Activity Report for the Period 11/25/2017 – 12/8/2017

East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District
Sections:
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
ACTIVITIES
Jay Udelhoven
Completed:
  • External Engagement: Attended Johnson Creek Watershed Council meeting to offer perspective on the Strategic Partnership Agreement.
  • Boards/Committees: Attended Land Legacy Committee meeting; prepared for and hosted December Board meeting.
  • Policies/Planning/Budgeting/Reporting: Followed up on Board-staff retreat and began drafting strategic plan.
  • Supervision/Leadership: Completed work in regard to lawsuit; participated in equity planning/training meeting; met with staff 1x1 and with management team.
  • Program Implementation: Participated in Oregon Agricultural Heritage Program workgroup meeting regarding future rule-making and program implementation; met with Roy Iwai of Multnomah County to discuss resource monitoring; met with staff to discuss management requirements of two pending Land Legacy Program purchases.
Planned:
  • External Engagement: Attend Multnomah County Drainage District Levy Ready Project meeting; attend meeting with Metro and Friends of Outdoor School to discuss future Outdoor School Funding for area schools.
  • Boards/Committees: Nothing planned.
  • Policies/Planning/Budgeting: Continue drafting strategic plan.
  • Supervision/Leadership: Prepare for trial; participate in equity planning/training meeting; meet with staff 1x1 and management team.
  • Program Implementation: Attend Headwaters Incubator Program graduation event.
FINANCE & OPERATIONS
ACTIVITIES
Program Supervision / Finance & Budget Lissa Adams
Completed:
  • Out of office from November 23rd to December 3rd.
  • Board meeting preparation and attendance; presented FY2016-17 audit to Board (the audit was clean with no items of interest noted).
  • Reviewed and revised website optimization contract.
  • Set up Jon's new computer; worked with Online Support to resolve network connection issues.
Planned:
  • Review November payroll; create budget vs. actual reports for management; begin developing FY18-19 budget templates.
  • Order new computers for Urban Lands, Rural Lands and Finance & Ops staff.
Office Management Lindsay Nelson
Completed:
  • Board and Committees: I set up Board room for LLC meeting on November 27th, took minutes. I created and sent out the public notice for the upcoming Personnel Committee meeting. I prepared and sent out the Board packet for the meeting on 12/4/17. Checked out food options, prepared, did set-up and break down, and recorded minutes for the December Board of Directors meeting.
  • I sent out all of the corresponding documents to enroll new hire in all benefits, contacted administrators to confirm receipt. I met with Roxy from Colonial Life for 1.5 hours to go over in detail the various Colonial benefit programs.
  • I researched and finally got in contact with the right individal and department from Lexmark to get a clear understanding of the recyled toner program.
  • I processed bills/invoices to be paid. I sent out checks to various vendors.
  • I cleared out the 5 drawer file cabinet and reorganized my office space. I spent some time organizing the dishes in the Board room.
  • I researched and got licences for Microsoft Office for Angela, Alex and Jon.
Planned:
  • Finish LLC and Board meeting minutes.
  • Continue to search for new company for branded gear.
  • Creating a comparison of postage meters to present to Lissa.
Facilities Management Scot Wood
Completed:
  • Thanks to Lucas for filling in and temporarily fixing the vent stack on the composting toilet!! I was able to repair it a couple of days later Now, no stink!!
  • I moved the remaining silage tarps from Field 8 over to the Headwaters Annex for easier access.
  • I met with tree service contractors to get quotes for getting a few trees trimmed back of of the tenant house.
Planned:
  • Rowan and I will be running the water line for the new upper wash station.
  • I will be meeting with R&H Tree Service as they trim back the trees as necessary.
Marketing & Media Alex Woolery
Completed:
  • Plant sale: worked on developing, configuring and testing the plant sale store plugin. Encountered a checkout issue and resolved it. Looked into ad rates in community newspapers and created a table of options.
  • Created a job post for a contractor to optimize the website and reviewed several proposals. Replied to candidates, selected one. Created a scope of work and worked with Kathy and contractor on contract. Related research into necessary tasks and expected deliverables.
