Time pressures and distance make collaboration and coordination between extension foresters from different states challenging. The objective of this meeting is to bring together extension professionals in forestry and related disciplines from the western region and offer a comfortable, low pressure venue for sharing program ideas and potential directions for future collaboration. We hope that our time together will lead to:

• The formation of new programming ideas or ways to improve on existing programs.
• Identification of ways to overcome barriers (real or potential) for getting ideas off the ground.
• New partnerships between states where information and ideas are freely shared and used.

Much of this meeting will consist of short presentations (given by you!) of ideas you have for cooperative projects, followed by short, informal meetings to discuss the projects that generate the most interest. Our objective is to get some interstate projects going from this sharing. We expect that many of you have ‘back burner’ ideas that are slowly smoldering away…this will be your chance to share them. And even if you don’t have specific programming ideas in mind, you may be interested in colleagues’ ideas and this meeting could spark new collaborations. Oregon State University Extension Forestry has used the following articles for strategic planning. These papers will serve as a rough guide for the sharing process we will use for this meeting.

For more information, visit the meeting webpage.