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CORVALLIS, Ore. - Oregon State University College of Forestry students will be in university forests this weekend to educate and remind people to be careful while enjoying the outdoors. They also will provide early warning and notification if a fire is discovered.

Due to heat levels that may break records this coming weekend and extremely dry forest conditions, OSU officials are reminding students, staff and faculty, as well as the general public, of the year-round smoking ban in force on university property.

The issue is of special importance on university-owned forests, which have already had small fires this year that people have caused. Smoking debris has been found on forest trails. All open flames are banned on university forest land, such as McDonald/Dunn Forest north of Corvallis, which is widely used for public recreation as well as scientific research and student education.

Temperatures may exceed 100 degrees this weekend. The Oregon Department of Forestry has raised the fire danger level to "extreme," and the region is now facing some of the most traditionally hot, dry weeks of summer.