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CORVALLIS - An Oregon State University Extension Service community outreach specialist has been invited to serve on a 16-member committee overseeing the endowment program of "Forest Renewal British Columbia," a Canadian program similar to the 1993 Clinton Forest Plan.

Flaxen Conway, of OSU's Department of Sociology, was selected because of her experience with the Northwest Economic Adjustment Initiative, the socio-economic portion of the Clinton Forest Plan.

Forests in Canada, and especially in the province of British Columbia, are suffering many of the same problems as U.S. forests, including overharvesting and environmental degradation.

"The Canadian government's response, Forest Renewal British Columbia, is similar to the Clinton plan, but the Canadians have made improvements that fit their situation," Conway said. "As a community development specialist, I will help evaluate grant proposals for community renewal activities."

Conway has been especially active in community and ecosystem recovery components of the Northwest Economic Adjustment Initiative, including a project that employs dislocated timber industry workers in forest restoration projects at family wages.

An agent and specialist with the OSU Extension Service since 1989, Conway first worked as a natural resources technology outreach agent and then as a community development specialist.