| Making Projects Work |
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| Fixing the Uplands: Starting at the Top |
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Thursday 8-9:30 a.m.
Upland projects are diverse and may encompass various kinds of treatments such as vegetation management, road treatment, pasture management, forest and oak savannah enhancement, and other land treatments to benefit water quality and quantity and diverse habitats. Presentations will focus on criteria for identifying and prioritizing project locations and developing successful upland restoration and conservation programs. The presentations will also provide information on project funding, design criteria and effectiveness evaluation.
Participants will:
- Receive specific restoration tips and innovative project approaches that address upland conditions in forested and range environments.
- Obtain specific funding, design and site selection guidance information for use in project development.
- Discuss the interconnection between upland projects and water resource management and the development of an ecosystem services approach to restoration work in our drainages.
Confirmed Speakers:
Hugh Barrett has worked in the management and repair of rangeland ecosystems on private and public lands in Nevada, Washington and Oregon for the past 35 years. During that time, his focus has evolved to the recovery of the land's ability to capture, to store and to safely release the moisture it receives in the form of rain and snow—the basis of watershed function. Barrett's most recent efforts are the publication of OWEB's Western Juniper Management: A Field Guide, conducting field schools in the management of western juniper, and the recovery of rangeland health in sagebrush steppe of central and eastern Oregon. He holds a bachelor’s degree in rangeland management from Humboldt State University.
Jon Souder has been executive director of the Coos Watershed Association since May 2000. The association implements approximately $1 million in watershed restoration projects annually with its partners. Prior to coming to the association, Souder was associate professor of forest policy at Northern Arizona University. He has 10 years of experience as a fisheries biologist with the federal government in the Peace Corps, Army Corps of Engineers, and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. He has master’s and PhD degrees in wildland resource science from the University of California, Berkeley.
Darin Stringer is a restoration ecologist and forester working in the Cascadia Region. His Philomath-based company, Integrated Resource Management, provides forest management services in support of progressive and holistic stewardship projects. IRM is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council and works with a diverse clientele including land trusts, private landowners, municipal governments and federal land agencies. Stringer specializes in restoration of declining forest habitats including Oregon white oak savannas and woodlands, ponderosa pine forests, and aspen plant communities. He received a master’s degree from Oregon State University in silviculture and forest ecology in 1998.
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| Restoration Projects from Fantasy to Celebration |
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Thursday 8-9:30 a.m.
All elements of project development, including the establishment of goals and objectives, formulation of alternatives, design, implementation, and monitoring, are required to achieve success. Each component of project development contains some element of risk and must be analyzed from ecologic, geomorphic, engineering, social and economic perspectives. While stakeholder involvement is generally not a discrete action in project development, successfully integrating stakeholders at the right stage in the process is essential. Effective communication with all interested parties throughout a project, including early involvement of the stakeholder community, working with technical specialists, and managing contractors, is essential if full project success is to be achieved.
Participants will:
- See a demonstration of a new NOAA Fisheries interactive project evaluation tool that will help in the review of potential projects and to quickly identify projects with a high risk of failure.
- Receive tips for building relationships with stakeholder groups and landowners.
- Learn to manage project contracts from start to finish.
- Get advice on dealing with common project challenges and problems.
Presenters
Janine Castro is a regional expert in geomorphology with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Portland. She is an integral team member on many of the USFWS’s restoration programs, reviewing state and federal permits for instream work, working with USFWS biologists on dam decommissioning and relicensing, and liaising with other state and federal agencies on controversial natural resource issues. Dr. Castro is an experienced instructor who regularly provides nationwide training on geomorphology and stream restoration. She is currently the technical director of the Portland State University River Restoration Professional Certificate Program and is a founding board member of River Restoration Northwest. Dr. Castro holds a PhD in geosciences from Oregon State
University.
John Runyon is the watershed planning team manager for ICF Jones & Stokes where he focuses on habitat plans and restoration projects of all sizes. He works with watershed councils and other organizations throughout the Pacific Northwest. Runyon holds a master’s degree in forest ecology from Oregon State University.
Cindy Thieman has worked for the Long Tom Watershed Council since 1998, where she has enjoyed researching and writing the council's watershed assessment and developing and implementing a six-year, volunteer-based watershed monitoring program. Since 2000, she has been working with watershed landowners to develop and implement restoration projects throughout the basin. Thieman holds a master’s degree in biology and a secondary master’s in community and regional planning from the University of Oregon.
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| Restoring Fish Passage & Enhancing Habitat in Streams |
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Friday 8-9:30 a.m.
Reconnecting streams with their floodplains to restore ecosystem function is a common goal of watershed restoration projects. Project managers must develop criteria for selecting and prioritizing treatment reaches, creating designs with stakeholder input, evaluating alternatives, addressing regulatory issues and evaluating effectiveness. Special considerations must be given when fish passage barriers are involved (such as small dams).
Participants will:
- Receive tips for developing and implementing riparian restoration projects and removing fish passage barriers, including small dams.
- Learn design techniques to effectively address severely altered stream channels and floodplains.
- Learn approaches to navigate the regulatory system effectively.
- See examples of budgets and hear about various funding sources available for in-stream and riparian projects.
