Activity Report for the Period 12/28/2015 – 1/6/2016

East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
ACTIVITIES
Jay Udelhoven
Completed:
  • Boards/Committees: Prepared for EMSWCD Board meeting (which was cancelled due to bad weather); prepared for and hosted Personnel Committee meeting.
  • Policies: Drafted CLIP grant Guidelines.
  • Program Implementation: Completed review and update of the Site Conservation Plan for the Dianna Pope Natural Area; reviewed and commented on the Metro Area Plan.
Planned:
  • Boards/Committees: Attend Grants Committee meeting; attend Land Legacy Committee meeting.
  • External Engagement: Attend Metro Natural Area Stewardship Advisory Committee meeting; meet with the new Multnomah County Planning Director to introduce him to EMSWCD; attend Multnomah County Farm Bureau meeting.
  • Program Implementation: Review information on the Portland Harbor Superfund site for possible comment; review EMSWCD history document; review and comment on the Rural Lands 5-Year Plan.
FINANCE & OPERATIONS
ACTIVITIES
Program Supervision / Finance & Budget Lissa Adams
Completed:
  • Lissa was on vacation at the time of this report and unable to submit an update.
Office Management Jed Arnold
Completed:
  • Finished Archived File project!
  • Registered board and staff for upcoming National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) conference.
  • Used the quiet time around the holiday's to catch up on some backlogged administrative work.
Planned:
  • Work on converting unused space upstairs into privacy/nursing space.
  • Continue soliciting quotes for replacement of copy machine.
  • Place branded baseball cap order.
Facilities Management Scot Wood
Completed:
  • I was on vacation with my family from Dec. 22 - Jan 4.
Planned:
  • I will continue working with our contractor and the city to get the permits issued for the board room work.
  • I will be working on various winter projects at Headwaters to help streamline things for the farmers during the next growing seasons. Projects to included new irrigations riser configurations, building hardening off tables, building field wash sinks and various other projects.
Marketing & Media Alex Woolery
Completed:
  • Took vacation and holiday from 12-22 to 12-28-15.
  • Continued development/testing of plant sale store and invoice generation. ~9800 plant sale postcards arrived this week, worked with Angela on email announcement and sent to ~7800 emails and social media. Updated website, answered several plant sale questions or referred to staff as appropriate.
  • Several updates to website; improvements, text and imagery updates to Rural Lands and Land Legacy pages. Updates and social media related to office closure and Board meeting cancellation.
  • Closed application period for the Rural Lands Conservation Technician position on the website; sent confirmation emails and answered questions from applicants related to the application process.
Planned:
  • Final development and testing of plant sale store; migrate store from development website to the public website and prepare for launching the sale. Launch store, track orders and inventory, and assist customers.
  • Work with Scot to mount and set up two time-lapse cameras at Headwaters Farm.
  • Continue looking into setting up a Nextdoor agency account for EMSWCD.
Information Technology Alex Woolery
Completed:
  • Joined the new Surface 4 tablet to the local network and tested. Helped 3 staff with Surface 3 questions and account settings.
  • Met with Kathy and Finance and Operations staff to discuss converting the media room to a "time-out"/relaxation room for staff, and where to store media and IT equipment.
  • Chris Aldassy's computer station went down due to a hard drive failure. Worked with Online Support to test and replace hard drive, and rebuild Chris' station after replacement.
  • Internet and access to the local network went down temporarily on Tuesday morning, likely due to a network switch getting overloaded. Worked with Online Support to restore access.
  • Assisted staff with software installation.
Planned:
  • Assist staff with network, software, printing etc. issues as necessary.
  • Look into reported wi-fi issues in the office and solutions.
RURAL LANDS
ACTIVITIES
Program Management Julie DiLeone
Completed:
  • Sandy River Basin Partners are preparing for the final stretch of the Focus Investment Priority OWEB (Oregon watershed enhancement board) application process. We will have an interview next week and a decision by the end of January.
