World Forestry Center

The World Forestry Center (WFC) is an American nonprofit educational institution located in Portland, Oregon's Washington Park, near the Oregon Zoo.

History

The World Forestry Center has its roots in the 1905 Lewis and Clark Centennial American Pacific Exposition and Oriental Fair for which an enormous log cabin was built of huge native trees and advertised as the world's largest. [ cite web
url = http://photos.salemhistory.org/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/orarc&CISOPTR=2083&REC=1
title = Oregon State Forestry Building at the Lewis and Clark Exposition
author = Oregon State Archives, Secretary of State
date= July 1961
accessdate = 2007-11-04 ] Public interest in the Forestry Building, which was turned over to the State of Oregon, lasted long after the exposition ended, right up until it was destroyed by fire on August 17 1964. cite web
url = http://www.worldforestrycenter.org/organization/wfc_history.php
title = Our Roots
publisher = World Forestry Center
accessdate = 2007-11-04 ]

The day after the fire, a group of civic and industry leaders conceived The Western Forestry Center.Fact|date=November 2007 A new, less flammable forestry building designed by Oregon architect John Storrs was built in Washington Park.Fact|date=November 2007 It opened to the public on June 51971. The name changed to "World Forestry Center" in 1986 to reflect the center's revised focus on forestry on a global scale.

On June 30 2005, after a $7 million, 6-month renovation, the 20,000 square foot museum reopened with new interactive exhibits about the sustainability of forests and trees of the Pacific Northwest and the world. [ cite web
url = http://www.worldforestrycenter.org/organization/documents/GrandReopening.pdf
format = PDF
title = World Forestry Center Opens Its Doors to a BrandNew Discovery Museum
work = press release
date = June 82005
author = Jennifer Kent
publisher = World Forestry Center
accessdate = 2007-11-04 ]

Programs

The World Forestry Center's mission is to "educate and inform people about the world's forests and trees, and their importance to all life, in order to promote a balanced and sustainable future." [ cite web
url = http://www.worldforestrycenter.org/organization/wfc_aboutus.php
title = About Us
publisher = World Forestry Center
accessdate = 2007-11-04 ]

The WFC achieves its mission with three programs: The Discovery Museum, two donated working forests—the Magness Memorial Tree Farm and the Johnson-Swanson Tree Farm—and the World Forest Institute (WFI), which was established in 1989. The primary program of WFI is the International Fellowship Program.

The World Forestry Center campus also accommodates three other buildings: Julian N. Cheatham Hall, Harold A. Miller Hall and Harry A. Merlo Hall, which houses the WFC’s administrative offices and the World Forest Institute. [ cite web
url = http://www.worldforestrycenter.org/rentals/fr_halls.php
title = Halls—Beautiful, Practical, & convenient
publisher = World Forestry Center
accessdate = 2007-11-04 ]

The Forestry Hall of Fame

The WFC Forestry Hall of Fame commemorates people who have made important contributions to forestry. The photographs and biographies of nearly 200 forestry leaders are displayed in three chests constructed of select Black Walnut from the eastern U.S.

References

External links

* [http://www.worldforestry.org/ World Forestry Center] (official website)
* [http://www.portlandonline.com/auditor/index.cfm?&a=24796&c=27928 Multnomah County records website: 1964 photo of forestry building burning]