Snag Boat Bend tree planting
February 8, 2010
This past Saturday Greenbelt’s Outreach Coordinator, Steve Lilly, ventured out to Snag Boat Bend, a unit of the Finley Wildlife Refuge system for a day of tree planting. Over 20 volunteers showed up to plant over 1100 trees! Thanks to all of the Greenbelt volunteers who turned out to support our local Refuge!
Snag Boat Bend
February 3, 2010
In 2006 Greenbelt Land Trust partnered with the USFWS to restore the Snag Boat Bend Unit of the William F. Finley Wildlife Refuge by planting over 5,000 trees, constructing a boardwalk and trails, and building a wildlife viewing platform and bird blind. The Snag Boat Bend Unit is a 341 acre Refuge system just 1 mile south of Peoria. This Saturday marks the Refuge’s Annual Tree Planting Event, and they want your help! Did you know that the William L. Finley Wildlife Refuge was the first Refuge set aside west of the Mississippi River by President Theodore Roosevelt?
National Widlife Refuges Tree Planting Event
When: February 6, 9:30am to 12:30pm
Where: Snag Boat Bend River Unit – Meet at the Snag Boat Bend Parking area
Find the Refuge:
Ten Miles South of OR – 34 on Peoria Rd. Carpool also available, contact Katie for more information.Bring: Work Gloves, Muck Boots, and Shovels are suggested.
For More Information: Contact katie_folts@fws.gov or call 541-757-7236
Presentation on writing and Nature this Friday …
February 2, 2010
Franklin Burroughs, an award-winning writer of essays about the natural world, will speak at Oregon State University on Friday, Febuary 5th. “An Evening with Franklin Burroughs” begins at 7:30 pm in the Valley Library on the OSU campus with a reading and question and answer session with the author, followed by a book signing. Event is free and open to the public.
Burroughs is the author of three books and numerous personal esays on rural living and the intersections of human and natural history. His books include “The River Home”, “Confluence, Merrymeeting Bay“, and “Billy Watson’s Croker Sack”.
Should be a nice event … hope to see you there!
OSU Volunteer Expo
January 29, 2010
Yesterday Greenbelt tabled at the OSU Volunteer Expo, an enormous gathering of non-profits in the Corvallis area for Oregon State students. Steve Lilly, our Outreach Coordinator, visited with over 100 students about what Greenbelt does and how students can become involved in the conservation of open spaces in our community. One of the amazing characteristics of Corvallis is that it is a College town … we hope to expand our outreach and volunteerism throughout the OSU studentbody! If you are interested in becoming involved with Greenbelt, send an email to steve@greenbeltlandtrust.org.
Also … mark your calendars for February 25th, which is our upcoming Annual Meeting. All Greenbelt members and interested people are invited to join us as we celebrate the culmination of our 20th year, hear from a great speaker in Marla Rae, Commissioner Chair for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, nosh on some locally grown food from Gathering Together Farms, and vote in new Board members. This event will be held at the Vue (517 SW 2nd St.), a remarkable venue in downtown Corvallis, starting at 6:30 pm. Hope you will join us!
Willamette Bluffs Tour …
January 25, 2010
Wow … in the midst of the January grey and rain, this past Saturday was a BEAUTIFUL day with blue sky and sun a-shining. A perfect afternoon for a property tour at Willamette Bluffs in Polk County near Buena Vista. We had 40 interested people join us for the tour, in addition to staff and our Board President.
Willamette Bluffs is a 120 acre site near the confluence of the Willamette, Santiam and Luckiamute Rivers, and adjacent to the Luckiamute State Natural Area, a 1,000 acre parcel that houses one of the largest surviving tracts of bottomland deciduous forest, and one of the most significant breeding grounds for native Western Pond Turtles in the Willamette Valley.
Monthly property tour this Saturday!
January 20, 2010
Willamette Bluffs Public Tour
We invite you to join us for a tour of a recently acquired conservation easement. The Willamette Bluffs is a 120 acre easement in Polk County lies just south of the Buena Vista Ferry and north of the Luckiamute Landing Natural Area. This property contains a rare bluff feature along the Willamette River that overlooks the confluence of the Luckiamute, Santiam, and Willamette Rivers. Remember to bring your cameras for this tour … there are some tremendous views from the bluff!
Remember to bring appropriate foot and raingear. Meet at the GLT Office (101 SW Western Blvd.) at 9 am for carpooling purposes or for directions to the property. We will be back at the GLT Office by 12 pm.
Willamette Bluffs from the Willamette River
A great night …
January 19, 2010
Greenbelt had a wonderful evening celebrating our amazing Executive Director, Karlene McCabe, who is leaving the organization after 14 years of leadership. With much celebration, music, and laughter, Greenbelt supporters turned out in droves to honor Karlene’s tenure and wish her well on future projects. A special highlight … Corvallis Mayor Charlie Tomlinson reading a city proclamation for Karlene!
