Oregon Regional News

July/August 2008

Ken Hand , MDF Regional Director

Slowing economy showed its signs at our May banquets.

Attendance numbers were down along with dollar figures. The bright side is the spirit of the attendees and chapter committees – I see no down turn there.

Paulina Peak Chapter being good to their word beat last year’s 73% banquet efficiency with a whopping 81%. Now they are replacing the laces in their boots hitting the ground running, getting projects completed before fire season. On a good year, project season is about three months long with snow hampering early access and dry conditions causing fire closure. They have also vowed to surpass last year’s 900+ project hours and think they are on their way. Don’t bother calling home phone numbers on weekends; you will only get an answering machine.

Bend/Redmond’s May banquet ended with a banquet efficiency of 41.5%. Greg and crew now are looking for projects to spend this year’s chapter rewards. Last year they funded two wildlife decoys and donated the remaining $600 to Ontario’s project.

The Dalles committee is deep into planning this year’s fundraiser. Their banquet is scheduled for August 23, making it Oregon’s last banquet of the year. Keeping with tradition, crab is on this year’s menu.

Ontario’s July 19 banquet is well into planning stages, with merchandise ordered and being sent to the MDF office. Jeff’s crew added last year’s chapter rewards to ‘06’s Juniper Reservoir fire restoration project. Along with Ontario’s dollars from ’06 and ’07, Bend/Redmond’s $600, State Fund’s added $2,000, they had a total of $4,200 to purchase seedlings. La Pine added a bag of bitter brush seed to enhance the project.

Klamath Chapter, as Matt would say, is lacing up their boots for the first weekend of June to replace an apron on a guzzler in Lake County. The guzzler not only serves mule deer, but bighorn sheep, which caused the problem. Some of the sheep thought the apron was something to climb on … Oops! Tin roofing does not hold much weight. To remedy the situation, the tin will be removed, OSB will be nailed to stringers, and then new roofing will be put down. Being in a very dry climate, the guzzler has two aprons 20 ft. by 24 ft.

From my end of things, I am still traveling the state visiting chapters and looking for my first new chapter. I’ve been told, “You are planting the seeds, just wait, they will grow.” Should happen soon because along with the seeds I have been spreading a lot of fertilizer.  

If you are interested in helping out MDF in Oregon, please contact Regional Director Ken Hand at ken@muledeer.org.