Message from Your OACD Board President

Hello Conservation Colleagues,

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone is off to a strong start in 2020.  In reflecting back on 2019 and the work that OACD accomplished, I feel a sense of pride and enthusiasm for what comes next.  We reorganized our board structure and recruited some new faces.  We hosted an excellent annual meeting where we voted on an improved set of bylaws and had meaningful conversations around our issue statements.  We’ve refined our communications and I have heard great feedback regarding our newsletters and monthly calls.  I hope that you have found these helpful and informative – if you think of topic areas that you’d like to see more of, learn more about, or just know of some great entertainment that our community would enjoy, please send along.  Photos, stories, videos, jokes – we’ll take them!  Please know that none of this great work would be possible without an engaged board and more importantly, our excellent staff – thank you Jan Lee and Anna Freitas for your tremendous contributions to OACD in 2019!

What better way to start the new year than with some money?  Anna has assembled a list below of available grants, some that are due soon – please scroll down and check them out.

This month’s District in Focus is the Tualatin SWCD which has been working on a multi-stakeholder project that will improve both drinking water and wildlife habitat, with an eye towards recreation opportunities.  Please read more at the link provided below.

Here’s to a great year ahead, with many SWCD successes!
Terri Preeg Riggsby
OACD President
tpriggsby@yahoo.com, 971-404-4909

Message from your OACD Executive Director

Wishing you all an enjoyable Holiday Season!

Looking past the holidays, the short legislative session (35 days) starts on February 3rd. We have two issues we will supporting–funding for the Oregon Agricultural Heritage Program and for ODA’s water quality program for districts. We will prepare some talking points and ask for your help in January. One of the best opportunities to connect with your legislators is by attending local townhalls where you can meet them and talk about issues important to your district.  We will forward announcements of townhalls scheduled for your area, beginning in January. Legislators can only introduce two bills apiece in the short session as the session’s emphasis is on the state’s finances. January 13-16 the legislators will meet in “interim” sessions to hear testimony from those the committees invite to speak on current issues. OACD shared information about district programs with the legislative Water Committee in November.

Plans are in place for the 2020 OACD Annual Meeting. A national group of landowners and managers promoting conservation, Partners for Conservation, will meet at Eagle Crest in Redmond October 7-9th, 2020. Many of you know Jim Bob Collins of the Soil and Water Conservation Commission, one of the Oregon representatives to the group. Jim Bob shared information about the Partners on November’s OACD Teleconference. Our Annual Meeting will take place October 5th and 6th to provide members an opportunity to also attend a portion of the Partners for Conservation program. We will be seeking exhibitors for our 2020 event.

Regrettably we lose one of our OACD board members, Tom Salzer, General Manager of the Clackamas SWCD, at the end of the year. He has accepted the position of Executive Director of the Washington Conservation Commission. I look forward to working with him in Oregon’s Association Executive Director position to bring the two states’ programs closer together to provide support for our members. His leaving is somewhat bittersweet in that Clackamas SWCD has just moved into their newly constructed headquarters at the district’s demonstration farm.

Happy Holidays
and Happy New Year,
Jan Lee

OACD Executive Director
jan.lee@oacd.org
503-545-9420