormous outdoor laboratory, helping scientists investigate some big questions: How do different forest practices affect wildlife, water, carbon and biodiversity? And how will forests respond to a changing climate?
Tahkenitch by Boat -- Our home for the night was Tahkenitch Lake, a sprawling freshwater lake between coastal forest and the Oregon Dunes. Its Native name, Tsaxinich, means “having arms running out like a crab,” which is a perfect description of its many twisting fingers. People have lived around this lake for thousands of years; archaeological evidence at Tahkenitch Landing dates back roughly 7,000–8,000 years.
Waiting at the water was Captain Robert Hoehne of Blue Dream River Wildlife Tours and his classic Roseburg-designed wooden river sled. Designed especially for the shallow, rocky rivers of the Umpqua, these broad, flat-bottomed boats can skim across water where deeper boats can’t go. “Captain Bluebird” took us out four at a time to explore the lake’s hidden coves and wildlife.
Back at camp Bryce Englehardt and Brandy Davies arrived with a basket overflowing with about 10 varieties of mushrooms they had foraged nearby. Some even became breakfast the next morning! We finished the day with a shared meal, a fire and bluegrass music into the night.
The next morning we hiked through the Oregon Dunes, eventually emerging onto a huge landscape of sand, grasses, sky and Pacific Ocean. These are active dunes, as the ground itself moves. Wind shifts sand, buries vegetation and exposes new terrain, creating a tough place to live.
Program participant and OSU Extension educator Kalee Paxton gave a wonderful overview of restoration work with the Western Snowy Plover. Its tiny speckled eggs can nearly disappear against the sand. Once they hatch, Dad takes over much of the childcare, leading the chicks toward feeding areas while Mom may head off to produce another clutch.
But life on the dunes has become harder. Introduced European beachgrass stabilizes sand, allowing shrubs and eventually evergreen trees to move into formerly open dunes. That can create barriers between nesting areas and the shoreline. Add people, dogs, vehicles, crows, ravens and raccoons, and raising a family on the beach gets complicated fast. But what looks like an empty stretch of sand to us may actually be a nursery.
Our final stop was South Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, nearly 7,000 acres of tidal channels, wetlands, forest and freshwater habitat near Coos Bay. In 1974, South Slough became the very first National Estuarine Research Reserve in the United States.
It was a fitting place to finish. We began in the Elliott, where an entire forest functions as a living laboratory, and ended at South Slough, where an entire estuary does much the same thing.
Over one weekend we watched scientists gather forest data, explored an ancient lake by river sled, examined mushrooms, crossed moving dunes, followed the remarkable life of a tiny shorebird and ended in an estuary protected for research, education and stewardship.
Not a bad way to wrap up our field course!
