2024 was our first fundraiser ever... and with your help, we raised over $20k for ongoing education. 2025 will blow that out of the water. Add your might to ours, come support Forestry and Natural Resources Education.

Oregon does trees a bit differently. Our forests are an active laboratory worth supporting and emulating; they create sustainable products, public recreation, curtail the threats of climate change, and provide a wide variety of careers!

Austin Ernesti met Wayne Stone at a museum event in 2021. Wayne spoke about the complexities of forest management and why he believed the 2020 fires were so important. Afterwords Austin spent a year driving around the state to listen and learn from people of a multitude of backgrounds: Loggers/Foresters, land owners, Environmentalist groups, Indigenous Peoples, Historians, businesses, nonprofits, Government, Education Professionals, and more. He discovered just how ignorant he was about it all; Oregon planting rates to harvest changes, fires and carbon capture, even modern management strategies. During the process he also discovered most of the public was in the same boat and that we all have a way to go before we see production and conservation actually working in harmony... in fact, we are a long way from it, but we get closer everyday and know its going to take fresh minds from a new generation to figure it out.

So he gathered a board of like minded Foresters, Teachers, Arborits, Operators and more...

They created a network of support from hundreds of people one hand shake at a time. They filed for an educational nonprofit, birthed Trajectory, a 501c3. and started working. Frequently the folks we speak with have conflicting beliefs and ideas, even within the logger world😂, but he found one thing in common: everyone he spoke with, from old time loggers to sustainability groups, was inherently supportive and truly did love their community and the state. From AOL to FNRL competitions, CRBC and USFS, OLC to BARK, and a whole bunch more, Trajectory's board put in the time to talk to people on the ground. There are plenty of good paying jobs in sustainable timber harvest... youth just don't know it.

With a start up grant from Clackamas County and heavy community support, Trajectory began presentations and coordinating Forestry Professionals into schools in December of 2022. By January of 2023 Sandy had a Forestry Club, and before school was out we had 2 full programs at different Clackamas County High Schools, providing them a new outdoor career specialist almost every week... In 2024, Trajectory has been to 8 schools and served thousands of students. We are looking at creating a Mobile Museum in 2025 with a Federal Community Initiated Programs Grant sponsored by Ron Weyden. This will allow us to visit a larger number of schools in metro areas and across the state. Just imagine the downstream effects of that kind of exposure. As teacher, and Trajectory Board member, Erich Feltz says, "People have been mistakenly taught, 'cut tree bad' when in fact, 'No, cut tree good. Plant tree and cut tree very good.'" We are ready to do the work.

Harvester simulators in classrooms, taking students out into the woods, getting a Forester in front of a class, or merely double bucking firewood with kids who have never used an ax before; Trajectory is bringing a new message to students in Oregon. The new message is based on an old question that cuts through dogma…

What are you going to build all of your stuff out of? Plastic?

Adults, Media, and Society at large don't do a great job of explaining the importance, benefits, and value

Kids are interested in outdoor work, land management, and sustainable forestry. But don't take our word for it, watch these folks get to work in the video from last year's scholarship dinner.

Just imagine what we can do with your continued support!

We envision a shift where Forestry Clubs are as common place as FFA, Trades Jobs are suggested at the same rate as college, and Oregon Forests are properly managed with a combination of Ongoing Scientific Processes, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, and old school Logger Gumption.

2025 Trajectory Forestry Scholarship (SICC Scholarships)

By Trajectory

2025 Trajectory Forestry Scholarship (SICC Scholarships)

Raise Scholarship Funds for an incoming freshmen to a Forestry or Related Trades program & Support local k-12 Forestry Education.

Team Members