Activity Report for the Period 4/3/2017 – 4/14/2017

East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
ACTIVITIES
Jay Udelhoven
Completed:
  • Boards/Committees: Prepared for and hosted ad-hoc committee meeting to discuss associate board director applicants; participated in one associate board director interview with the ad-hoc committee.
  • External Engagement: Attended meeting hosted by Yamhill Soil & Water Conservation District and attended by other soil and water conservation districts, the Oregon Department of Agriculture, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service to discuss lessons learned related to improving water quality in local waterways; attended DePave 10-year celebration and fundraising event.
  • Policies/Planning/Budgeting: Continued revision of leave policy; reviewed 1st draft of the Rural Water Quality Plan.
  • Program Implementation: Developed Grange-EMSWCD MOA; met with Multnomah Grange representative and signed 20-year MOA to improve and use of their site for public workshops and other events; send letter to Oregon Legislative committee to support the bill related to the Oregon Agricultural Heritage Program; met with the Oregon Association of Nurseries along with Board Director Masterson and staff to discuss engaging nursery producers to address soil erosion.
  • Supervision/Leadership: Met with staff and management team during 1x1s, team meeting, and all staff meeting.
Planned:
  • Boards/Committees: Prepare for May board meeting; meet with ad-hoc committee to interview four associate board director applicants.
  • External Engagement: Attend Multnomah County Farm Bureau meeting with Rural Lands staff; speak at Parkrose event.
  • Policies/Planning/Budgeting: Continue revision of personnel policies.
  • Program Implementation: Meet with Friends of Forest Park to discuss an equity and forestry initiative.
  • Supervision/Leadership: Meet with staff and management team during 1x1s, team meeting, and all staff meeting.
FINANCE & OPERATIONS
ACTIVITIES
Program Supervision / Finance & Budget Lissa Adams
Completed:
  • Prepared and presented 2nd draft of FY17-18 budget to the Budget Committee. Worked with Equity Team to prepare an equity training proposal which Angela presented at the April board meeting and the Board approved for FY17-18.
  • Attended Oregon Short Term Fund Board meeting and presented a draft investment policy for comment Feedback was very positive with just a few minor modifications suggested.
  • Invited PSU's Center for Public Service to give me a presentation on their new web-based software tool that allows organizations to calculate total employer cost of compensation for all positions.
  • Setup new laptop for Grants Manager. Researched and resolved video driver issues with new laptop.
Planned:
  • Populate 3rd Quarter progress report with Finance and Operations updates.
  • Prepare final draft of FY17-18 budget for the budget committee meeting on May 1st. Notice budget meeting and TSCC budget hearing.
  • Procure and set up laptop for Land Legacy Program Manager.
Office Management Jed Arnold
Completed:
  • Sourced three (quite nice) used sit/stand desks, worked with Scot to install these new desks and remove old ones. With this purchase all EMSWCD employees now have ergonomically healthy workstations.
  • Finished up various tasks related to EMSWCD's two recent recruitments. We expect to have both new employees on board in the next few weeks.
  • Met with several potential providers of VoIP services to replace the district's aging phone system. I expect to have quotes collected in the next two weeks and we will evaluate viability of the idea once we get an idea of costs.
Planned:
  • I will be finishing up a few tasks in the board room to allow the space to be easily and consistently used as three separate meeting rooms.
  • I will be collecting and analyzing proposals to replace the office phone system.
  • I will be investigating some ongoing network/internet issues at the district office.
Facilities Management Scot Wood
Completed:
  • I built the first set of gear cabinets for Rural Lands.
  • I emailed on of the concrete contractors, asking for a breakdown of their quote so we can compare "apples to apples". No response as of yet.
  • The prop house and curing shed electrical project has been inspected and passed!
  • A decision has been made on the Multnomah Grange contractor! Now to get the project scheduled and under way!
Planned:
  • I will continue to work on the other cabinets as time allows.
  • I will be meeting with the landscape crew to get them started on this season's clean up and projects.
  • I continue to help Rowan and Stuart upgrade the irrigation risers and system.
  • Hopefully I will be working with the Multnomah Grange contractor, getting the ADA upgrades started.
Marketing & Media Alex Woolery
Completed:
  • Took a week and a half vacation during the last reporting period; spent some time catching up on emails and support needs.
  • Worked to promote workshops and partner events, created a workshop advertisement. Ran analytics on event engagement.
  • Website support for Yard Tour, board and committee meetings, other updates. Created new web posts and archived other content.
  • Addressed several internal and external requests for signage or other assets/designs.
