Landslides ‘are everywhere’ in Oregon and more unpredictable than earthquakes

By Miranda Cyr
The Register-Guard
November 9, 2025
Category: Forestry
Region: Canada, United States, US West

Every year, there are thousands of landslides in Oregon. Geologists say the number is increasing due to climate change. …Swaths of the Pacific Northwest are particularly prone, thanks to a combination of mountainous landscape and heavy rainfall. “Over the last couple decades, the landslides and the surface processes and surface hazards that I’ve been working on have become much more prominent, primarily due to climate change and humans inhabiting more areas in hazardous terrain,” said Josh Roering, a professor of earth sciences at the University of Oregon. …Roering is one of the geologists involved in the newly formed Center for Land Surface Hazards (CLaSH). A $15 million NSF grant jumpstarted the center that will study landslides and other surface hazards. While CLaSH is housed in the University of Michigan, it is a collaboration with more than a dozen academic, governmental and community partners across the country. 

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