  • Staff support: printed materials, worked on plant sale customer data, sent out PIC grants reminder email, Board and Committee support, website analytics, a lot of IT support (see section below).
  • Created a new draft of the Branding and Identity guide.
Planned:
  • Work with contractor to optimize emswcd.org website: improve loading speed, memory usage, efficiency of plugins and database, clean out unnecessary files, databases and plugins.
  • Continue working with Urban Lands to test and develop plant sale store. Assist with mailing list, design details and printing of plant sale mailer.
  • Work on revising and updating Marketing Plan to reflect new metrics and approach.
Information Technology Lissa Adams,
Lindsay Nelson,
Alex Woolery
Completed:
  • Alex assisted Lindsay and Kathy with station issues that came up after a Windows update; all issues resolved.
  • Alex assisted Jon with station issues and set him up with an interim station until the new one arrived.
  • Lissa set up Jon's new computer; worked with Online Support to resolve network connection issues.
Planned:
  • Lindsay, Alex and Lissa will respond to staff IT issues and questions as needed.
RURAL LANDS
ACTIVITIES
Program Management Julie DiLeone
Completed:
  • CLIP team meeting.
  • Monitoring for Results class.
  • Reviewing planning documents for land legacy properties.
Planned:
  • OWEB small grant team meeting- 2 applications.
  • Bi-weekly check in meetings with Rural Lands staff
  • Leaving town on 12/15.
Rural Water Quality Aaron Guffey
Completed:
  • I Submitted an article for the December edition of Digger (nursery industry trade magazine) that introduces what Districts are and what services they can provide.
  • Met with several nursery managers and consultants to discuss short-term and long-term erosion control projects.
  • Met with Angela, my partner in completing equity homework, to discuss the material we have completed thus far.
  • Attended Oregon Association of Nurseries events: Sustainability luncheon and Mt. Hood Chapter holiday dinner.
  • Completed my performance review for FY2017.
  • Attended the November partners meeting (IJC) for the Johnson Creek watershed.
Planned:
  • Work with engineering consultants and Clackamas SWCD to create Erosion Solutions design for two nurseries.
  • Engage in the diversity, equity, and inclusion process EMSWCD staff are participating in.
  • Attend all Oregon Association of Nurseries Mt Hood Chapter meetings and events.
  • Complete my workplan for FY2018.
  • Work with USGS as they provide consultation to develop tools to correlate conservation practice implementation to water quality.
  • Work with CLIP cooperator to procure and install erosion control BMPs.
StreamCare Lucas Nipp
Completed:
  • I have been working on recruiting speakers and organizing the Columbia Gorge Cooperative Weed Management Area's Invasive Species and Exotic Pest Workshop which will be held on March 1 in Stevenson, WA.
  • Received one signed StreamCare agreement for a 6 acre property in Big Creek. Jon and I went and did a site assessment on another property in Big Creek. I put up a few more Conservation Partner signs at StreamCare sites.
  • I have been working with many others on natural resource recommendations for two properties.
Planned:
  • I will attend the Beaver Creek Conservation Partnership Meeting.
  • Live stake receiving and installation in Johnson Creek.
  • I will have a crew doing blackberry clearing on some sites that signed up for StreamCare recently. This work is typically done in August, but I am trying to get some of the summertime work in in the winter to free up time in the summer.
Technical Assistance Jeremy Baker
Completed:
  • Finalized CLIP grant project this week focused on installation of access roads on a nursery. Project will dramatically reduce mud generation and run off from can yards.
  • Assisted in drafting a rural lands recommendations document for potential easement property.
  • Attended Dry Farming collaborative meeting to learn more about dry farming techniques for potential implementation in Multnomah county.
Planned:
  • Completed two site visits that came about from the Mud and Manure workshop. Currently in the process of drafting site visit reports for both to odcoument existing conditions, potential resource concerns and issues the landowners would like to address in the future.
  • Assisting with the drafting of a CLIP program overview and possible program change proposal.
