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OSU Extension Service •

With focus on community, Open Campus and Juntos create opportunities

CORVALLIS, Ore. — Oregon State University Extension Service operates as a bridge from the university to the community and professional spaces. Historically, that bridge started as a way to support agriculture and natural resources, and that support continues today.

At the same time, as OSU Extension has modernized to serve the broader public, new questions have arisen:

Can Extension help community members seeking higher education or trade schools in other growing industries? How can Extension...
Washington Blade •

Aime Wichtendahl becomes Iowa's first trans legislator

Aime Wichtendahl first made history as the first openly trans woman to be elected to government in the state of Iowa when elected to the Hiawatha City Council. She made history again this Election Day, becoming Iowa’s first trans legislator.

Wichtendahl kept the seat blue by beating Republican opponent John Thompson 52 to 48. She will succeed Art Staed (D), who ran successfully for a state Senate seat, with unanimous support from the Democratic base.
Washington Blade •

More than 35 trans, genderqueer candidates running across U.S.

When Jennifer Williams was collecting signatures for her first political campaign in 2022, people told her, a transgender woman, “I think you would do an awesome job, but you got no chance to win.”


Their hesitancy was not unfounded. Williams won her seat on Trenton, N.J.’s City Council by a single vote.


This round she is running unopposed with broad community support. She attributes this to the fact that she got her job done. “Things have gone so well,” she says, “I think I delivered on ev...
LGBTQ Nation •

Parents across the political spectrum are banding together to save their trans children

Eric Childs says he joined the army because “serving my country was a defense of freedom.” 
“I live in a small town in South Carolina,” he declares in a video while at a shooting range with his son. “I absolutely believe in protecting my rights. And I absolutely love my trans child.”
The video is the first in a series by GRACE – Gender Research Advisory Council and Education – a non-profit founded by trans veteran Alaina Kupec with the goal of reaching across the aisle on transgender rights. The...
Washington Blade •

LGBTQ aid workers reflect on a year in Gaza, working with queer Palestinians

Editor’s note: International News Editor Michael K. Lavers was on assignment in Israel from Oct. 4-14.
JERUSALEM — LGBTQ Israelis and the groups that advocate for their rights continue to struggle with the aftermath of Oct. 7.
Hadas Kerem Bloemendal is the chair of Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance, a group that organizes the city’s annual Pride parade. The therapist and former Israel Defense Forces intelligence officer who is raising twins with her wife spoke with the Washington Blad...
Washington Blade •

Lesbian software developer seeks to preserve lost LGBTQ history

Up until the early 2010s, if you searched “Babe Ruth” in the Baseball Hall of Fame, nothing would pop up. To find information on the greatest baseball player of all time, you would have to search “Ruth, George Herman.” 
That is the way online archival systems were set up and there was a clear problem with it. Kristen Gwinn-Becker was uniquely able to solve it. “I’m a super tech geek, history geek,” she says, “I love any opportunity to create this aha moment with people through history.” 
Gwinn-B...
Washington Blade •

Trans experiences with the internet range from ‘harrowing’ to ‘powerful’

Alex, 29, would not have met their friends without the internet. While living in a small city surrounded by farmland, finding community was not always easy.
Alex tried out one of those apps for adults seeking to make friends. It turned out to be a remarkable success. “I’ve made my friend group as a direct result of using the internet,” they said, explaining that even though all the friends are trans, due to their diverse interests, “we would have been hard-pressed to have ever really run into ea...
Washington Blade •

Mass. startup streamlining name changes for trans, non-binary residents

A guy in America wants to buy a truck. They save money. They have built up good credit. They find a truck in their price range. They go to the dealership to buy it, but when the dealership puts the guy’s name through the system no credit shows up.

The problem? That guy is trans and had recently changed their name. “Due to the name change, I was credit invisible,” Luke Lennon explained. “This can happen often for trans and non-binary folks who change their name.” The kicker? “That piece is not t
Washington Blade •

From LGBTQ book bans to internet bans: A bipartisan attack on knowledge

“They had LGBTQ-inclusive books in every single classroom and school library,” Maxx Fenning says of his high school experience. “They were even working on LGBTQ-specific course codes to get approved by the state,” he said, describing courses on queer studies and LGBTQ Black history.

