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CORVALLIS, Ore. -The 2009 Starker Lectures will be held this winter at Oregon State University, with leading experts discussing issues relating to sustainable forestry.

The title for this year's lectures is "Sustaining Forests, Homes and
Communities." Sustainability will be explored from a broad perspective,
from sustainable production and use of forest products to maintaining
rural communities and the working forests on which they depend. Topics
will include forest management certification, green building standards
and initiatives to support forest-dependent communities.

The presentations, which are free and open to the public, are
supported by the OSU College of Forestry and the Oregon Forest
Resources Institute, and sponsored by the Starker Family. They honor
T.J. and Bruce Starker, prominent leaders in the history of the Oregon
forest products industry.

Each presentation will be on a Thursday in Richardson Hall Room 107
on the OSU campus. The lectures will also be available via streaming
video on the web, with more information about the web broadcast,
speakers and topics available at http://starkerlectures.forestry.oregonstate.edu

Besides the lectures, a capstone field trip will be held on March
12, titled "A Community of Wood: Corvallis Area and Wood Products
Businesses." More details on the field trip will be available on the
web.

The presentations and topics include:

• Jan. 22 - James Brown, former Oregon state forester, will speak at
3:30 p.m. on "Sustainability of Forests and Forest Management." He will
discuss changing social, economic and environmental influences on
forests, and how those influences may affect the sustainability of
forests and the benefits they provide.

• Feb. 19 - Jerry Yudelson, with Yudelson Associations of Arizona,
will speak at 7 p.m. on "Preparing the Forest Product Industry to
Compete in a Sustainable Marketplace." He will discuss how the forest
products industry can position itself to compete in a rapidly
developing, sustainable marketplace through innovative building design
and wood as a source of energy.

• March 5 - Martin Goebel, of Sustainable Northwest in Portland,
Ore., will speak at 3:30 p.m. and discuss "Community and Social
Sustainability."