College of Forestry

Meet Jaime Pinkham

Jaime Pinkham currently serves as Vice-President of the Archibald Bush Foundation, St. Paul, Minnesota, with a focus on Native Nation building.  Jaime is a member of the Nez Perce tribe, an OSU College of Forestry graduate and has had a wealth of career experiences that are mentioned in this video. (2010; 5 min., 36 sec.)

Meet Luis Palacios

Luis Palacios is a forest engineer for the USDI Bureau of Land Management, stationed in Eugene, Oregon. Luis is El Salvadoreño American, an OSU College of Forestry graduate and was active with a variety of diversity clubs on campus. (2010; 3 min., 43 sec.)

Me gusta presentarles a Luis Palacios, ingeniero forestal graduado de la Universidad Estatal de Oregon y la Facultad Forestal, elsalvadoreño americano, que ha estado trabajando en la ingeniería forestal con el BLM, Eugene, desde que se graduó hace unos años. (20105 min., 08 sec.)

Meet Dr. Frank Lake

Frank Kanawha Lake is a research ecologist at the Pacific Southwest Research Station of the USDA Forest Service, where some of his work is applied research related to traditional land, water and wildlife management.  Frank received a PhD at OSU with deep connections to the College of Forestry.  A Native and Mexican American, Frank reflects both on the connections between his academic experiences out OSU, his communities, and his work. (2010; 4 min., 11 sec.)

Meet Crystal Perez Gonzalez

Crystal Perez Gonzalez is a forest manager for the USDI Bureau of Land Management, stationed in Eugene, Oregon.  Crystal graduated the same year as her colleagues and friends, Luis and Rodrigo (also featured on this page).  Crystal is Puerto Rican American and an OSU College of Forestry graduate who describes many formative experiences that she had as a student at OSU. (2010; 3 min.)

Meet Leslie Weldon

Leslie Weldon is Regional Forester for Region One, USDA Forest Service.  One of her many connections to the OSU College of Forestry is from her time spent as District Ranger, Sisters Ranger District, Oregon.  Leslie describes her diverse career path in the Forest Service and provides thoughtful reflection on some of her experiences as an African American woman in forestry.  Although Leslie graduated from Virginia Tech and not OSU, with her many connections to our college she happily offers herself as one of our Virtual Mentors. (2010; 5 min., 53 sec.) 

Meet Rodrigo Arellano

Rodrigo Arellano is a forest manager for the Siuslaw Resource Area, USDI Bureau of Land Management, stationed in Eugene, Oregon.  Rodrigo self-identifies as a first-generation Mexican American, and came to Oregon as a student from Oakland, California.  A College of Forestry graduate from the Wood Science and Technology program, Rodrigo discusses his pathway to his chosen profession and some of the key experiences that brought him to Oregon and ultimately into the BLM. (2010; 2 min., 56 sec.)

Me gusta presentarles a Rodrigo Arellano, ingeniero de manejo forestal,, graduado de la Universidad Estatal de Oregon y la Facultad Forestal. Rodrigo se identifica como Mexicano Americano, primer generación estadounidense, desde Oakland, California.  Rodrigo discute como se fue desde Oakland hasta la agencia gobermental de BLM, oficina de Eugene, desde que se graduó hace unos años. (2010; 3 min., 35 sec.)

Meet Vince Randall

Vince Randall manages timber programs for the USDI Bureau of Land Management, Grants Pass area, self-identifies as Native American, and attended the College of Forestry in the '90s. in 2009 Vince was integral in helping to secure funding that allowed College of Forestry to initiate the SEEDS program.

Randall stands tall in all areas

By Jeff Duewel of the Daily Courier (7/18/2011)

Vince Randall shed the football helmet for the hard hat 25 years ago, but he's never stopped towering over his peers and followers like a big Douglas fir.

Forester, father, coach, and mentor, it's hard to find a more respected member of the coaching and forestry fraternities than the 6-foot-7-inch, 260-pounder, who could pass for years younger than the 50 he'll be in August.

"He's just an incredibly loyal, unassuming, well-connected person that always has the kids' best interest at heart," said Hidden Valley head football coach Jim Figoni. Randall was an assistant to him for about 15 years. "You don't find a lot of peoplelike that anymore."