Presenters:
Troy Brandt is one of River Design Group's principals and manages restoration projects in Oregon, Idaho, and Montana. Over the past seven years, he has assisted government agencies, NGOs, and private landowners with projects in the Upper Klamath Basin, Upper Deschutes River watershed, the Goose Lake Basin, and the Willamette Valley. Brandt incorporates his fisheries expertise and understanding of native species’ habitat needs into RDG’s restoration designs. Example projects have addressed fish passage, spawning and rearing habitat, and off-channel refugia habitat designs for anadromous and resident fishes in the Pacific Northwest. Brandt completed his bachelor’s degree at UC Davis and his master’s at the University of Montana.
Denise Hoffert-Hay worked as project manager for the Calapooia Watershed Council for two years to successfully implement the Brownsville Dam Removal and Irrigation Pump Station Installation. She is author of an OWEB published guide for small dam removals. She is currently working with the Calapooia Watershed Council to identify funding to begin the appropriate studies to examine fish passage alternatives to the last remaining Calapooia River dam. Previously, she was the coordinator for the Calapooia Watershed Council for four years. She also authored two fifth field watershed assessments for the Yamhill Basin Council as a RARE program participant. Hoffert-Hay holds a University of Minnesota bachelor’s degree in natural resources and an Oregon State University master’s in bioresource engineering.
Josh Thompson, s enior conservation planner with the Wasco County Conservation District, started his career in 2000 with a degree in forestry. In his career he has worked on the team in planning and implementing over 213 miles and 6,500 acres of riparian restoration through the USDA\OWEB Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program. Outside of USDA planning, Thompson works with landowners to implement various in-stream restoration projects.
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| Rewetting Wetlands: Managing Resources Effectively |
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Thursday 10-11:30 a.m.
Restoration of wetlands is more than building a pond or breaching a dike. Many project managers have gained extensive experience with management of hydrology and vegetation from recent wetland restoration activities. The session will provide practical guidance for examples of wetland restoration from throughout the state, with plenty of real-life examples and “lessons learned.”
Participants will:
- Make the connections between project goals, restoration design, and successful results.
- Learn practical techniques for managing hydrology and vegetation for effective results from wetland restoration actions.
- Receive tips on planning for effective wetland restoration.
Presenters:
Ed Alverson is The Nature Conservancy’s Willamette Valley stewardship ecologist, a position he has held since 1991. Alverson has written more than 40 technical and popular articles about the vegetation of this region. His interests include the conservation and management of prairie and oak habitats in the Willamette Valley-Puget Trough-Georgia Basin Ecoregion, and floristics and biogeography of the Pacific Northwest. He completed a master’s degree in botany at Oregon State University and has been working as a field botanist in the Pacific Northwest for nearly 30 years.
Karen Antell has taught botany and biology at Eastern Oregon University since 1987. In addition to teaching, she curates the herbarium, manages the university’s 360-acre Rebarrow Research Forest, and serves on the board of the GROWISER preserve dedicated to native plant seed preservation. Recently, she has helped create the Blue Mountains Conservancy, a land trust dedicated to conservation of natural lands in NE Oregon. The 700-acre End Creek wetland is their first restoration project. Antell completed her bachelor’s degree in botany at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and her PhD in plant systematics at Washington State University in 1985.
Laura Brophy is founder and owner of Green Point Consulting in Corvallis, and serves on the faculty of the Marine Resource Management Program within the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University. She has been applying ecological principles to resource management problems for 28 years, with emphasis on conservation and restoration of Pacific Northwest coastal wetlands and watersheds since 1994. She maintains a dual-scale project focus, with regional projects including strategic plans and research to help guide restoration efforts; and local projects such as wetland restoration design, monitoring and implementation. Brophy holds a bachelor’s degree from Carleton College and a master’s from the University of Minnesota, and is a certified professional wetland scientist.
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| Using OWEB On-line Tools |
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Thursday 10-11:30 a.m.
This session will focus on the tools available for managing OWEB grants and for reporting information to the Oregon Watershed Restoration Inventory (OWRI). Watershed council staff members who regularly use these tools will give live demonstrations of their features. They will demonstrate on-line reporting to the OWRI and discuss mapping features. They also will show the many types of information available from the OWEB Grant Management System (OGMS) that make grant management easier and quicker. The presentations will be geared to both new users and those familiar with the systems.
Participants will:
- Learn how to enter data into the OWRI.
- Learn about the range of grant data available in OGMS.
- Hear user perspectives of OWEB’s on-line tools and learn tips and tricks from those users.
Presenters:
Debbie Thornton has worked for the Partnership for the Umpqua Rivers for five years. Prior to that she worked for an accounting firm where I learned how to use QuickBooks and utilize basic accounting procedures. She has taken college classes to further her computer and accounting skills at a local community college.
Jean Reiher, has worked for the Yamhill Basin Council since 2007 and is the watershed coordinator. Reiher has worked for the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management, private groups, consulting firms, and non-profit organizations, mostly doing field research and writing reports on birds, mammals, fish, amphibians, and reptiles. She has a bachelor’s degree in biology/wildlife ecology from the University of Illinois, and has also attended Oregon State University and Linn-Benton Community College.
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| Wrap-up Session |
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Friday 10-11:30 a.m.
Join with presenters and moderators from prior workshops in this track to hear a short summary of each session and identify issues that require additional discussion, attention or action. Each group will record and prioritize these issues. An OWEB board member will moderate the wrap-up exercise.
Participants will:
- Hear a short summary of each workshop in this track.
- Help identify issues that require additional discussion, attention or action.
- Prioritize issues identified.
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