Activity Report for the Period 8/15/2016 – 8/26/2016

East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District
Sections:
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
ACTIVITIES
Jay Udelhoven
Completed:
  • Boards/Committees: Prepped for Personnel Committee Meeting.
  • External Engagement: Prepped for and attended Oregon Agricultural Heritage Program (OAHP) meeting; participated in Oregon Association of Conservation Districts' committee meeting; co-organized a joint staff lunch and meeting between EMSWCD and Multnomah County Drainage District.
  • Policies/Planning/Budgeting: No actions.
  • Program Implementation: No actions.
  • Supervision/Leadership: Continued to address personnel issue.
Planned:
  • Boards/Committees: Continue Prepping for and host Personnel Committee Meeting.
  • External Engagement: Prep for and attend OAHP retreat.
  • Policies/Planning/Budgeting: Continue revision of personnel policies.
  • Program Implementation: Meet with Portland Parks & Recreation Manager (James Allison) to discuss Columbia Slough parcel and interests in assisting Home Owner Associations; explore with staff possible long-term relationship with local Granges.
  • Supervision/Leadership: Continue to address personnel issue.
FINANCE & OPERATIONS
ACTIVITIES
Program Supervision / Finance & Budget Lissa Adams
Completed:
  • Prepared for Auditor fieldwork and worked with Auditors during fieldwork. The initial fieldwork was done on August 22. It is unclear at this time if they will need to come back for additional transaction testing, but my sense is that they are satisfied with what they saw and will not need to return.
  • Continued working with our representative at Oregon Savings Growth Plan to make sure all accounts are set up and ready to receive the first contributions after August payroll.
  • Covered for Jed while he was out of the office for several days; sat in on the Safety Committee meeting to help with finalizing the Emergency Action Plan; attended Grey water workshops on 8/13 and 8/20 put on by Greywater Action (lots of great information, plus a "hands on" installation at one of the organizer's homes in NE Portland).
Planned:
  • I will continue to work with the auditors to ensure they have everything they need from us to finalize the FY15-16 financial reports. The goal is to have final reports ready for approval at the November board meeting, or at the latest, the December board meeting.
  • Working with Alex to put the final edits into the five year marketing plan.
Office Management Jed Arnold
Completed:
  • Cataloged several additional boxes of archive files and moved off-site.
  • Compiled materials for HR issue and related upcoming Personnel Committee meeting.
  • Took some time off and "raced" in the 19th annual adult soapbox derby on Mt. Tabor.
Planned:
  • Install new wireless video projector in the conference room.
  • Find a replacement for the promotional t-shirts (the type we ordered previously are no longer being manufactured).
  • Contact SDAO about on-site ergonomics training for staff.
Facilities Management Scot Wood
Completed:
  • The new closet door has been installed. The new exterior door is scheduled to be delivered on September 27th.
  • Stuart, Rowan and I dug trenches and laid pipe for the new water and electrical lines that will service the new curing shed as well as the soon to be built prop house.
Planned:
  • The new exterior board room door will be installed the first week of October.
  • We will be starting the installation of the new prop house.
Marketing & Media Alex Woolery
Completed:
  • Workshops and events: continued promoting Fall workshops and special outreach events; published two website posts (Fall workshops and Beetle Banks). Finalized new workshop flier design and printed.
  • Continued history research and created an outline of proposed changes and restructuring of the EMSWCD history document.
  • Worked with Urban Lands staff to finalize the new rain garden exercise booklet and sent it to print.
  • Met with Rowan to begin planning Headwaters farmer recruitment, new materials and press outreach; drafting a press release.
Planned:
  • Work with Lissa to finalize the Marketing Plan's last details and program sections.
  • Continue working on identity/branding outline and supporting notes and style guide.
  • Finalize Headwaters press release and begin press outreach; begin Headwaters recruitment campaign.
  • Continue revisions, corrections and additions to the Conservation Directory.
Information Technology Lissa Adams,
Jed Arnold,
Alex Woolery
Completed:
  • Lissa worked with Online Support to finish installing email archiving software.
  • Lissa rebooted firewall after reports of internet outages from staff; retrieved accidentally deleted files.
  • Alex worked on resolving an internal issue wherein emails sent to staff from our own website are sometimes marked as spam. Researched server settings, Wordpress and plugin forums, and Edgewave spam filter settings. Worked with Chris from Online Support to create new filters that would allow genuine emails through.
  • Alex performed testing with Katie and Erik to verify only emails our website sent to staff were marked as spam, and not emails sent to public addresses. The test worked: only internal emails exhibit the issue.