No, Fenning didn’t grow up in Portland or a Boston suburb. Fenning graduated from a South Florida high school in 2020. Florida’s transformation from mostly affirming to “Don’t Say Gay” has been swift, he says. “It feels like a parallel universe.”
Mother Jones •

Colonialism's link to the Maui wildfires

Fires have been raging across Hawaii’s Maui Island since Tuesday night. It is already the second deadliest wildfire in United States history, with 270 structures and 2,000 acres burned, 55 people dead, and 11,000 people without power. More than 11,000 people were evacuated on Wednesday, says Hawaii Department of Transportation director Ed Sniffen. The population of Maui is 164,000.

The fires are especially horrifying because Hawaii is not a natural fire ecosystem and has not evolved to rebound
Mother Jones •

Are these $2,000 water bills racist?

When Tyrone Pettway saw his water bill in October 2021, he thought it was a typo. The bill was for $2,384.51, some $2,300 more than what he usually owed the Prichard, Alabama, water board every month.

The document claimed Pettway, his wife, and their five kids had used 167,000 gallons of water over the course of the 34-day billing period, amounting to nearly 5,000 gallons a day. But Pettway was sure they had used no more water that month than they normally did: 3,700 gallons total, or about 18
Mother Jones •

What the fight over one small amphibian in Nevada says about the future of green energy.

The Endangered Species Act has been one of the country’s most valuable environmental tools, but it faces new threats. As the law turns 50, we’re asking whether this “pit bull” of an environmental law, as one expert described it, can survive the challenges of our time—from political attacks to climate shocks. You can read all the stories here.

Almost as quickly as the Dixie Valley toad was discovered, it became apparent the toad could be lost.

Richard Tracy, a biology professor at the Universit
5280 •

A Dinosaur Lover's Guide to Colorado

In 2021, Jonathan Charpentier was walking in a field behind his grandparents’ home in south Boulder when he spotted what appeared to be an especially shiny rock. Curious, the then 14-year-old pocketed it. Later, after he washed off the dirt, he compared the serrations on the curved mass to images of fossilized dinosaur teeth online; it looked enough like what he was seeing for him to email a photo to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS).

Charpentier didn’t have to wait long for an answe
5280 •

More Exciting Than Watching Grass Grow: Restoring Colorado’s Prairie Could Help Fight Climate Change

At first look, the shortgrass prairie is not exceptional. Located east of Denver, the expanse of green and golden stalks stretches to the horizon with only the occasional muted shrub and forb adding texture to the landscape. “It’s called the plains because it’s pretty plain,” says Fendi Despres, natural resource specialist with the City of Aurora. “The prairie is boring for most people.”

But even if the North American Plains aren’t marked by towering trees or flashy flowers, like in tropical ra
OSU Extension Service •

Extension cattle specialists seek to uncover how wildfire smoke affects cows

CORVALLIS, Ore. — Cattle ranchers east of the Cascades spent much of the summer evacuating their herds from wildfires that scorched nearly 2 million acres.

Even if the animals were moved safely away from the flames, they faced another potential danger: smoke exposure.

Across the state, on both dairy and beef operations, cows have been getting sick. Juliana Ranches, an Oregon State University Extension Service beef specialist, describes a rancher with cattle experiencing “running rose, running...
OSU Extension Service •

Bilingual education has an impact on Southern Oregon wine grape growers

CENTRAL POINT, Ore. — Nationally, 83% of farmworkers identify as Hispanic or Latino. In Oregon, that number is suspected to be higher.

To Artemio Gutierrez, the foreman at Dark Hallow Farm in Medford, it’s critical that farmworkers know about pests and diseases that harm crops.

“We are the first ones to see the problems,” said Gutierrez, who attended a bilingual field day in September at the Southern Oregon Research and Extension Center, also known as SOREC.

