Eric Stauder serves as the Umpqua Oak Partnership Liaison at Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture, where he works to strengthen collaborative relationships focused on restoring and conserving oak habitat in Douglas County, Oregon.
Eric’s introduction to conservation came through one of his first jobs as a teenager, as part of a commercial fishing crew in Bristol Bay, Alaska. Fishermen in the bay shared concerns about how resource extraction and development were contributing to the decline of the world’s most productive wild salmon runs. This was Eric’s first case study on the challenges of natural resources management.
When Eric returned home from Alaska, he promptly enrolled in Umpqua Community College. Despite struggles in high school and uncertainty about his future, Eric was motivated to become the first in his family to pursue higher education and had always enjoyed spending time outdoors. His career pathway was set when he saw a flyer describing a new degree program in Natural Resources with a catchline that read “must have a dire interest to save the world.”
Through this program, Eric met Dr. Ken Carloni, who lit his passion for forest restoration and botany. One of the student internship projects Eric collaborated on with Dr. Carloni coincidentally introduced him to the Umpqua Oak Partnership. The project showed Eric how oak restoration can provide a bridge for a diverse network of partners to support socio-economic development in rural communities, while also ecologically stewarding healthy lands for future generations.
While earning his associate's degree focused on Landscape Monitoring and GIS, Eric had the opportunity to gain field experience through the local Oregon Youth Conservation Corps (OYCC). Since 2017, Eric has managed the OYCC, the same program that he participated in. Modelled after the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s, the program engages local marginalized youth between 16 and 26 and provides environmental education and workforce training. This includes paid and volunteer land stewardship roles, ranging from public lands maintenance to habitat restoration and ecological monitoring.
While coordinating the OYCC, Eric pursued dual bachelor's degrees in Natural Resources and Sustainability with a specialization in Forest Ecosystem Restoration and a minor in Botany from Oregon State University. He feels deeply rooted in the forest ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest and enjoys helping local students connect with nature and explore career pathways.
Currently, Eric is focused on accelerating on-the-ground oak restoration and monitoring projects. He is dedicated to community-based projects that both address local concerns and enhance landscape resilience. UOP recently completed a Strategic Action Plan to guide this work in a way that maximizes collective impact over the next decade. So far, Eric’s favorite aspect of the role is meeting with landowners, highlighting the importance of oak habitats, and broadening perspectives on how people can steward their land through conservation activities.
Outside of his roles with UOP and OYCC, Eric operates a backyard small business, Elder Oaks Nursery, where he spends much of his spare time scouting, collecting, and propagating native seeds. You can learn more about the nursery here. He collaborates with the Umpqua Native Plant Partnership to increase the community supply of locally-adapted native seeds and plants for restoration projects.
Join us in giving Eric a warm welcome to Pacific Birds!
