Activity Report for the Period 6/11/2018 – 6/22/2018

East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District
Sections:
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
ACTIVITIES
Jay Udelhoven
Completed:
  • External Engagement: Met with Metro’s DEI Director to discuss their work and potential collaboration; met with staff from EMSWCD, WMSWCD, and NRCS in the first monthly meeting to discuss working lands projects of common interest in Multnomah County.
  • Boards/Committees: nothing in this work period.
  • Policies/Planning/Budgeting: Met with Sustainable Northwest to discuss Oregon Clean Energy jobs bill; worked on issues related to strategic planning!
  • Supervision/Leadership: Worked on CFO recruitment, evaluated applicants, continued outreach; revised the annual performance review form; met with staff 1x1, F&O team, and management team.
  • Program Implementation: Reviewed the draft agricultural conservation easement template.
Planned:
  • Will be out of the office during the next reporting period. Andrew Brown will be serving in my stead.
FINANCE & OPERATIONS
ACTIVITIES
Program Supervision / Finance & Budget Lissa Adams
Completed:
  • Lissa is working part-time and was not able to submit a report for this week period. Recent work has involved budgeting, billing, IT work including purchasing and preparations for the new server.
Office Management Lindsay Nelson
Completed:
  • Finished June Board Meeting Minutes and LLC meeting minutes.
  • Out of the office several days.
  • Prepared applications for staff review. Went through the CFO resumes and ranked applicants.
  • I processed bills/invoices to be paid.
  • Spent some time researching conference tables. Took employees to furniture store.
  • Attended CEI follow up #2. Finalized CPR Train the Trainer Course.
Facilities Management Scot Wood
Completed:
  • I am working with Lindsay to find places to hang the photos given to Suzanne, as well as move the bookcases in the main board room over to the Vann Room.
  • Rowan, Stuart and I have started the shed roof on the west side of the curing shed to protect the farmers bins after they have been washed.
  • I wasn't able to do a few non-urgent tasks before my mini-vacation.
Planned:
  • I will be moving the bookcases to the Vann Room as well as moving a couple of tables out of there into the basement and perhaps hanging the pictures.
  • Work will continue on the shed roof at Headwaters.
  • I will be repairing the well house on the new property to get it weather-tight and secure for this next fall/winter.
  • I will be meeting with Matt and Mr. Sturm to go over some items that will need to be addressed on the property after closing.
Marketing & Media Alex Woolery
Completed:
  • Worked on creating Grants Display panels - three different panels with a variety of photo options. Reviewed with staff. Continued searching through and collecting best grant photos.
  • Website: assisted with photos, formatting and social media for a new Nature Notes post, and for an announcement on the SPACE ZoomGrants transition.
  • Continued helping staff with IT issues, assisted with on-site contractor visit to install additional network hardware and replace/remove outdated. Printer and software assistance, email migration preparations, scheduled email migration completion, alerted and created instructions for staff.
  • Media/outreach: assembled wildlife photo gallery, promoted conservation jobs including our CFO position, promoted a brief in the Gresham Outlook on PIC grants. Made a new District Zone map, assisted with outreach for Board vacancy.
Planned:
  • Website: continue work/implementation of Land Legacy website content, pending review. Continue working with Angela and Suzanne on SPACE transition to ZoomGrants.
  • Work on displays and coordinate with staff on outputs, template variations, paper/materials, etc.
  • Continue assisting with CFO hire.
  • Assist staff and IT contractors with email migration and any resulting issues. Prepare for server migration.
Information Technology Lissa Adams,
Lindsay Nelson,
Alex Woolery
Completed:
  • Lindsay, Alex and Lissa responded to staff IT issues and questions as needed; see notes in their individual reports above.
  • Alex assisted with UPS installation and with various staff issues.
  • Alex and Lindsay scheduled for email migration and alerted staff about email cutoff and changes.
Planned:
  • Lindsay, Alex and Lissa will respond to staff IT issues and questions as needed.
RURAL LANDS
ACTIVITIES
Program Management Julie DiLeone
Completed:
  • Developing draft work plan for Rural Lands.
  • Still working on drainage designs for the new property.
  • Updating contracts for next fiscal year.