But historically, educational reso...
OSU Extension Service •

OSU researcher demonstrates bee pesticide monitoring is due for an upgrade

CORVALLIS, Ore. — By the time she was studying the mechanics of stag beetle pinchers as an undergraduate student, Emily Carlson knew she had been bit by the research bug.

Literally.

“Basically, I just got them really angry, saw how hard they could pinch, and then dissected their heads,” Carlson said.

Disclaimer: Beetles aren’t “true” bugs, but in the United States they are referred to colloquially as bugs.

Carlson went on to work in natural resources nonprofits and local governance as she fi...
OSU Extension Service •

OSU researcher trades chef uniform for lab coat to tackle wine grape pest

CORVALLIS, Ore. — Alexander Butcher’s passion for food — which led to culinary school and a 10-year career as a professional chef — has now brought him to Oregon State University to pursue a Ph.D. in entomology.

You read that correctly. We’ll let Butcher connect the dots.

“Working in the restaurant industry, I noticed so much food waste and it just really started to bother me,” Butcher explained. “That led me down a track towards agriculture and pest management and really trying to reduce food...
OSU Extension Service •

Dormant-season grazing is a win for all, Extension researcher shows

ONTARIO, Ore. — In 2015, the Soda Fire burned 280,000 acres in southwest Idaho and southeast Oregon, including large swathes of Malheur County.

One of the biggest contributors to the fire — and others like it — are invasive grasses, otherwise known as “fine fuels.” Not only do fine fuels worsen wildfires, they can also out-compete native plants that make up the unique biodiversity of the Northern Great Basin, where Malheur County is located.

Sergio Arispe, who’s been with the Oregon State Uni...
OSU Extension Service •

Oregon researchers part of first-of-its-kind national research partnership in organic seed production

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Often, growers must use organically produced seeds to produce organically-certified produce. But despite a growing demand for organic seed, growers lack research-based information about best production practices.

A coalition that includes three Oregon State University Extension Service researchers was awarded a $3.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to improve organic seed production, both in the Pacific Northwest and nationally.

The Organic Seed Alliance...
OSU Extension Service •

Oregon growers: This might be the droid you are looking for

CORVALLIS, Ore. – There’s a shout from across the field.

“Who’s got the remote?”

Those who have gathered at the Oregon State University North Willamette Research and Extension Center (NWREC) are looking at a large, square-shaped machine, which deftly navigates between rows of beets.

“It needs no remote,” said Dane Watson, one of the company experts in the technology.

The growers watch the machine make its way down the field. Their nods show that they are impressed.

Meet FarmDroid, an innova...
OSU Extension Service •

New detections of emerald ash borer signal plan is working

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Even as lead of the Oregon Forest Pest Detector Program, Dan Stark missed the moment emerald ash borer breached Oregon’s borders.

“I went up to a concert for the first time since COVID,” he said, “I was out in the Sierra Nevada.”

He returned to the news: The dreaded invasive beetle — which had been making its way across America, leaving a path of damaged, dying and dead ash trees in its wake — had been found in Oregon. The Oregon Departments of Agriculture and Forestry and ot...
Washington Blade •

How data helps — and hurts — LGBTQ communities

When Scotland voted to add questions about sexuality and transgender status to its census, and clarified the definition of “sex,” it was so controversial it led to a court case.
It got so heated that the director of Fair Play for Women, a gender-critical organization, argued: “Extreme gender ideology is deeply embedded within the Scottish Government, and promoted at the highest levels including the First Minister.”
Data, like the census, “is often presented as being objective, being quantitative...
OSU Extension Service •

Through unique collaboration, Extension helps Oregon nonprofit guide grants to hard-hit Oregon farmers

CORVALLIS, Ore. — There are years where nature and the elements are kind to Oregon farmers and ranchers so that they can produce a bumper crop or record livestock sales.

2020 and 2021 were not those years.

Oregon had historic heat domes, drought, wildfires and an early ice storm that impacted agricultural producers across the state.

“It was awful. People were suffering across Oregon,” said Lauren Gwin, director of the Oregon State University Center for Small Farms & Community Food Systems.

I...
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