Conservation groups aim to tackle backlog of projects

By Erica Ryberg

The South County Spotlight, Jul 29, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

When the Scappoose Bay Watershed Council did a comprehensive study of South Scappoose Creek last year, the non-profit identified 15 years worth of necessary restoration projects to help heal the watershed. What the council lacked was the manpower and funding to get many of those projects underway.

“I think people want to fund things that are already on the ground,” said Watershed Council coordinator Janelle St. Pierre. “I think it’s harder for them to fund the steps that lead up to that point.”

That may change this August when the council and its fellow restoration champion, St. Helens-based Columbia County Soil and Water Conservation Service, snag the services of a restoration projects coordinator to work within the community to design and implement restoration projects.

In this case, the funding for the extra muscle comes courtesy of the Portland-based Lower Columbia River Estuary Partnership. The Partnership is parlaying stimulus funding it’s receiving from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality as well as its own funds into the full-time position in order to address manpower shortages and to augment restoration efforts.

“In the last few years, people involved in habitat restoration have identified a lack of large-benefit, large-scale projects coming out to the lower Columbia River,” said Chris Hathaway, director of the Partnership’s stewardship and technical programs.

According to Hathaway, the restoration projects coordinator will split his or her time between the two Columbia County entities and will report weekly to the Partnership. Bringing aboard the new staffer, who will be working in Columbia County through December 2010 and possibly longer if additional funding opens up, will free St. Pierre and Conservation Service District Manger Kari Hollander to focus on leadership and outreach.

Hollander said she’s looking forward to being more proactive than reactive in the future, a shift in focus made easier not only by the addition of the restoration coordinator, but also, she said, by last year’s permanent tax levy, which has given the District a solid, reliable funding source from which to operate.

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