text: Wallowa County Economic Action Team Rural Development Assistance Team Report - May 2007 Table of Contents A Brief History of Wallowa County . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Wallowa County Economic Action Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Introduction to the RDAT Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Visioning Rallies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Economic Action Team Surveys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Section 1. Integrated Vision and Strategic Priorities Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Business Value Added Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Wallowa County Campus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Workforce Housing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Critical Resources and Land Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Wallowa County Brand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Section 2. Sector Analysis Forestry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Tourism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Land Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Downtown Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Housing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Arts and Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Education: An Integrated Economic Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Section 3. Implementation Timeline Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Comments by Joseph McCabe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Frameworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Appendices What is RDAT? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Community Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 RDAT Team Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Contributors & Donors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Click on the subject you want to view and you will automaticly be taken to that page . A Brief History of Wallowa County By Diane Snyder Wallowa County is home to 7000 residents . People have During the past 10 years, the cost of housing has tripled been living, working, enjoying and shaping the landscape yet the annual wage only increased about 3% . Agriculture for over 9,000 years . Wallowa County's diverse and stunning and forestlands are being converted to accommodate this landscapes include the beautiful Wallowa River winding its changing demographic . As new owners purchase large way through the valley; the rims of Hells Canyon, the deepest tracts of land, the management of those lands is changing gorge in North America; Wallowa Lake, with the most from active resource management to hunting preserves . perfect geologic moraines on the continent; and the Wallowa The financial incentive for development and resale is much Mountains that peek at an elevation of nearly 10,000 feet . larger than the incentive to continue to actively resource- manage these private lands . About 58% of the land is owned by the public and managed by the USDA Forest Service . Our economy is primarily derived Beginning in 1999, income generated in Wallowa County from agriculture, forestry and tourism . from transfer payments exceeded the amount of income generated from jobs . These transfer payments include all Agriculture is an important component of the county's types of state and federal subsidy programs, as well as economy . Unfortunately agricultural producers suffer retirement, pension, dividend and rental income sources . because the cost of producing food and fiber continues to increase without much residual increase in price to In 1994, zero timber har vest occurred on public the producer . lands . All three sawmills in the community began to shut down . The mill owned by Boise Cascade was Since the early 1900's, timber was a king pin for the dismantled and sold . As a result, nearly 400 wood economy of Wallowa County . This peaked in the 1980's products manufacturing jobs were lost . Numerous when more than 85 million board feet of timber was logging companies lef t the area or went out of harvested from public land alone . However, for more business . This impacted many other job reductions, than fifteen years, forestry on public lands has been such as in tire companies, f uel companies, and local a hotbed of conflict . The timber wars, modernizations grocery stores . On top of all this, some environmental of the industry's technology and the declining federal groups had f iled a Court injunction to stop budgets have had a huge impact on the economic and public land grazing permittees f rom turning their social health of Wallowa County . herds out on public lands in Hells Canyon . Our remote location has always been a challenge to Typical of Wallowa County folks, quitting isn't a word economic development, making it difficult to compete in in our vocabulary . Several actions were taken under the business recruitment . There is a difference between rural leadership of the County Commissioners that set a course communities and rural remote communities . It is more for a proactive approach to these challenges . These actions profitable for a business to locate where there is freeway included the drafting and adoption of the Wallowa County access and a larger available workforce pool . Nez Perce Tribe Salmon Recovery Plan, the creation of a non-profit to provide local leadership in natural resource During the past decade, an average 14 .3% of Wallowa collaboration (Wallowa Resources) and the utilization of a County's population lives in poverty and unemployment Natural Resource Advisory Committee to coordinate policy is occasionally as high as 19% . The decline in the skilled level responses to natural resource issues . workforce and the family wage jobs has other social consequences . With the loss of benefits and more people These kinds of collaborative efforts provide a peek into the qualifying for aid, federal health care coverage at the County future of Wallowa County by restructuring areas around hospital increased from 40% to 80% during the 1990's . our competitive advantage, including sustainable resource management, maintaining a skilled workforce, increasing While Wallowa County has been losing the demographic sector family wage jobs, and identifying those "niche" areas that of young families, the population remains constant . Retirees will reduce the need for direct economic competition with and people who bring their jobs with them, or conduct their commodities . Impacts of global influences can be changed business electronically have moved to the area increasing the from threatening to empowering if we collectively pursue price of real estate . engaging in our future . 