Planned:
  • Weather station software training rescheduled for next week.
  • Starting on annual reviews.
  • Attending a Lower Columbia River Estuary Partnership Science Talk about enhancing cold water refugia for fish.
Rural Water Quality Aaron Guffey
Completed:
  • Solicited vendors for material price quotes.
  • Met with the CLIP review team, who approved submission of the application for an Erosion Solutions pilot project.
  • Completed a CLIP application for an Erosion Solutions pilot project that was presented to and approved by the board at the June board meeting.
  • Attended a Young Grower's Social.
Planned:
  • 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. Fulfill the responsibilities of treasurer on the Mt. Hood Chapter board.
  • Connect with partners to explore opportunities for developing better solutions regarding cover crop useage on nurseries.
StreamCare Lucas Nipp
Completed:
  • Chelsea and I did another day of door to door outreach in support of StreamCare in the Beaver and Johnson Creek Watersheds. I also had a crew out treating weeds on StreamCare sites. I should be done with crew work until the first of August when we start clearing new sites.
  • I attended the 4-County Cooperative Weed Management Area's annual Field Day. It was in Clark County and was very interesting. At one stop a very old, 800 acre cattle operation is switching it's whole operation to being a wetland and Endangered Species Act salmon credit bank.
  • Julie and I met with planners from the City of Troutdale to see if we needed new permits under their new interpretations of their code. It appears we do not.
Planned:
  • I will be attending the Columbia Gorge CWMA's annual field day. It is in the Trout Lake, Washington area.
  • I will be setting up exit site visits with landowners who will be graduating from the StreamCare program this summer. 19 sites (62 acres) will be graduating from the program this summer.
Technical Assistance Jeremy Baker
Completed:
  • Attended joint NRCS-District collaboration meeting with West Multnomah staff to review existing projects and discuss upcoming Distirct and or NRCS initiatives and funding.
  • Chaired the OCEAN June board meeting and met with Oregon Conservation Partnership (OrCP).
  • In conjunction with providing technical asssistance on a conversion from sprinkler to drip irrigation, we finalized a CLIP application focused on the soil moisture monitoring to implement an irrigation water management strategy on blueberries and a small orchard.
Planned:
  • Held a walk-through with Rowan and contrator who will be installing the drainage enhancements at Headwaters to disucss any foreseable issues and review project requirements prior to construction. Everything went well.
  • Working with Measuretek to get website training on our newly installed weather station. Everything is working properly and recording data and we now need to create a display for users moving forward.
  • Install of drainage enhancements at Headwaters is underway. I have been checking on progress periodically; everything is looking good at this point. Rowan did a great job of prepping all the areas to be excavated so that the contractor was able to flag these areas out before he started digging.
Weed Management Chris Aldassy
Completed:
  • I've been leading crews to finish up control work for the spring on multiple large garlic mustard infestations.
  • I started taking crews on USFS property to control EDRR weeds, as well as starting crews to survey for invasives on OPRD lands, as part of the restoration work for the Eagle Creek Fire.
  • I led crews on sites being restored through the SEVER project.
Planned:
  • Wrapping up garlic mustard for the season.
  • Leading crews for restoration activities through the fire response.
  • Rural Lands Team Building.
Weed Management Jon Wagner
Completed:
  • Lucas and I conducted water quality sampling and monthly wildlife surveys.
  • Chris, Lucas and I worked with crews to almost finish final passes for all garlic mustard control sites.
  • I finished preparing Beaver Creek water quality data for the grab sample submission to the Department of Environmental Quality regional data base. I worked with Alex and Chelsea to develop new outreach ideas.
Planned:
  • I will make final edits to the Beaver Creek sampling and analysis plan and send it and the water quality data to the Department of Environmental Quality. I will begin work on new illustration outreach projects. I will work with Chris to plan summer burn zone weed control.
  • I will attend the annual Columbia Gorge Cooperative Weed Management Area Field Trip.
  • I will work with Chris and Lucas to finish garlic mustard control work and continue burn zone weed control.
Outreach & Education Chelsea White-Brainard
Completed:
  • Ordered interpretive sign for the DPNA (Dianna Pope Natural Area at Headwaters).