  • Reviewing Conservation Technician applications.
  • Developing interview questions.
  • Helping with the draft CLIP grant guidelines.
Planned:
  • Headwaters Farm Conservation Plan.
  • Giving a tour of our rural watersheds to the new head of Multnomah County Planning.
  • Continued work on 5 year program plans.
Rural Water Quality Aaron
Completed:
  • Hired a wetland scientist to do more investigation to satisfy permitting for the Diana Pope Natural Area culvert replacement project.
  • Worked with a landowner to develop an irrigation design as part of the CLIP grant process.
  • Worked with Chelsea as she develops a service contract with a marketing firm to conduct research for an erosion prevention campaign for the nursery industry.
  • Met with Andrew, Rick and a pump contractor to investigate options of the irrigation system at the Oxbow property.
  • Attended the December Johnson Creek Inter Jurisdictional Committee meeting.
Planned:
  • Work with the design consultant to acquire permitting for the Diana Pope Natural Area culvert replacement project, and then put the construction out for bid.
  • Provide guidance in the design and construction of stormwater management features at Headwaters Farm.
StreamCare Lucas Nipp
Completed:
  • Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!
  • I conducted a site visit with a StreamCare landowner who has Christmas trees in the project area. We are working on a plan to thin the trees out so they can mature into a properly stocked riparian forest.
  • Rick and I inspected a land slide and the berm that impounds the pond on the Tamura Property.
Planned:
  • I will continue working on a Riparian Management Plan for a landowner who purchased a property that was enrolled in StreamCare and the Riparian Lands Tax Incentive Program (RLTIP). This document will be their plan so they can re-enroll in the RLTIP.
  • I will be continuing work on the Rural Lands Revegetation/StreamCare Five Year Implementation Plan.
  • I will attend the Sandy Basin Vegetation Restoration Coalition meeting next week.
Weed Management Chris Aldassy
Completed:
  • Developing Weed Control Implementation Plan. Collecting Date to compile in annual weeds report.
  • Performed site visits to monitor efficacy of prior weed control treatments
  • Connecting with landowners to secure access agreements for future weed control surveys and control work.
Planned:
  • We will be visiting several different sites to perform Holly and Ivy control .
  • Will continue editing Weed Control Implementation Plan and draft annual Weeds report.
  • Door to door outreach and winter weeds surveys.
Weed Management Jon Wagner
Completed:
  • Jon has been out on parental leave for the last reporting period.
Outreach & Education Chelsea White-Brainard
Completed: Chelsea White-Brainard
Completed:
  • Developed contract with Pivot Group for market research.
  • Facilitated messaging session for weed program with Rural Lands Team.
  • Worked with Lucas to design StreamCare mailer.
Planned:
  • Work with Aaron and Pivot Group to develop questions for survey of nursery growers.
  • Plan rural native plant workshop.
  • Work with Equity Team to complete Organizational Self-Assessment Related to Racial Equity.
URBAN LANDS
ACTIVITIES
Program Management Kathy Shearin
Completed:
  • Met with a group called TENS (Tree-of-Heaven Eradication Now) to discuss mutual interest in slowing the spread of this invisive tree via outreach and providing weed wrenches to local tool libraries. (EMSWCD/Urban Lands had recently purchased 4 weed wrenches for distibution to the tool libraries within our District).
  • Finished a draft of the Urban Lands 5-yr Plan.
  • Reviewed and met with management team to discuss CLIP grant guidelines.
Planned:
  • Working with Alex to create an Urban Weeds page on the website.
  • Meeting with Lea and Katie to plan for Katie's return.
Technical Assistance Erik Carr
Completed:
  • Hosted steering committee meeting for th EPA's Making A Visible Difference project; discussion on how to address environmental justice needs in N/NE Portland.
  • Met with Greening Rockwood working group to identify potential environmental justice projects in Rockwood neighborhood.
  • Met with landowner to discuss rain garden options on her property.