"Everybody knows him. People want to come up and talk to him, because he's influenced them so much," said his friend of 30 years, Pat Murphy, a local plumber who graduated with Randall from Hidden Valley High.

Until recently, Randall put on coaching clinics for several years, and he's served at numerous camps at the University of Oregon and Oregon State University, where he's pals with many on both staffs. He's coached many years of youth football and basketball, boys and girls. He's now the freshman football coach at Grants Pass High School.

He looks serene driving a little blue truck with a chain saw in the bed, big elbow poking out the window, often wearing suspenders, as he heads out to cut firewood for extra money. He cuts a striking, swarthy figure, the Chippewa-English blood from his dad, and Italian-Ukrainian from mom.

Thirty years ago, Randall was more of a madman, running a 4.6-second 40-yard dash and getting himself drafted by the United States Football league in its first season, after he had played four years at Portland State College (now University or PSU).

But as a young boy he suffered from asthma and from a nomadic life following his biker father around California, and wondering where his drug-addicted mother was.
His dad ended up in California's San Quentin Prison, and his mother was on the lam for years. He remembers detectives coming to the house looking for her.

"I raised myself," Randall said. "Football coaches were my salvation. I see kids who are like me growing up, and I know what they're going through."

Randall learned the game playing Pop Warner in New Jersey, where he spent a couple of years with his grandparents. Back with his father, he showed up as a gangly teen at Lincoln Savage Middle School, and didn't play football again until his junior year of high school, when Hidden Valley opened in 1977. He never would have suited up at GPHS, where hundreds turned out.

The Hidden Valley Mustangs were state runners-up in 1978, Vince's senior year, when he was a standout offensive tackle.

At Portland State in 1980, he blocked for the immortal Neal Lomax, as Portland ran up scads of points, including 105 to Delaware State College. He said his high school coach, Mike Mitchell, orchestrated the PSU choice by phoning coach Mouse Davis and announcing, "I've got great news. Vince Randall decided to come play for you," then handing Randall the phone.

Randall had already signed up to play at Oregon College of Education, now Western Oregon. The U of O and Oregon State weren't interested.

A few years later, pro scouts were watching. The National Football League wanted 300-pound offensive linemen, but Randall found a home in the United States Football League, where he was converted to tight end after never catching a ball in high school or college.

"I dropped the first pass in USFL history," he said.

He caught just one pass that year. He was taken by Oklahoma in the USFL expansion in 1984, but the night before leaving for camp he blew out his knee playing pickup basketball with buddies at Jerome Prairie Elementary. He flew out of Medford at 6 a.m. the next day, wearing crutches, but found a pink slip on his hotel room door the next day.

During his last tryout for the Portland Breakers, his Labrador retriever Fred got run over on the Williams Highway. He also had a bad knee and broken collarbone from a dirt-bike accident.

"I thought maybe it was time to do something different," he said.

Post-football, he worked at Gregory's mill in Glendale, and cutting firewood, then started at Rogue Community's forestry program in the late 1980s. He earned his forestry degree at Oregon State and took a job with the Galice Ranger District of the U.S. Forest Service.

He's now managing timber programs for the U. S. Bureau of Land Management. It's not as fun as it used to be, now that timber managers, the government, and the public try to balance forest policy with often divergent goals.

"It seems like forestry has gotten away from the forester, and we're trying to implement direction from judges or environmental organizations," Randall said.

On the family front, daughters Gabby and Brittany are both at the U of O. Both played basketball at GPHS, and Gabby earned a scholarship to play at Sacramento State University.

Still at home, sons Dustin and Zach are GPHS football players hoping to follow in dad's big footsteps.

Dustin lost 60 pounds and spent close to a month in the hospital last November fighting viral meningitis, an infection called MRSA and shingles that affected his optic nerve and brain, but he's healthy for his senior year and about 6 feet 5 inches tall and about 240 pounds.

Zach's a sophomore, not much smaller than Dustin. Both are getting looks from college football coaches. It's in the bloodlines, as their mother, Jody, was a standout athlete at GPHS and her brother, Josh Dean, played college football at Oregon State and Portland State.