Planned:
  • Alex will continue to monitor new filter settings to see that website-generated internal emails and notifications come through.
  • Jed and Lissa will respond to staff IT issues and questions as needed.
  • Lissa will finalize IT equipment replacement schedule and begin implementation.
RURAL LANDS
ACTIVITIES
Program Management Julie DiLeone
Completed:
  • Julie is currently out on vacation.
Rural Water Quality Aaron Guffey
Completed:
  • Aaron is currently on parental leave until Mid-September.
StreamCare Lucas Nipp
Completed:
  • I have been managing maintenance spraying on StreamCare sites (99 acres).
  • As Julie has been on vacation, I have been taking turbidity measurements around the construction at the west crossing in the DPNA.
  • I attended the Beaver Creek Conservation Partnership Meeting.
Planned:
  • I will continue managing maintenance sprays on all StreamCare sites.
  • I will work with the contractors working on the DPNA culvert project in Julie's absence. Work will likely begin on decommissioning the middle crossing early next week.
Technical Assistance Jeremy Baker
Completed:
  • Completed Livestock Workshop presentation. Approximately 20 people attended. Feedback from four participants was excellent.
  • Attended Organic Hispanic Farmer Evening: successful Small Farm Techniques Workshop. This event was in Spanish and enabled me to learn the terminology to better communicate conservation strategies and methodogies with Spanish-speaking landowners or land managers in the county.
  • Set up site visit with new landowner looking for technical assistance on drainage on her property.
Planned:
  • Working on "Every Drop Count's" presentation for the Farwest Show. The presentation will focus on the environmental and financial benefits (to the landowner) of converting from overhead sprinkler irrigation to micro (drip) irrigation.
  • Received bid for gutters/downspouts and drainage pipe for landowner addressing mud problems from roof runoff of barn. Updating CLIP budget and application for submission next month. Finalizing CLIP application to treat mud with a heavy use area.
  • Attending Farwest show to staff booth and attend technical service talks.
Weed Management Chris Aldassy
Completed:
  • Jon and I set up ropes to rappel down a cliff face in the Gorge where a little Douglas Squirrel had carried false brome seeds. It was pretty much the most exciting day on the job ever. Ended up fixing 2 ropes for future access, and sprayed about 5m² of false brome that had been for years hanging out on that cliff tormenting us.
  • Jon and I kayaked river right from Oxbow to Dabney stopping to bushwhack through every floodplain and sidechannel to control known knotweed and survey for any new knotweed infestations. Surveyed about 7 river miles / 160 acres, controlling ~20 different knotweed patches covering about 25m².
  • I had a crew out controlling ivy in the gorge. Controlled about 2 acres net/10 acre gross infestation between Moffett creek and McCord creek.
Planned:
  • Ivy control continues with crews and by staff.
  • Knotweed control will continue.
  • Clematis control will continue.
Weed Management Jon Wagner
Completed:
  • Chris and I finished annual false brome work by controlling 5 square meters of false brome in a steep section of Eagle Creek that had not yet been controlled.
  • Ellen and I conducted monthly water quality sampling and collected benthic stream invertebrate samples in Beaver Creek.
  • I Illustrated beneficial insects for the beetle bank postcard.
  • Chris, Ellen and I surveyed for and controlled 216 square meters of knotweed on 29 properties and 7 river miles.
Planned:
  • Continue annual knotweed and clematis outreach, surveys and control.
  • Data entry, meetings with Chelsea and Alex about outreach illustrations.
Outreach & Education Chelsea White-Brainard
Completed:
  • With Tualatin and Clackamas SWCDs, finalized handout and poster about beetle banks and life-size beetle bank model for our Far West Show booth.
  • Held Livestock Workshop at Columbia Grange on August 17th for 20 attendees. Jeremy Baker and Kim Galland presented.
  • Attended PRSA (Public Relations Society of America) webinar on diversity and inclusion.
Planned:
  • Staff booth at Far West Show.
  • Work on updating the 4-county CWMA (Cooperative Weed Management Area) invasive weed fact sheets.
  • Attend Equity Team meeting with partners from Metro and West Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District to discuss training options for staff and next steps.
URBAN LANDS
ACTIVITIES
Program Management Kathy Shearin
Completed:
  • Attended Beavercreek meeting where presentations were given on: 1) City of Gresham's Stormwater Retrofit Masterplan, 2) Water Temps in MHCC pond on a hot day, and 3) an update on the MHCC Retrofit Project.
  • Attended a IPM website funder meeting at Metro to discuss the status of the project and give guidance on direction in regards to scope and funding options.
