Contact:  Patty Burel, Public Affairs Officer at (541) 858-2211 or cell phone (541) 941-4268

                       

National John R. McGuire Award Winner Announced

 

MEDFORD, OR – January 19, 2007 – Forest Service employee Robyn Darbyshire is a recipient of the distinguished John R. McGuire Award for her continuing work coaching and encouraging science students to learn to do genuine natural resource research.    

 

The award was presented on January 18 in Medford, Oregon by the National Association of Forest Service Retirees in honor of John McGuire, who served as the tenth Forest Service Chief from 1972 to 1979, and helped strengthen State and Private Forestry’s role and Research’s role in implementing the National Forest Management Act of 1976.   

 

National Association of Forest Service Retirees Northwest Director John F. Marker, Mt. Hood, Oregon, said,  “The John McGuire Award was created to honor a former Chief of the Forest Service who challenged the people of the Forest Service to look to the future and reach out to their colleagues and the public to promote better scientific forestry.”   

 

“We are honored that the retirees decided to present their highest national award to Robyn Darbyshire,” says Linda Goodman, Regional Forester for the Pacific Northwest Region headquartered in Portland, Oregon.

 

Darbyshire is a certified silviculturist assigned to Chetco Ranger District of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest who works for the agency’s PNW Research Station to manage Long-Term Ecosystem Productivity Integrated Research Sites in Oregon and Washington.  She resides with her family in Brookings, Oregon.

 

 “For fifteen years, Robyn has been coaching and encouraging teenagers in high school to learn how to do stunningly sophisticated natural resource research projects,” says Forest Supervisor Scott Conroy, who was part of the team that submitted the nomination. “But more than that – these young people are growing into adults who understand good science, and who and care about the National Forests.”

 

 

National John R. McGuire Award Winner Announced – Page Two

 

A congratulatory letter from the Chief of the Forest Service, Dale Bosworth, notes that former Forest Service Chief McGuire saw the future of forestry in the 21st century requiring an intense level of cooperation and interaction between forest managers and the people who use the forests.  “He would have used this award nomination as an example of what he believes the profession should be doing in the 21st Century,” writes Bosworth.

 

When working with students, Darbyshire emphasizes that they are the “principal investigator” on their study. "I emphasize a collaborative approach, and I try to make it as close to a real research setting as possible,” she said.  “We have a weekly "lab meeting" where we review safety issues and have a mini research methods seminar. Their work is not about getting a grade, but about how to improve what they are doing by incorporating elements of good experimental design, analysis, writing, and presentation skills,” she said.

 

"I also make myself available as a research assistant for their projects as needed, and that is really fun," she adds. "It's a great 'brain stretch' for me to work with the students - it involves lots of creative problem solving, and it's amazing how much stuff you never thought you'd use comes in handy."  

 

Darbyshire sees the hours she volunteers in working with students as repaying kindness: "When I was in high school there were a couple of university professors who "adopted me" into their lab on the Idaho State University campus, so this is my way of repaying their kindness and generosity," she says. Darbyshire wants to encourage more students from other local high schools to participate beyond Gold Beach High School to include Brookings-Harbor and Pacific High Schools. 

 

Over time, the volunteer coaching has required some innovative thinking from Robyn to help keep things going when dollars got tight. Today, her creative thinking means the science students she coaches can enroll in a class and receive up to 6 college credits for free, as Robyn donates her time as an instructor, and the community college subsidizes the remaining tuition. Her students also receive high school credit for their work. Meanwhile, they also do fundraising to pay for equipment and supplies and travel, so cost is not a barrier to participation.

 

In addition, Curry Science Academy, a new nonprofit organization was recently formed to support their activities and expand the opportunities to other communities in the county. The Academy has been able to pick up small grants from to pay for some supplies and travel. As a non-profit, they can also apply for additional grants, matching funds and equipment resources as people get excited about what the students are doing and want to support it.

 

National John R. McGuire Award Winner Announced – Page Three

 

 

 

 Sidebar 1: Student accomplishments

 

Among fairly recent studies by Gold Beach students were a project designed to deter salmon smolt from hydropower turbines, and innovative investigations of Port Orford-cedar root disease and of Sudden Oak Death. 

 

Other Gold Beach students investigated genetics projects, including at genetic differentiation of coastal shore pine vs. serpentine lodgepole pine (both are Pinus contorta) populations; compared coast range and Cascade noble fir genetics; and looked at genetic variation in Brewer spruce and coastal river cottonwood.

 

Two students Mike Olson and Chad Schlottman partnered in Biscuit Fire soil recovery research, studying the effects of mycorrhizal inoculum and slow-release fertilizer on ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir seedlings planted in soil with three levels of burn severity.

 

Another Gold Beach student research project revealed promising antibiotic properties in local marine algae, and yet another project looked at trees that are "calcium pumps” and how that affects nutrient cycling on calcium-deficient serpentine soils. 

 

Robyn Darbyshire’s research students have established a reputation for student investigations in natural resources science, and have earned State and national awards, scholarships, a NOAA internship on a research ship for student researcher Alexa Carey, and invitations to an international science exhibition in Chile for Mike Olson and Chad Schlottman. 

 

Some of the students, including Laurie Fletcher and Mike Olson, have also worked during the summer for the Forest Service.

 

 

Sidebar 2: About Robyn Darbyshire

Robyn Darbyshire is a certified silviculturist assigned to Chetco RD of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, working for PNW Research Station to manage Long-Term Ecosystem Productivity Integrated Research Sites in OR and WA. She oversees vegetation data collection for that project, as well as all of the data management. She has also been the district and Forest Resource Advisory Committee coordinator, and served as the Research Coordinator for Biscuit Fire. 

Darbyshire holds a B.S. in forest science, M.S. in forest science (forest regeneration physiology), and a Ph.D. in progress in forest ecology and wood anatomy.

 

 

 

** Reporters can contact Patty Burel at 541-941-4268 if you would like to obtain the phone number to contact the National Association of Forest Services Retirees Northwest Director John Marker for a press interview. 

 

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