We are moving and will be in our new office
starting in August!
408 N. 3rd Avenue Stayton, OR 97383
We are excited to join the community of Stayton and hope you'll come by to see us once we are settled in.
Same Emails, Same Phone Numbers, Same People
except Mark, he is new!
Meet Mark Akimoff
I’m excited to join the Marion Soil and Water Conservation District team as a conservation planner. I grew up here—in the beautiful Willamette Valley—and appreciate the work that this organization is doing to protect and conserve our natural resources.
The Conservation Spotlight Podcast is a way for us to share our mission of conserving soil, water, and natural resources. We share our technical, educational, and financial programs and practices with the audience. Our guests help to connect relevant topics with resources and inspire connections in the community.
Click Here for Podcasts
KMUZ Community Radio (100.7 and 88.5 FM) is a wonderful partner in this outreach effort. They help us edit our scripts, navigate equipment and recording, and edit the audio for our monthly session. KMUZ hosts the Conservation Spotlight on the Willamette Wake Up radio program on the third Wednesday of the month at 8:00 am and 6:00 pm. We are very grateful for this opportunity and partnership.
If you would like us to cover a specific topic or host a featured speaker, please feel free to reach out to jenny.ammon@marionswcd.netand communicate your hopes and dreams for future podcasts. We may not be Oprah or Jocko, but we are here for you and are ready to learn!
Check out our past recordings and tune in every third Wednesday on KMUZ Willamette Wake Up 100.7 and 88.5 FM.
Outreach and Education Update
Summertime is here and we are excited to share our outreach efforts with you in the hope that we can see you in person or virtually ... because who doesn’t love having a choice? We are engaging our district folks with podcasts, lunch-and-learns, Saturday Market, and summer enrichment programs with school districts, and we’re wrapping up summer with Salmon Watch field trip planning. We love engaging our diverse audience in conservation topics and continue to provide opportunities based on feedback and open communication from you! The best places to visit to find out what workshops, classes, and events we’re involved in are our website www.marionswcd.net and our Facebook page (fun content too) @MarionConservationDistrict.
A Call to Action:
Post-Fire Prevention & Control of Invasive Weeds By North Santiam Watershed Council
The Labor Day fires of 2020 impacted approximately 44% of the North Santiam Watershed, greatly affecting the native plant communities we value in the Santiam Canyon. As we are all working hard to recover and rebuild from the devastation, there is still one battle we will need to wage, now and for many years to come: invasive weeds. As ash and debris are cleared and hazard trees are salvaged, we are left with disturbed and exposed landscapes and soils. Unfortunately, these newly exposed soils are more susceptible to weed infestation.
The seeds of invasive weeds are spread easily by wind, birds, animals, vehicles, and equipment. Once introduced, many noxious and invasive plant species have the potential to outcompete our native plant communities that are not yet recovered from the fires. The first line of defense against invading weeds is prevention. Given our shared landscape, it is important for all of us to help prevent the spread and control invasive weeds. It will take all of us to win this battle.
Wrapping up the Mill Creek Focus Area:
our most successful Focus Area to date
Every two years the district can be awarded an ODA grant to get soil and water projects on the ground in a single watershed. So how do we measure success? We count the number of projects that were completed to solve the biggest problem in that watershed.
Our good news is that this is our most successful Focus Area ever. We have done more work, in more places, than we have ever done before. In fact, to date in this biennium we have done almost four times as many projects as in the last three bienniums combined!
Pasture Management is a topic that has increased in popularity this past year. People want to know more about controlling invasive weeds, nutrient management, and overall improvement of current pastures. There are many benefits to maintaining healthy stands with diverse perennial ground cover. Perennial pastures can improve water infiltration with healthy soils, reduce runoff with actively growing vegetation, and provide excellent weed control through competition.
Tansy Ragwort is a noxious weed in the State of Oregon that is found in pastures, clear cuts, roadsides, and other disturbed areas. This yellow-flowered plant is toxic to livestock when consumed.
Digging up plants and/or using herbicides before the plants produce flowers are good choices for control. If using herbicides, please read and follow the label.
Herbicides are generally not effective if the plant has flower buds or flowers.
Mowing is also not recommended if the plants have flower buds or flowers because the plants can still produce seed. If you choose to mow collect and dispose of plant material to prevent seed dispersal.
If you have Tansy Ragwort on your property, please do your part to control this plant before it spreads!
2021 Native Plant Sale
Another year, another new native plant sale experience. With the pandemic showing no signs of slowing down in fall 2020, we made the decision to hold an online plant sale with drive-through pick-up—something we had never done before. It was a bit of a learning curve to get the online sale set up, but we went live in early January and watched with delight as the number of sales increased with each day!
In January 2021, Marion SWCD partnered with the North Santiam Watershed Council to host the third annual Plan for Your Land class series. Twelve hours of conservation education were provided via Zoom to over 20 living rooms. Attendees learned about conservation from the ground up: starting with soil and working up to entire ecosystems.
Speakers came from partner organizations including the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA), OSU Extension Service, Department of State Lands (DSL), Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife (ODFW), and more.
Participants received personalized maps of their properties and personal assistance including site visits from SWCD technicians. At the end of the class, each has developed a conservation plan individualized for their property and their needs. Some attendees go on to apply for funding through the SWCD or a partner agency.
The SWCD is already planning to host the next round of Plan for Your Land classes near the Howell Prairie Creek-Pudding Rivers Watershed near Silverton and Mt. Angel. More information will be coming soon.
