Watersheds & ecosystems

Frank Burris serves as watershed educator for Curry County and the south coast, providing private property owners, interested citizens, and organizations with the knowledge they need to assist in improving ecosystem health, salmonid fish populations, and water quality.

Projects and areas of interest include: Watershed extension, non-point source water quality monitoring, wetland construction and restoration, and aquatic invertebrate sampling and identification.

Sea Grant video: Oregon Brief: Euchre Creek, Curry County Watershed Restoration [view Flash video]; Sea Grant publications: Barriers and Opportunities for Low Impact Development

Based in the Portland Metro area, Sam Chan serves the state and the Pacific region with with special focus on aquatic ecosystem health, aquatic invasive species, and oil spill prevention and management.

Projects and interests include: Habitat protection, water pollution, salmon and watershed restoration, oil spills, and invasive non-native plants and animals. See our new Marine Invaders page, and the article Invaders from the Deep (Oregon's Agricultural Progress, Fall 2006).

Sea Grant publications: New Zealand Mudsnail Prevention Guide. [purchase] [download .high-resolution pdf | low-resolution .pdf | HTML]; Barriers and Opportunities for Low Impact Development; On the Lookout for Aquatic Invaders: Identification Guide for the Pacific Northwest (order form .pdf)

Flaxen Conway has spent much of her career dealing with the issues facing natural resource industries and the communities and people that depend on them - first in the timber industry, and since joining Oregon Sea Grant, with communities, businesses and families the length of the Oregon coast. She specializes in family and community issues, coalition building, conflict management and the issues surrounding change. See Common Ground at the Shore, (OSU President's Report 2006)

Projects and areas of interest include: coping with change and transition, personal and group leadership education, cooperative learning and research.

Sea Grant publications: An Investment in Trust: Communication in the Commercial Fishing and Fisheries Management Communities. Working Together series for fishing groups and communities [purchase] [download]. Fishing Family Expense Tracking System [download .pdf | HTML]

Pat Corcoran is a coastal Hazards Outreach Specialist based in Astoria, OR. He has conducted extension education in the fields of community and leadership development, consensus decision-making, conflict resolution, and collaborative learning. Pat currently engages university researchers and local residents in learning about the negative impacts on people of coastal natural hazards. This process of collaborative learning leads to more informed citizens and researchers, and more effective hazards planning and mitigation strategies.His three areas of focus are earthquake and tsunami preparedness, safer community development, and beach hazards.

Projects and areas of interest include: Pacific Northwest pilot project of NOAA's Coastal Storms Program. See Coastal Storms Program helps residents prepare for severe weather ([.pdf][HTML]) and Getting Ready for the Big One (Oregon's Agricultural Progress, Fall 2006); tsunami and earthquake preparedness, safer coastal development, and beach safety awareness.

Sea Grant publications: Working Together series for fishing groups and communities.

Rob Emanuel serves the North Coast of Oregon with water- and watershed-related education, training, and technical assistance to citizens, property owners, businesses, community leaders, and organizations. Before joining Oregon Sea Grant, Robert coordinated a statewide watershed extension program in Arizona and conducted doctoral research on watershed management by ranchers on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Projects and research interests include non-point source pollution prevention, bioretention, benthic macroinvertebrate monitoring, relationships between water quality and invasive aquatic plants, drinking water protection, as well as landowner recruitment for salmonid habitat restoration or water quality improvement.

Dr. Guillermo Giannico, a fisheries specialist focusing on salmonid ecology and watershed management, degrees in biology, resource management and environmental studies. His primary responsibilities include providing information, educational material and professional assistance to Extension agents, government agency personnel, watershed councils, and the public in salmonid ecology and behavior, fish habitat, aquatic ecology, and watershed management-related issues in support of the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds. See The Life Aquatic in Flooded Fields (Oregon's Agricultural Progress, Fall 2006) and Fish in Flooded Fields (OSU President's Report, 2006)

Projects and areas of interest include: Development and presentation of seminars, conferences and training materials on fish habitat, stream assessment, and stream restoration, including a 2006 Regional Symposium on In-stream Gravel Extraction and its Effects on Fish Habitats (proceedings now available on CD).

Sea Grant publications include: Tide Gates in the Pacific: Operation, Types, and Environmental Effects. [download pdf]; The Effects of Tide Gates on Estuarine Habitats and Migratory Fish [download .pdf | HTML]

Derek Godwin serves as Extension watershed management specialist for Oregon, specializing in hydrology, stream processes, and water quality monitoring. He helps provide on-the-ground training for watershed councils, managers and land owners across the state. He also works with other specialists to present advanced watershed management workshops on topics such as stream geomorphology, riparian silviculture and low-impact development. See Taking It to the Streams (Oregon's Agricultural Progress, Fall 2006).

Projects and areas of interest include: The Master Watershed Steward program; stream temperature and wetlands project monitoring; "rainstorming" to reduce land-sue impacts on storm water and water quality.

Sea Grant publications include: Watershed Stewardship: A Learning Guide [purchase from OSU Extension Service]; Going with the Flow: Understanding Effects of Land Management on Rivers, Floods, and Floodplains [purchase]; Barriers and Opportunities for Low Impact Development

Based in Corvallis, Megan coordinates the Master Watershed Steward program, a training program for people who want to learn more about their watersheds and coordinate comunity watershed projects. The Watershed Extension program also works with watershed councils, soil and water conservation districts and OSU Extension faculty to address watershed education needs across Oregon. Megan has a strong background in youth watershed education and watershed restoration projects.

Projects and interests include: Benthic macroinvertebrate monitoring, aquatic invasive species, non-point source pollution education, storm water and salmon education.

Working jointly with the Oregon and California Sea Grant programs, Jim Waldvogel conducts the marine advisory program in the Curry County and its across-the-border neighbor, California's Del Norte County. These counties include nationally renowned salmon and steelhead rivers such as the Klamath, Smith, Chetco, Rogue, and Elk, and are deeply affected by salmon fishery issues. Waldvogel has worked on long-term studies of salmon spawning and habitat, on river and ocean sport fishing, and works closely with watershed groups in both counties.

Projects and interests include: Fisheries management/salmon issues, fisheries enhancement, marine safety.