Annual Membership Picnic Recap
Saturday, July 27th was a lovely day celebrating you, our members, and the conservation you make possible.
This past Saturday, Parkdale’s Red Barn Park offered a picturesque setting for our annual membership picnic. Mount Hood served as a stunning backdrop for a sunny gathering of nearly 200 members and friends from throughout the Lower Columbia River region (in addition to folks who traveled from as far as Seattle and Tri-Cities)! New Land Trust supporters and founding members came together along with their children, relatives, and four-legged friends to enjoy good company and delicious food from Solstice Wood Fire Pizza. Corwin Beverage Company, Double Mountain Brewing and Mount Hood Winery provided libations to help keep everyone cool and refreshed.
After a welcome from Executive Director Glenn Lamb, Natural Area Manager Lindsay Cornelius shared details about the Land Trust’s ambitious East Cascade Oak Partnership, a collection of agencies, tribes, non-profits, and individuals working together to conserve Oregon white oak systems throughout the East Cascades ecoregion. Following Lindsay’s update, Land Trust Board of Directors President Wendy Gerlach offered her gratitude for our supporters and held an election for five new board members. All five candidates were elected to a three-year term on our board. Please join us in congratulating Charlie Bishop, Janna Davydova, Elaine Harvey, Rudy Salakory, and Tim Spofford! You can read more about our new board members below.
After the election, we capped off the event with a timeless crowd-pleaser as our gracious board members dished out root beer floats in appreciation of our members. To all those who were able to join us in Parkdale on Saturday, thank you for coming and for conserving and restoring the nature you love. Your support is more important now than ever. We hope you made a new friend or two! Check out some scenes from the day:
Special thanks to:
- Red Barn Park, Kate Mills and the Mills Family
- Solstice Wood Fire Pizza
- Double Mountain Brewing
- Mount Hood Winery
- Corwin Beverage
About our new board members
Charlie Bishop
Charlie Bishop was born and raised in Portland, Oregon where he enjoys hiking, climbing, camping, skiing, fishing, and sailing in the Pacific Northwest. After receiving a BA in Management from Claremont McKenna College and a BS in Industrial Engineering, he worked for Pendleton Woolen Mills, retiring as the Executive Vice President of Manufacturing. While at Pendleton, he worked with the community and local, state, and federal government to improve public access and conservation along the Columbia River in Washougal, WA.
Janna Davydova
Janna Davydova advises timber investment management organizations, regional timber companies, and a variety of other private and nonprofit forestland owners and operators regarding acquisitions, dispositions, and management of timberlands and mill sites. She has worked on some of the most prominent forestland transactions of the last decade, involving millions of acres of timberlands throughout the US. As an experienced real estate transactional attorney, Janna feels that she can help with Columbia Land Trust’s efforts to find the middle ground in forest management conversations. Janna looks forward to applying her expertise to help break down barriers to participation in forest management and conservation.
Elaine Harvey
Rock Creek biologist and member of the Yakama Nation, Elaine Harvey manages the Rock Creek Fish and Habitat Project. In 2018, Elaine was awarded the Biologist of the Year by the Native American Fish and Wildlife Society, which recognized her work that initially started the Rock Creek Project, studied threatened steelhead in the Rock Creek Watershed, and created employment opportunities for tribal members. Elaine also works to preserve traditional foods and works with the local Gifford Pinchot National Forest to protect and preserve the tribe’s ancestral huckleberry picking grounds, which have been commercially over-harvested and shares her tribe’s traditional knowledge of the traditional foods. Elaine has a Masters in Science Degree with a focus on resource management as well as a Bachelor’s of Science in aquatic and fishery science and is currently pursuing her PhD.
Rudy Salakory
Rudy Salakory is a lifelong resident of the Pacific Northwest, went to school at Washington State University, and currently lives in Portland with his darling Geraldine. Rudy currently works as the Habitat Restoration and Conservation Manager for the Cowlitz Indian Tribe. Since 2008 he has worked to restore wetland, floodplain, and riparian habitat throughout the lower Columbia River and its tributaries. Rudy is currently assisting Columbia Land Trust with several important projects in the Land Trust’s Conservation Agenda including a Grays River watershed-wide conservation strategy and the Washougal River-Wild Boy forest conservation and dam removal project. Rudy currently serves on Columbia Land Trust’s Conservation Committee and a board member and secretary at Columbia Riverkeeper.
Tim Spofford
Tim is an experienced global business leader. He is currently focused on supporting businesses and other organizations with leadership development. Tim was the Chief Operating Officer for InFocus and Senior Vice President of Global Supply Chain for Foxconn Electronics. The majority of Tim’s career (33 years) was spent leading diverse teams around the world in Hewlett-Packard’s printing, personal computer, and computer peripherals business. He retired as a Vice President of Operations for HP’s mobile products business. Tim has a BA in Management and Organizational Leadership from George Fox University and an E-MBA from Jiao Tong University. Tim and his wife of 40 years have two grown children. They have lived in China and many locations across the US. He enjoys hiking, backpacking, woodworking, and he recently completed the full restoration of a 1920 Model T Ford and a 1929 Model A Ford.