  • Preparing projects, schedule and office work to be off for a week to recoup from ankle surgery.
Weed Management Chris Aldassy
Completed:
  • I attended the Willamette Aquatic Invasive Network meeting and "After the Smoke Clears" forum talking about restoration efforts regarding ecology and the community.
  • Ivy project outreach to a new landowner in Corbett and survey of his property along with surveys/monitoring in a previously controlled area.
  • Preparing for the native plant presentation that Jon and I will be giving to the Corbett Grange in January.
Planned:
  • I'll have contractors installing stakes at a restoration site.
  • I plan on having crews out to perform ivy control.
  • Jon and I will be controlling and monitoring several spurge laurel sites.
Weed Management Jon Wagner
Completed:
  • Lucas and I completed the monthly water quality sampling and wildlife surveys.
  • Chris and I surveyed burned sites at United States Forest Service trailheads to assess crew time for partner weed control with the United States Forest Service. We also manually removed ~500 spurge laurel from control sites in the Buck/Gordon Creek drainage.
  • I finished assigning water quality levels to most of the sampling data categories in our water quality samples of Johnson and Beaver Creek. I have been working with Chris to plan winter and spring weed control and to prepare for a native plants presentation.
  • I finished the 2017-18 Diana Pope Natural Area wildlife survey report. I finished three outreach dry-erase board animations about: StreamCare, fish passage, and native landscaping.
Outreach & Education Chelsea White-Brainard
Completed:
  • Ordered boundary markers for the Dianna Pope Natural Area at Headwaters Farm.
  • Formatted the Spanish and Russian translated versions of the Beaver Creek mailer (Beaver Creek, The Watershed Beneath Our Feet).
  • Attended sustainability luncheon presented by the Oregon Association of Nurseries.
Planned:
  • Promote/plan native plants workshop coming up on January 9th at the Columbia Grange, presented by Jon and Chris.
  • Finalize annual work plan for the CWMA (Cooperative Weed Management Area) Education and Outreach Committee. Develop plan for website updates.
  • Send out Beaver Creek water quality mailer to residents of the Beaver Creek watershed.
URBAN LANDS
ACTIVITIES
Program Management Kathy Shearin
Completed:
  • Suzanne and Kathy met with OMSI to discuss various partnership proposals, including applying for funding through PIC.
  • Kathy and Whitney met with Wood Village to discuss the City's stormwater infrastructure and if there were partnership opportunities.
  • Kathy met with MHCC steering committee and discussed several items including staff turnover, new facilities director and president recruitment, status of initial designs for the courtyard, potential future use of MHCC greenhouses, etc.
  • Kathy and Katie attended the Northwest Adult Conservation Education (NW-ACE) where we received and gave updates on the IPM web tool, the native plants web tool. Keri Handaly from Gresham gave an update on the Clean Rivers Coalition. Molly Chidsey walked the group through her equity work at Metro.
  • Kathy and Lucas attended the Beaver Creek partnership meeting where Celeste from City of Gresham gave a presentation on Temperature monitoring in Burlingame and Kelly creeks and Jeremy Provenzola, Gresham stormwater engineer, gave a presentation on projects to mitigate flooding along Burlingame Creek.
Planned:
  • Kathy will work with Alex to contract with a consultant to do website optimization before the plant sale - with the goal of avoiding a website crash this year.
  • Kathy working to finalize some last requested changes to the contract with OSU for the IPM webtool. She is also working with them to refine and clarify the Project Agreement.
Technical Assistance Whitney Bailey
Completed:
  • Green Streets clean-up Friday December 8th.
  • Met and discussed opportunities for partnership and collaboration with Troutdale and Wood Village. Met with Audubon BYH Program and City of Gresham to discuss BYH program and plan future plant sales/swaps.Met with Urban Lands to discuss the plant sale and the Conservation Corner.
  • Provided technical assistanance to staff and constituents on rain gardens, native plants for shady lawns, stormwater management, moss control, and ailanthus control.
  • Co-wrote article for Troutdale newsletter on stormwater & native plants.