Karlene and incoming Executive Director, Michael Pope
Board President, Cary Stephens
In the news …
January 17, 2010
As land trust broadens focus, its new leader sees opportunity
By BENNETT HALL, Corvallis Gazette-Times | Posted: Sunday, January 17, 2010
Michael Pope will become the Greenbelt’s executive director on Feb. 1, the Corvallis-based conservation organization announced. Pope currently manages a wildlife habitat restoration program for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
”The Greenbelt board of directors is committed to continuing the organization’s tradition of excellence, and we feel that Michael has a unique combination of regional conservation experience, leadership skills and vision that will continue to advance the work that the land trust has successfully accomplished throughout the last 20 years,” said Cary Stephens, the chairman of the Land Trust’s board.
Founded in 1989, the Greenbelt Land Trust manages more than 1,500 acres of farm fields and wildland habitat for conservation and open space values. After two decades of working mainly in the Corvallis area, the nonprofit has broadened its focus to include more of the Willamette Valley.
Pope said he’s looking forward to his new job with the Greenbelt.
”It’s a wonderful group and a Corvallis institution,” he said.
”I think they’re at a really good point in the history of this organization,” Pope added. “They’re moving out of Corvallis and becoming a quasi-regional land trust.”
One of his first priorities will be consolidating some of the Greenbelt’s recent expansion efforts, including creating management plans and restoration objectives for the Evergreen property and the Lone Star Ranch outside Philomath, a tract along the Little Willamette Slough near Albany and the Willamette Bluffs property at Buena Vista.
He’ll also work on establishing long-term funding sources for stewardship projects and will try to expand the Greenbelt’s membership base in communities such as Albany, Lebanon and Monmouth.
Pope takes over the top management position from Karlene McCabe, who has piloted the land trust for 14 years. She is moving to Portland and looking for a career change.
”It should be a pretty easy transition,” she said of Pope’s new job, noting that he had worked closely with the Greenbelt on several recent land purchases and conservation easements.
Looking back on her tenure with the organization, she said it’s hard to point to any particular project as more satisfying than the rest, although two of her personal favorites are Owens Farm north of Corvallis and the Thomas Paine property in Kings Valley.
”To me it’s just the ability to have made a tangible difference in a community that’s been very supportive of conservation,” she said. “That’s been really both personally and professionally gratifying.”
McCabe said she’s also proud of having helped the Greenbelt take its first steps from local to regional stature, and she hopes the organization will continue to grow into the role under Pope’s leadership.
”I think there’s really a need in the Willamette Valley to get more conservation (projects) up and going, especially with the projected changes in population,” she said.
Partytime!
January 15, 2010
Greenbelt Announcement
January 14, 2010
After an international Executive Director search, Greenbelt is pleased to announce that the organization has hired Michael Pope as our new Director.
Greenbelt Land Trust Announces new Executive Director
Greenbelt's new Executive Director, Michael Pope
Corvallis, January 12 – The Greenbelt Land Trust has named Michael Pope as Executive Director of the organization, effective February 1st.
“The Greenbelt Board of Directors is committed to continuing the organization’s tradition of excellence, and we feel that Michael has a unique combination of regional conservation experience, leadership skills and vision that will continue to advance the work that the Land Trust has successfully accomplished throughout the past twenty years,” said Cary Stephens, chair of the Greenbelt Board.
Pope has extensive state-wide and local conservation experience, having served as the Oregon Conservation Strategy Coordinator for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) and as the Bonneville Power Administration’s (BPA) Wildlife Mitigation Coordinator. “I’ve enjoyed an interesting career from conducting and coordinating research on species and habitats to providing direction and funding to restore and protect wildlife habitats,” said Pope.
“I am very excited about becoming the Executive Director of the Greenbelt Land Trust and look forward to the new challenges as this organization continues to grow and expand into new communities, “ said Pope, who has lived in Corvallis for the past 22 years. “The organization has done tremendous work in the Mid-Willamette Valley and provided permanent protections for hundreds of acres of valuable habitat and open space.”
Pope has worked extensively in the Willamette Basin with Federal and state natural resource agencies and non-profits to implement restoration and protections of key habitats such as upland and wet prairie and oak savanna. Pope has been a key partner with the Greenbelt Land Trust and helped facilitate the acquisition of conservation easements on the Little Willamette, Willamette Bluffs and Lone Star Properties through Bonneville Power Administration funding.
Michael has a diverse background, ranging from a BA in Asian History to 13 years as a professional boat builder, practicing his craft from Maine to Maryland to Alaska. One day in Bristol Bay, Alaska, he straightened up from a boat he was repairing to watch a flock of tundra swans as they flew overhead.
“It was a cathartic moment,” he said. “I suddenly knew that I wanted to work with tundra swans and grizzly bears and fish and their habitats—I wanted to study the attributes of the natural world.”
In addition to his B.A. from the University of North Carolina, he earned a B.S. and an M.S from Oregon State University and a Ph.D. from Oregon State University in Wildlife Sciences.
More information about the Greenbelt Land Trust can be found online at www.greenbeltlandtrust.org.
