Author Archives: Alex

Headwaters Farm graduate lessee doing field work at Mainstem

Join our upcoming online workshops on farm transition planning!

It’s never too early (or too late!) to begin securing your farm’s future. A farm transition plan is essential to protecting your interests and minimizing attorney fees, taxes, and family stress. This free virtual workshop series will help you understand your options and navigate the planning process.

In partnership with the Clackamas Small Business Development Center at Clackamas Community College, Clackamas SWCD and Tualatin SWCD, EMSWCD will host four virtual workshops covering the following topics, each from 1 to 4 PM:

  • January 27th: The estate planning process and options
  • February 10th: Strategies for having difficult conversations
  • February 24th: Organizing your finances and business structure
  • March 10th: Preparing your operation and heirs for transition

Pre-register for the workshops here! You can also find out more about the importance of farm transition planning here.

Rana, Lars and Max, the three characters from The Great Gorge Adventure activity book

New activity book – The Great Gorge Adventure

Help Rana the Frog, Lars the Salamander, and Max the Slug get back to their home at the base of Larch Mountain!

Download and print this free educational activity book for the kids in your life to enjoy. Available in four languages: English, Spanish (español), Russian (русский), and Vietnamese (Tiếng Việt).



Read The Great Gorge Adventure here!

Illustrated by Jon Wagner, EMSWCD Illustrator and Conservation Specialist.

Recently-planted red flowering currant at a grant project restoration site

EMSWCD takes a “strategic pause” for the 2021 PIC Cycle (updated)

To EMSWCD grantees, partners, and supporters: We know how deeply all of you have been affected this past year by the upheaval and uncertainty that surrounds us. Here at EMSWCD, we have continued to do our work the best we can and to look for ways to support our communities. Ironically, it is in these extraordinary times that we are presented with a rare opportunity to consider how we may want to do things differently, to move in a direction that responds to the weight of this historic moment.

In this vein, EMSWCD has decided to take a “strategic pause” for the 2021 Partners in Conservation (PIC) Grant cycle – suspending the competitive grant opportunity for one year. While we will forgo the normal application process for PIC 2021, EMSWCD is committed to supporting our grantees and partners through this challenging time, and we intend to do this by extending some current grants and offering non-competitive new grants for our regular grantees for the fiscal year 2021/22. We have developed our initial criteria for this continued funding (please see below). The SPACE grant program will continue to operate as usual.

During this time, our staff will have the opportunity to address many aspects of our grant funding program with an eye toward greater equity and more strategic funding. We plan to conduct an evaluation of EMSWCD’s grants program in light of changes in the context of our regional funding, to implement new DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) and other strategic initiatives, and to more fully engage with partners, grantees and other stakeholders about the future of our grants program. Continue reading →

An aerial view of restoration efforts along Johnson Creek on the property

EMSWCD permanently protects 16-acre property near Gresham

Sixteen acres of property along Johnson Creek in east Multnomah County are now forever protected thanks to a conservation easement agreement between the East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District (EMSWCD) and property owner Lou Foltz.

“Our partnerships with private landowners are critical to protecting our natural and farmland resources” said Carrie Sanneman, board chair for the East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District. “It is heartening to know that EMSCWD’s decades long partnership with the landowner has now been secured for perpetuity thanks to his generosity and foresight,” Sanneman noted.

The property is adjacent to two working farms owned and operated by the conservation district – Headwaters Farm and Mainstem Farm. Preventing development on this property helps protect the rural character of the area, allows for farming to continue into the future and conserves important habitat for native fish, wildlife and plants.

“I’m pleased that we are restoring a variety of flora on the property while also maintaining the ability to designate a portion of it for farming,” said landowner Louis Foltz. “I’ve been partnering with the conservation district for many years to ensure that this acreage is a healthy environment for fish and wildlife, while contributing to a clean water environment in Johnson Creek. This relationship will allow future landowners to sustain the habitat while simultaneously providing an option for some farming.” Continue reading →

cover image for COLT 2020 report

EMSWCD featured in COLT “State of the Lands” report

EMSWCD’s Headwaters Farm and Mainstem Farm were both featured in the Coalition of Oregon Land Trusts (COLT) “State of the Lands” 2020 report! The feature covers our Headwaters Incubator Program, which leases land and equipment to farmers launching their new farm businesses, and details how a graduate of the program is now farming on the adjacent Mainstem Farm, which was acquired by EMSWCD through its Working Farmland Protection Program.

There are also ten other features in the report detailing the work and successes of land trusts and other organizations working to protect vital natural lands in Oregon.

Read the COLT report here.

A message from EMSWCD in Solidarity

Dear partners and friends,

At EMSWCD, we stand in solidarity with the movement striving to hold law enforcement accountable, and with the protestors demanding nothing less than a just, equitable, and inclusive society.

On May 25th, 2020, George Floyd died at the hands of police, an institution meant to protect him. He was unarmed. His murder is among the latest in a long pattern of brutality and discrimination towards Black members of our community – Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and too many others. The loss of their lives is an overwhelming tragedy.

At EMSWCD, our mission is to help people care for land and water. We cannot care for land and water without caring for people. Throughout American history, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color have been forcibly removed from and denied access to land. They have experienced significantly greater impacts from contaminated water and soils, polluted air, flooding, fire, and the increasing effects of climate change. We can do better. Until everyone has equal access to a safe and healthy environment, dismantling racism must be central to our work.

When we are not actively fighting against racism, we are perpetuating it with our silence and inaction. We must be anti-racist. EMSWCD is committed to using our power and privilege to stand with the Black community and help dismantle the racist system. We are committed to listening, learning, and speaking out against injustice. We will make mistakes. We will build practices to check our privilege, but we know it may still sometimes obscure our view of what is right and urgent.

We ask you to hold us accountable and we ask you to join us in this work.

Stay safe. Take care of yourself. May you find the highest and best use of your voice, and be sustained on this long journey by love, hope, healing, and connection.

Carrie Sanneman
Board of Directors, Chair
East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District