Science Story

This 2025 year's issue talks about how scientific research at the University of Oregon and across the nation is under attack. The current federal administration has expressed a determination to rein in federal expenses, regardless of damage to ongoing scientific research, or to the nation's world-leading reputation for scientific advancement. Students in Science Story explore some of the impacts on lives in the Willamette River Valley.

This year’s Science Story reporters dig into the challenges shaping life in western Oregon, from wildfire recovery and food insecurity to disappearing fish and small-town resilience. Their stories spotlight student hunger, farm dreams, mystery sharks, and what it means to call a place home.

In 2023, 17 students participated in Science Story and followed stories across the state, ranging from filming citizen science research on kelp forest decline in Southeast Oregon to uncovering the nation’s largest waterfall concealed by colonialization and industrialization in Portland.

Through the winter and spring of 2022, a new group of students took up where the previous year left off, chronicling the forest as it recovers and people as they rebuild, move in or move away.

Oregon’s McKenzie River Valley recovers from the Holiday Farm Fire of 2020

In the lower Willamette Valley, student journalists examine the fragile systems that sustain life that is clean water, healthy forests, and resilient communities. Stories explore a sole drinking water source, the legacy of logging, a town’s revival, and the renewal of Amazon Creek.