  • Material work and templates: created two drafts each of EMSWCD info brochure and event display panel. Created a name tag template with different layout/color options.
  • Created several draft designs of a EMSWCD-branded notebook cover with hatching-style illustration effects.
Planned:
  • Finalize general District materials, notebook, and send to management for review.
  • Yard Tour: create drafts of the Tour guide and assist with website and campaign needs.
  • Create tri-fold version of half-page brochure.
Information Technology Lissa Adams,
Jed Arnold,
Alex Woolery
Completed:
  • Jed and Lissa responded to staff IT issues and questions as needed; see notes in their individual reports above.
Planned:
  • Jed and Lissa will respond to staff IT issues and questions as needed.
RURAL LANDS
ACTIVITIES
Program Management Julie DiLeone
Completed:
  • Attended the ag water quality listening session.
  • Working on ODA and District quarterly reports.
  • Submitted first draft of Rural Water Quality 5 year plan to Jay.
Rural Water Quality Aaron Guffey
Completed:
  • Coordinated with presenters and finalized topics for presentations that EMSWCD will give at The Oregon Association of Nurseries sponsored FarWest Show.
  • Presented to the board on the strategies to roll out our erosion prevention initiative.
  • Met with Jeff Stone of Oregon Association of Nurseries to present our plans to engage nurseries with our erosion prevention initiative.
Planned:
  • Help develop a mailer and website content for outreach to nurseries.
  • Write an article for Digger that is essentially SWCDs 101 about what Districts are and what services they can provide nurseries.
  • Host a meeting in partnership with OAN to gather nursery perspectives on how to successfully provide erosion prevention services to their industry.
StreamCare Lucas Nipp
Completed:
  • The county accepted the Riparian Lands Tax Incentive Program management plan that I drafted. 1.42 acres in a very important part of Beaver Creek that does not exceed the temperature standard and is used by threatened salmonids will now be protected through the program.
  • Three site visits to landowners interested in enrolling in StreamCare. Created maps and agreement for one and sent it in the mail.
  • I installed two trail cams in the Dianna Pope Natural Area to see what wildlife are using the natural area when we aren't there.
  • Jeremy and I went out to look at a slope above a driveway that is sluffing on a StreamCare site where we had previously removed ivy. Jeremy wrote up a great site visit report and I went back to apply grass seed and straw to the slide areas.
Planned:
  • I will be continuing to oversee a crew conducting water conservation sprays around installed plants and treating reed canary grass on StreamCare sites as weather allows over the next few weeks to a month.
  • I have a few maps and agreements I need to create and get to landowners who want to enroll in StreamCare.
  • I have to complete a presentation for the Board of Directors on the Dianna Pope Natural Area Site Conservation Plan and a presentation on the Beaver Creek Partnership and MHCC Retrofit Project that I will be presenting at CONNECT.
Technical Assistance Jeremy Baker
Completed:
  • Attended OCEAN meeting.
  • Met with Christ Hamilton (NRCS State Biologist) to review draft Beetle Bank job sheet.
  • Met with urban farm landowner near Columbia Slough to discuss our technical planning services and methods of assistance.
Planned:
  • Working with OCEAN President to draft a Strategic Planning Session for after the CONNECT conference.
  • Meeting with a Nursery owner to discuss their land management practices to begin determining conservation practices that will be available to treat erosion on their 75 acre property.
  • Creating a CLIP presentation for the Farm Bureau meeting next week.
Weed Management Chris Aldassy
Completed:
  • Met with State Parks to review collaborative project work and discuss our work on state lands moving forward.
  • Have been spending a lot of time with crews working on Ivy. We've been gridding areas that have been previously treated and entering new areas to our control project. We've been hand pulling re-growth and low level infestations, and mapping larger infestations to return to when the weather is better for herbicide control. We did one day of herbicide spray work on some of the larger areas. ~83 acres gross, ~2.5 acre net.
  • Garlic Mustard season has arrived. We've had two days with crews and several days of work with Jon and I running around to smaller sites and doing outreach as landownership changes hands and as the project expands. ~16 acres gross, ~1.5 acres net.
Planned:
  • We will continue the ivy work spraying the larger infestations and pulling the lower level infestations around the mouth of Moffett Creek and Tanner Creek, the Eagle Creek Campground.
  • Garlic mustard work will be taking priority with crews and "in house" for the next couple of months.
Weed Management Jon Wagner
Completed:
  • Chris and I worked with crews to control 150 square meters of garlic mustard at 17 sites over 50 acres.
  • I gave a a weed identification and control presentation.