  • Finalized revisions to Urban CLIP program with UL staff and CLIP team.
  • Prepared briefing for Board on Portland's salt plans.
Planned:
  • Meetings with Rose CDC, Gresham regarding future projects.
  • Rain garden presentation to Lawyer's Title realtors.
Outreach & Education Katie Meckes
Completed:
  • Met with Backyard Habitat Certification Program, City of Gresham and Columbia Slough Watershed Council on November 28th to coordinate outreach efforts. Also attended Adult Conservation Education NW meeting on December 6th.
  • Tallied Naturescaping Survey Data collected from 2009-2015 to identify which new urban topics people are most interested in learning about. Also selected winners for 2016 Naturescaping & Rain Garden Surveys.
  • Met with Whitney to discuss outreach & education opportunities for Conservation Corner.
  • Began work to assist with the 2018 Connect Conference Planning.
Planned:
  • I will attend a Grant Butte meeting and house tour on December 7th.
  • Continue Plant Sale planning and preparations.
  • Meet with outreach staff to discuss ideas for exciting updates to outreach displays.
  • Continue supporting Josie as she takes on her first season of full workshop host recruitment and scheduling processes.
CONSERVATION LEGACY
ACTIVITIES
Program Management Andrew Brown
Completed:
  • Worked on budget and prioritization of items for the 5-year strategic plan.
  • Assisted Rowan with DPNA road realignment permit information requirements, and met with Multnomah County on land use planning requirements for the possible frontage road development at Headwaters.
  • Assisted Matt with various ag land protection projects, including reviewing easement terms, appraisals, and other due diligence products.
  • Took vacation for a week.
Planned:
  • Work on strategic plan framework and content, and pursue plan related issues that need resolution.
  • Work on finalizing Oxbow lease renewals in place.
  • Assist Suzanne with PIC 2018 application deadline and initial review.
  • Attend HIP end of year gathering, including celebration of HIP graduates.
Grants Suzanne Easton
Completed:
  • Attended funders meeting about Latinx youth involvement in environmental education.
  • PIC 2018: Met with numerous potential PIC applicants to discuss projects and application process; finalized selection of new PIC Review Committee members with Board approval.
  • Participated in CEI Equity Team follow-up #3 and conintued with reading and other training materials.
  • Attended environmental education conversation with Metro funders and review committee members.
Planned:
  • PIC 2018: Continue to meet with and answer questions from PIC applicants; initial review of applications for complete content; meet with new PIC Review Team and provide background materials.
  • CEI follow-up training #4.
  • Strategic plan follow-up for Grants Program.
Land Legacy Matt Shipkey
Completed:
  • IGA for Board Approved Project Executed.
  • Finalized certain due diligence items for property in contract.
  • Appraisal awarded and conservation proposal under development for working farmland easement project.
  • Led LLC meeting that secured substantive feedback on outreach and working farmland easement terms.
  • Explored multiple conservation easement opportunities.
Planned:
  • Additional development of farmland program outreach materials.
  • Continue due diligence on farm property in contract.
  • Finalize conservation proposal for working farmland easement opportunity.
  • Advance various conservation opportunities.
  • Develop critical path for disposition of District property.
  • Complete equity assignments.
Headwaters Farm Rowan Steele
Completed:
  • Accepted incubator farmer cohort for 2018 which includes four new farm businesses: herbs and mushrooms, livestock and vegetables, and two solely vegetable operations.
  • Began conducting End of Year Meetings will each incubator farm.
  • Working on various projects: updating the Farmer’s Manual, hiring a stormwater engineer to assist in the road realignment for the Dianna Pope Natural Area, met with Andrew and Multnomah County to explore development options for the recently acquired frontage parcel, creating an application form for the caretaker residence, and documenting protocol for turning the irrigation system on/off.
Planned:
  • Writing article on farmer development for OSU Extension’s Small Farm Program newsletter.
  • Hosting the End of Year Gathering for the farm incubator program.
  • Wrapping up End of Year Meetings.