Where Your Poplar Plantations and Vineyards Begin!

Ray and Sandra Ethell started Broadacres Nursery in 1988 providing mist propagation of grape plants for the emerging Oregon wine industry.  Broadacres Nursery continues to be a major supplier of high quality, grafted grape plants to Pacific Northwest vineyards.   We were one of the first nurseries to propagate hybrid poplars in the Pacific Northwest and promote their use as an environmentally friendly and sustainable source of wood fiber for the farming and timber communities.  We produce a wide range of poplar plants for the timber industry, environmental cleanup projects and streamside restoration.   Broadacres consults extensively throughout North America on poplar projects and continues to develop new applications for poplar to solve environmental and resource problems.   Our primary mission is to produce a quality product and provide a quality services to meet your needs.

Ray Ethell          

President and Sales Manager

After completing his B.S. in Horticulture from Washington State University in 1970, Ray began his career with Mobak’s Greenhouses in Woodenville, Washington.  His subsequent experience with Oki Nursery in Aurora, Oregon led to a position with Oregon State University’s North Willamette Experimental Station in Aurora where he worked for sixteen years eventually becoming farm manager and research coordinator.   At OSU, Ray mastered and improved propagation techniques for a wide variety of agricultural crops.  In 1988, along with his wife Sandra, he started Broadacres Nursery to leverage this experience and commercialize new crops for emerging industries.    Ray is on the advisory board for Clackamas Community College Small Business Development Center and also belongs to the Wine Growers Association and the Agricultural Business Council.

Sandra Ethell    

Production and Administration Manager

Sandra has a teaching degree in Home Economics from the University of Idaho.  Having run a successful alterations business, she joined Ray in starting Broadacres Nursery in 1988.   Sandra applies her teaching skills to supervise the greenhouse and nursery crews in all aspects of the propagation and grafting operations.    She is also responsible for accounting and invoicing activities. 

Bill Schuette      

Consulting and Research

Bill had his own consulting and timber management company before joining Broadacres Nursery in 2000.  Prior to Broadacres, Bill worked for twelve years with James River Corporation in the development and management of their 30,000 acre poplar plantation programs in Oregon, Washington and Mississippi.  He managed James River’s landowner assistance program in the Northwest and supervised the company’s cultural research program.  Bill consults extensively with projects around the country specializing in the use of poplars for cleaning contaminated soils and reusing municipal wastewater.    Bill has bachelors and masters degrees from the University of Washington in forestry and is working on a Masters of Business Administration at Washington State University.  He is also fluent in Spanish. 

Email: broadacr@oregonsbest.com

Sandra Ethell.
Copyright © 2001 [Broadacres Nursery, Inc.]. All rights reserved.
Revised: 12/19/01.

Back to Contents