  • I created three illustrations for "The state of Beaver Creek Publication". I did outreach for garlic mustard season and worked with Chris to strategize the field season.
Planned:
  • Chris and I will continue first pass garlic mustard control at all of the garlic mustard sites.
  • Lucas and I will meet Dave Stewart for a fish survey, then we will set up amphibian/rodent traps and conduct wildlife surveys. We will also collect monthly water samples.
  • I will continue to work on data management with Chris and Andrew. I will continue garlic mustard outreach and planning. If time allows, I will create rough and final drafts for the last two illustrations for "The State of Beaver Creek."
Outreach & Education Chelsea White-Brainard
Completed:
  • Weeds program: Printed signs for the garlic mustard dumpster. Coordinated Rural Weeds workshop, presented by Jon Wagner.
  • Developed outreach materials for Erosion Solutions, our erosion prevention program for nurseries.
  • Worked with Lisa Kilders from Clackamas Soil and Water Conservation District to develop outreach material for farmers on beneficial insects.
  • Partnerships and Committees: Attended 4-County CWMA (Cooperative Weed Management Area) Education and Outreach and Steering Committee meetings. Worked with Equity Team to finalize EMSWCD equity training and development proposal for board approval.
Planned:
  • Design layout for 'Beaver Creek, the Watershed Beneath Your Feet' water quality mailer.
  • Continue working with Aaron on outreach campaign for Erosion Solutions. Provide outreach support and planning for Digger article, nursery listening session, Farm Bureau presentation, and Far West show presentations.
  • Design mailer for livestock owners in the Agricultural Water Quality Focus Area.
  • Update CLIP materials to reflect new funding levels.
URBAN LANDS
ACTIVITIES
Program Management Kathy Shearin
Completed:
  • Kathy is on vacation this week and unable to submit a report.
Outreach & Education Angela Previdelli
Completed:
  • Angela is out on vacation and unable to submit a report.
Outreach & Education Katie Meckes
Completed:
  • Met with Kairos PDX staff to arrange for potential student tours of EMSWCD demonstration garden.
  • Began initial planning for fall workshop host recruitment and scheduling.
Planned:
  • Send fall workshop host invites after returning from vacation.
  • Going on vacation April 21st - 28th!!
CONSERVATION LEGACY
ACTIVITIES
Program Management Andrew Brown
Completed:
  • Pursued due diligence activities on ag property acquisition project. Responded to queries regarding two other potential land protection projects.
  • Worked on correcting and designing authoritative GIS data for Headwaters Farm, and Weeds program.
  • Compiled draft work plan for Climate Team.
Planned:
  • Continue due diligence activities for potential ag property acquisition project, and prepare presentation to the Board. Prepare for onboarding of new Land Legacy Program Manager.
  • Compile quarterly report for the third quarter of the 2016-17 financial year.
  • Work on EMSWCD climate change response plan.
Grants Suzanne Easton
Completed:
  • Presented 2017 PIC recommendations to Board; 18 applications approved for funding.
  • Updated PIC award information in grant management system and notified all applicants of the decision.
  • Assisted with preparation for Board proposal and presentation on engaging equity consultant for training and planning; approved by the Board.
  • Attended networking event sponsored by Coalition of Communities of Color, supported by 2016 PIC grant.
  • Met with new Stewardship Director for Columbia Slough Watershed Council to review current PIC grant.
  • Met with Alex and Andrew about new Grant Program brochure and tabling display.
Planned:
  • Working to set up PIC contracting process on ZoomGrants. Prepare instructions for grantees and disseminate.
  • Meet with Northwest Earth Institute about SPACE grant.
  • Process new SPACE grants.
  • Complete quarterly report.
  • Prepare content for Grant Program brochure and display.
  • Work on preliminary list of key issues for strategic planning related to Grants Program.
  • Begin planning EE convening for June 2.
Headwaters Farm Rowan Steele
Completed:
  • Worked on the 5-Year Headwaters Farm Plan.
  • Compiled 1st quarter invoices for incubator farmers.
  • On farm: irrigation improvements, primary tillage, and offered tractor training to EMSWCD staff.
Planned:
  • Working on permitting for road realignment in the Dianna Pope Natural Area.
  • Working on the Headwaters Farm Plan.
  • Meeting with the Land Access Committee for the Portland Area Farmer Development group.
Headwaters Farm Stuart Moeller
Completed:
  • Irrigation system repairs and improvements.
  • Weed management around Headwaters Farm facilities.
  • Electrical system install project wrap-up.
Planned:
  • Irrigation improvement project completion.
  • Weed management.
  • Drainage and stormwater management around soggy and high-use areas.