  • Met with Celeste Searles-Mazzacano to review the Beneficial Insects and Pollinators workshops (both of which are new this season).
Planned:
  • Work on Annual Report.
Technical Assistance Erik Carr
Completed:
  • Attended meeting of BeaverCreek Partnership, discussed MHCC project, Gresham SW action plan, temperature monitoring in Kelly Creek pond.
  • Attended two graywater workshops: the first was a classroom presentation and the second was an in-home hands-on demonstration event.
  • Assisted with macro-invertebrate sampling in the Johnson Creek watershed.
Planned:
  • Site visits for technical assistance.
  • Vacation.
Outreach & Education Angela Previdelli
Completed:
  • Angela is currently out on vacation.
Outreach & Education Katie Meckes
Completed:
  • Finished Database Needs Assessment write up and supporting documents and sent off to Andrew and Kathy.
  • Reached out to City of Gresham communications staff and Coalition for Gresham Neighborhoods contact to ask for support in promoting our workshops to Gresham residents.
  • Finished maps and final details for Emergency Action Plan. Met with Safety Committee.
  • Updated outreach tracking sheets. Worked with Angela to update maps showing potential workshop Field Trip sites and sent them off to presenters. Met with Celeste this week to go over change requests to new workshop PPTs. Tested Events Manager Plug-in with Alex. Internship program development research.
  • Attended Greening Schoolyards Taskforce meeting. Discussed strategies, systems, and structures of the plan related to management infrastructure.
Planned:
  • Reach out to neighborhood associations to promote workshops. Submit October workshop details for publications with September 1st deadline.
  • Present Emergency Action Plan to staff at September staff meeting.
  • Tend to final workshop supply organization prior to first workshop on September 10th. Submit CEH requests to Oregon Landscape Contractor Board.
Planned:
  • Meet with Kathy to discuss needs and figure out next steps.
  • Fall workshop season preparations will include purchasing supplies and organizing contents for new Pollinator and Beneficial Insect workshop bins and refreshing backstock supplies and handouts.
  • Continue outreach to list serves. Provide attendance updates to hosts of September workshops and encourage them to use Nextdoor as a tool to promote workshops in their own neighborhood.
CONSERVATION LEGACY
ACTIVITIES
Program Management Andrew Brown
Completed:
  • Worked on District Annual Report for FY15-16.
  • Worked on personnel issue, and preparations for the Personnel Committee meeting.
  • Researched grant management software options.
  • Followed up on active Land Legacy projects.
Planned:
  • Collate content and produce draft District FY2015-16 Annual Report.
  • Attend Personnel Committee meeting and work on resultant follow up actions.
  • Undertake further researh on grants management software and make choice of preferred option.
Land Legacy Rick McMonagle
Completed:
  • Rick is currently on administrative leave.
Grants Suzanne Easton
Completed:
  • Reviewed SPACE grants for September board meeting.
  • Continued working on comparison of on-line grant application systems; set up times for demos.
  • Conducted three PIC site visits: Portland Youth Builders, Wisdom of the Elders, and Portland Fruit Tree Project.
  • Made arrangements for guests at Equity Team meeting.
  • Prepared draft Grants Committee agenda for Jay and Andrew's review.
Planned:
  • Prepare for September Grants Committee meeting - 2015 reporting, policy recommendations.
  • Equity Team meeting with Metro and WMSWCD: plan for all-staff training.
  • Finalize recommendation for on-line grant management system with Andrew: attend and arrange demos, provide input as needed.
  • Complete last three PIC 2016 contracts and new contract for Dig-In (prior SOLVE PIC grant).
  • Work on grants section of EMSWCD annual report.
Headwaters Farm Rowan Steele
Completed:
  • Presented to Multnomah Grange.
  • Gave tour of Headwaters Farm to Oregon Food Bank Staff and discussed protocol for food donations from incubator farmers.
  • Farm Projects: trenching and laying water pipes, stormwater system, and electrical conduit; providing oversight and turbidity sampling as needed for culvert replacements; working on bids for hoophouse construction and stormwater improvements, gutter install preparation.
Planned:
  • Begin construction of the second prophouse.
  • Working on Small Farm School nutrient management presentation.
  • Conducting a CAT training for EMSWCD staff.
Headwaters Farm Stuart Moeller
Completed:
  • Trenching, plumbing, and stormwater system construction.
  • Erosion mitigation projects.
  • Mounted the fascia for the gutter installation.
Planned:
  • Working on the propagation house.
  • Resetting the old pollinator meadow.
  • Mowing, weed whacking, and general weed management.