New state agricultural heritage panel meets in Prineville
The Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board appointed 12 members to the new Oregon Agricultural Heritage Commission Wednesday, a program approved by the Legislature in 2017 to help ensure well-managed working lands can be passed down to the next generation and kept in production.
The commission’s first meeting is Thursday, Feb. 1 and is open to the public. The meeting will be held at Room 1868, at 152 NW 4th Street in Prineville, Oregon from 8 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. More information on the Oregon Agricultural Heritage Program is available at its Website.
“This commission is a shining example of Oregonians coming together around a common goal — to protect Oregon’s rich natural resources and agricultural heritage. We are conservationists. We are ranchers. We are farmers. We are fishermen. We are hunters. And we are Oregonians. And we all have the same goal: to see Oregon’s resources sustained for future generations,” said Kelley Beamer, executive director of the Coalition of Oregon Land Trusts.
The Oregon Agricultural Heritage Commission will help Oregon farmers and ranchers pass on their land and businesses to the next generation, protecting our economy and way of life for the future,” said Meta Loftsgaarden, executive director of the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board.
This new program will help Oregon farmers’ and ranchers’ access federal funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture specifically for agricultural easements on their working lands. A working land easement pays farmers in exchange for development rights, keeping the land in production while preventing development and fragmentation of the land. Twenty-eight other states have state programs that match this federal funding, and now, so does Oregon.
“With the average age of Oregon farmers and ranchers at 60 — higher than it’s ever been — and a massive transfer of agricultural lands looming over the next two decades , we found it imperative to get ahead of the issue,” said Mary Anne Cooper of the Oregon Farm Bureau. “Without assistance in passing on that farmland, we might lose it from agriculture forever.”
The Oregon legislature passed the Oregon Agricultural Heritage Program bill during their 2017 session, and Governor Kate Brown signed it into law on September 19. The bill was a collaborative effort by the Coalition of Oregon Land Trusts, Oregon Association of Conservation Districts, Oregon Cattlemen’s Association, Oregon Farm Bureau, Sustainable Northwest, and The Nature Conservancy. Initial terms for OAHC commissioners will vary in length to stagger membership. Thereafter, commissioners will serve four years. Commissioners may serve up to two consecutive terms.
Here is the full list of new OAHC members:
Name
Resides in
Interest
Recommending body
Term length (yrs)
Chad Allen
Tillamook
Farm/ranch
Board of Agriculture
2
Ken Bailey
The Dalles
Farm/ranch
Board of Agriculture
1
Doug Krahmer
St. Paul
Farm/ranch
Board of Agriculture
4
Woody Wolfe
Wallowa
Farm/ranch
Board of Agriculture
3
Dr. Sam Angima
Corvallis
OSU Extension
OSU Extension
2
Mary Wahl
Portland
Fish & Wildlife
Fish & Wildlife Commission
1
Bruce Taylor
Portland
Fish & Wildlife
Fish & Wildlife Commission
3
Lois Loop
Salem
Agricultural Water
Board of Agriculture
3
Derek Johnson
Portland
Easements
Land Conservation & Development Commission
4
Mark Bennett
Unity
Natural Resources
Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board
2
Nathan Jackson
Myrtle Creek
Indian tribal
Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board
4
Will Neuhauser
Yamhill
Ex officio, nonvoting
Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board
Unspecified
