The Rural Studies Program at Oregon State University and the nonprofit group, Wallowa Resources, have agreed to a partnership to provide research, education and outreach activities to Wallowa County.

The goal, say leaders of both programs, is to increase the well-being of rural communities n Oregon.

“Rural communities are facing significant challenges, not only economically, but socially, culturally and environmentally,” said Bruce Weber, a professor of agricultural and resource economics at OSU and director of the university’s Rural Studies Program.

“Though our focus with this partnership is on Wallowa County, the results will have applications and benefits across rural Oregon – and beyond.”

Faculty and graduate students from OSU will team with researchers from Wallowa Resources to identify research needs in Wallowa County.

One project will create a series of “community indicators for rural sustainability” that will help decision-makers and local citizens understand and monitor their economic situation.

Wallowa Resources will utilize its local contacts to organize a citizen group that will help identify and refine sustainability indicators, and collect local data. OSU faculty and students will develop a web-based information portal to keep the public notified.

Such a project would be difficult for either organization to undertake alone, said Nils D. Christoffersen, director of Wallowa Resources.

“Our history of collaborating with various colleges and faculties at OSU has been productive and this is another major step forward,” Christoffersen said of the partnership.

“It is particularly important as it focuses our collaboration on issues important to Wallowa County, including demographic transition and its impact on land use and collaborative resource management strategies. It also increases our capacity to provide education and training to our youth.”

“It also seeks to build additional local capacity for strategic planning and leadership in response to dramatic economic, social and political changes affecting rural communities in Oregon,” he added.

One of those changes is the scheduled demise of federal payments to Oregon counties based on timber harvests, which is projected to cost rural counties millions of dollars annually in revenues that pay for services including schools, law enforcement, fire protection, libraries and social programs.

A second project teaming OSU’s Rural Studies Program and Wallowa Resources will look at the direct impacts that the shutoff of these federal payments will have on Wallowa County.