Planned:
  • Site visits scheduled to discuss rain garden incentive opportunities.
  • Meeting with Portland Community College facilities director to discuss staff training needs.
  • Working on self evaluation for 1-year review.
Outreach & Education Angela Previdelli
Completed:
  • Met with Equity Team to discuss the start of the organizational self-assessment.
  • Sent out first big email announcement about Plant Sale 2016 to approximately 8,000 residents/ previous participants.
  • Prepared labels, materials, documents for Plant Sale.
Planned:
  • Start of volunteer outreach to recruit about 100 volunteers for Plant Sale.
  • Attend meeting with Depave to discuss possibilities for including Depave sites in next year's Yard Tour.
  • Meet with community partners and staff from Multnomah County to prepare and plan for the EPA's Equitable Development Workshop in Gresham's Rockwood neighborhood.
  • Attend Multnomah County's - East County Caring Community meeting in Gresham - a meeting for service providers to partner toward common goals in Urban East County.
Outreach & Education Lea Wilson
Completed:
  • 19 spring workshops now scheduled and outreach begun.
  • Met with Columbia Slough Watershed Council outreach staff to discuss workshop with Spanish fascilitation.
  • Updated descriptions of new native plants for native plant sale website, plant list.
Planned:
  • Continue to process spring workshop requests.
  • Begin host check-ins and ramp up outreach for spring workshops.
  • Coordinate plant sale outreach with native plant workshop outreach.
CONSERVATION LEGACY
ACTIVITIES
Program Management Andrew Brown
Completed:
  • Progressed with the Headwaters Farm 5 year plan.
  • Held a site visit and worked on operational plan for the future of Oxbow farm.
  • Assisted Suzanne with PIC grant review materials, new review committee members, preparations for Grants Committee meeting, and made fixes to the grants MS Access database.
Planned:
  • Make progress with Land Legacy program and Grants program 5 year plans.
  • Preparations for Land Legacy Committee.
  • Work on grants baseline data and mapping for Grants Committee and PIC grant review process.
  • Collate quarterly report for second quarter.
  • Attend supervisors training.
Land Legacy Rick McMonagle
Completed:
  • Presented at Rockwood Public Utilities District meeting.
  • Began planning for farm succession event.
  • Drafted Ag Land Easement (ALE) plan.
  • Wrote letter to NRCS re: ALE grant program.
  • Toured Ag Land Easement project site.
  • Visited Food Alliance certified farm.
Planned:
  • Visiting potential farm succession event sites.
  • Drafting Ag Land Easement best mgmt. practices.
  • Producing due diligence schedule for Ag Land Easement project.
  • Drafting letter to landowners seeking farm help.
  • Preparing FY16-17 budget amounts.
Grants Suzanne Easton
Completed:
  • Successfully received 34 PIC grant 2016 applications.
  • PIC grant application review for missing items.
  • Entered all PIC grant 2016 applications in database.
  • Reviewed 2015 PIC grant mid-year reports.
  • Prepared SPACE grant applications for Board meeting.
  • Preparation for January Grants Committee meeting.
Planned:
  • Distribute agenda and materials for January Grants Committee meeting.
  • Prepare orientation materials for new PIC Grant Review Committee members.
  • Review PIC grant applications.
  • Fill out assessment tool for first Equity meeting.
Headwaters Farm Rowan Steele
Completed:
  • Drafted letter for landowners with properties that might be amenable to Headwaters Incubator Program graduates.
  • Coordinated with Rogue Farm Corps and partner organizations on the forthcoming Beginning Farmers and Ranchers Development Grant to bolster and galvanize Oregon's farmer development community.
  • Put together quarterly report.
  • Signed paperwork and coordinating with farmers for upcoming season.
Planned:
  • Basking in the sun on the beach.
  • Exploring ruins, marshes, and wildlife preserves.
  • Eating new and interesting foods and hoping for the best. ;)