  • As a member of the CFO hiring committee, reviewed applications and made recommendations for interviews.
  • Attended a beneficial insect field day in McMinnville where we toured beneficial insect habitat on a conventional farm, including a 1/3 of mile-long beetle bank. Attended ACE-NW meeting (Adult Conservation Education group).
Planned:
  • Plan/design booth for FarWest Show (nursery trade show organized by Oregon Association of Nurseries). This year's booth will focus on erosion prevention, with a focus on temporary devices for harvest years.
  • Write blog post for Beaver Creek Parnership.
  • Use interpretive sign artwork to create a poster that highlights the benefits of streamside forests.
URBAN LANDS
ACTIVITIES
Program Management Kathy Shearin
Completed:
  • Kathy was on vacation during this work period.
Technical Assistance Whitney Bailey
Completed:
  • Led CLIP Team meeting. Attended 4-County CWMA Field Day, IJC meeting, GRiT Green Roof Tour and Presentation.
  • Led Green Streets facilities clean-up
  • Posted Nature Notes: National Pollinator Week blog.
  • Provided advice to constituents on community land preservation and collaborative community garden maintenance.
  • Met with Blossom to discuss pavers and green roof/walls.
Planned:
  • Tech assist follow-ups regarding stormwater planters, choosing and sourcing native plants, starting a community garden, preventing transplant shock, etc.
  • Annual reporting.
Outreach & Education Angela Previdelli
Completed:
  • Attended Grantmakers Equity Network Meeting at Metro.
  • Found new manufacturer and approved proofs for new round of "I love native plants" stickers.
  • Planning for SPACE Grants transition to Zoom Grants.
Planned:
  • Finalize new outreach displays and print.
  • Cully Park and Explorando el Columbia Slough event on June 30th.
  • Finalize Zoom Grants transition.
Outreach & Education Katie Meckes
Completed:
  • Katie was on vacation during this work period.
Outreach & Education Josie Moberg
Completed:
  • Scheduling fall workshops, processing requests, host communication.
Planned:
  • Scheduling fall workshops, processing requests, host communication.
  • Prepping all binder materials/documents for this season.
  • Entered in demographic data of last season's workshops/attendance.
CONSERVATION LEGACY
ACTIVITIES
Program Management Andrew Brown
Completed:
  • Advanced the 2018-2023 EMSWCD strategic plan draft, with Jay and program staff.
  • Created revised template and started collating content for EMSWCD district annual work plan for FY18-19.
  • Reviewed applications for the vacant Chief of Finance and Operations recruitment.
Planned:
  • Finalize first draft of the FY18-19 EMSWCD Annual Work Plan, and send to ODA.
  • Work on resolve outstanding expenditures and items for budget year end.
  • Assist with the final SPACE grants set-up on online grant management system, to go live July 2nd.
Grants Suzanne Easton
Completed:
  • Continued to work on 2018 PIC contracts - seven completed to date, 10 remaining.
  • Assisted with SPACE grant program setup on ZoomGrants in time for July 2nd launch.
  • Worked on Grants Program display with Alex, selecting photos and text and advising on design.
Planned:
  • Complete additional PIC 2018 contracts.
  • Launch SPACE on ZoomGrants, continue to help with additional set up for review and contracting.
  • Prepare draft FY18/19 workplan and contribute to additional planning/reporting tasks.
  • Present at Grant-writing Workshop for Growing Gardens' Garden Education Certification program on June 29th; attend Cully Park Grand Opening Celebration on June 30th.
Land Legacy Matt Shipkey
Completed:
  • New transaction due diligence substantially complete, inspection fixes plan that was agreed to.
  • Finalized Easement Management Guidelines document.
  • Several meetings with impact investor entities.
  • Drafted work plans for next fiscal year.
Planned:
  • Finalize new transaction due diligence.
  • Advance Oxbow disposition.
  • Finalize website updates.
  • Continue development of foundational documents.
Headwaters Farm Rowan Steele
Completed:
  • Rowan was out of office for much of this reporting period and unable to submit a report.
Headwaters Farm Stuart Moeller
Completed:
  • Rowan was out of office for much of this reporting period and unable to submit a report on Stuart's activities.