2 Wallowa County Economic Action Team To enhance the economic environment and vitality of Wallowa County while maintaining our quality of life, aesthetic beauty, and environmental attributes . As Wallowa County citizens and communities look to the fu- tise present among Wallowa County individuals and groups . ture, we are faced with challenges as well as opportunities to further develop and maintain a vigorous economy; sustain RDAT Findings – After a hectic week of meetings and tours our natural environment; and enhance and uphold a desired throughout the County, a public forum was held on the last and unique quality of life . Essential for success is the iden- day for the Team to prioritize and summarize their findings tification of opportunities and actions that can lead to the on how to improve the area's economic vitality . An implemen- achievement of these desired outcomes . Likewise, citizen par- tation schedule was included as a guide for the Economic Ac- ticipation is key to bringing about these results . tion Team to follow until the final written Team Report has been completed . Wallowa County Takes Action: In April 2005, Wallowa County was introduced to the concept of a Rural Develop- Six Action Areas – These six areas serve as priorities, the ment Assistance Team (RDAT) . This is a program coor- base of support for everything the community says it wishes dinated by North Carolina State University's Rural and to accomplish and what the RDAT recommended . These take Urban Design Assistance Program . precedence in terms of the community's activities . What is an RDAT? What can it accomplish for a community? • Branding and Marketing – Develop a broadly recogniz- For the past 40 years, RDATs have been assisting America's able Wallowa County brand to market Wallowa County, rural and urban communities solve tough problems . An RDAT its products and services . program guides communities and organizations in assessing their current circumstances and provides recommendations • Education/Knowledge (the County as the Campus) – Study tailored to their unique location with situation-specific char- ways of enhancing education and knowledge dissemina- acteristics and circumstances . The value of RDAT expertise tion to strengthen life skills and to add value to all sectors, and the resulting "Team Report" to a selected community is citizens and economic strata . estimated at more than $250,000 . • Value Added Center – Add value to existing economic ac- The RDAT is comprised of volunteers drawn from a variety of tivities and facilitate and support new ones focusing on professional disciplines . No two communities are the same . profits and incomes . Similarly, no two Teams are comprised of the same profession- als . Team members volunteer their time, giving up at least a • Affordable Housing – Establish and implement mecha- week of their professional practice for an area they have usu- nisms so working families can afford housing enabling ally never visited . They are selected on the basis of their skills them to live and work in Wallowa County . and knowledge matched with the issues and needs of a specific locality . It is not uncommon for a Team to possess over two • Natural Resource/Environment Sustainability – Conduct hundred years of cumulative professional experience . programs and activities to sustain the natural environ- ment as the foundation of the county's present and future, Wallowa County Selected: In October 2005, Wallowa and the resultant health and well being of the economy, County received the good news of selection as the 2006 citizens and communities . A subcommittee is already ad- RDAT community! The competition is keen because only dressing the Mount Howard Fuel Reduction program . one community in the United States is selected annually to be an RDAT recipient . • Revenue from Fees – Increase city and county revenues through methods such as development impact fees, appli- RDAT Visit: After 12 months of preparation both by the Team cation/plan review fees, indirect administrative expenses and the County, in October 2006 the RDAT arrived in Wal- associated with grants administered in the county, and lowa County . Local companies provided the equipment and real estate transfer fees . These fees should cover the cost facilities, logistical and financial support and other items of the cities' or county's staff time and pay the all-too-real needed by the RDAT for the weeklong workshop . costs that are incurred with new development . The Team interacted with the community, looked at sites, and To be successful the RDAT team stressed: analyzed our situation . Their findings were based on exten- sive County stakeholder input and their own research to un- • Any implementation should be Wallowa County stakehold- derstand our needs, values and assets, our County culture, er directed and approved . Citizen input and participation the social, financial, cultural, human, political . They consid- is central . This is a citizens' program . ered the physical aspects including buildings and infrastruc- ture, along with the local understanding and wisdom of what works in the County, together with the knowledge and exper- Continued on page 4 Continued from page 3 • Priorities for action must be established, but not limited The Economic Action Team facilitated the many requirements to, the appointment of an Economic Action Team Board of the application process . An initial site visit was required for of Directors and Executive Committee . These groups the County to demonstrate a committed citizenry, show the will hold meetings open to the public and be guided by ability to organize community support and provide the neces- the information from the County visioning activities, the sary resources to support an RDAT visit . There is no cost to Economic Action Team survey and the RDAT report . The communities for the actual RDAT program, but there are other Team stressed the importance of continued dissemination costs involved . There are costs for travel, meals, accommo- of information to the County and inclusion of local citizens dations, minimal honorarium expenses for the professionals, at every level in the implementation, monitoring and and a contribution to the support the Rural and Urban Design evaluation of the progress and accomplishments . Assistance Program at North Carolina State University . The Wallowa County Team Report - The Team's written evalu- Once selected, countywide task teams were formed to help ation and recommendations are contained in the Team Report . facilitate the RDAT visit, both financially and logistically . The This Report provides Wallowa County with a roadmap to iden- Economic Action Team partnered with the Northeast Oregon tify unmet needs, opportunities and solutions to address them; Economic Development District (NEOEDD) to bring a facili- strengthen existing organizations and their programs; estab- tator to Wallowa County to conduct a series of community lish and operate, if feasible, new entities and activities; access rallies . These provided input to the committee as part of the additional resources; enhance the economy, incomes and jobs; Public Forums Task Team and gave all county citizens an op- coordinate existing and new activities for positive impacts; and portunity to have their voice be heard . assist in the accomplishment of the County's strategic plan . Our RDAT Professionals – The Team members selected pos- The Report is not cast in stone . It represents the consolida- sessed the expertise and knowledge to compliment the unique tion of RDAT member's best professional recommendations attributes of Wallowa County . It was important that these for Wallowa County's improvement based on the input from people had the skills to respond to our local uniqueness . The constituents, local commitment and expertise, and available RDAT members brought no agendas, nor did they have any resources . Wallowa County is under no obligation to adopt preconceived formulas . A successful RDAT visit requires objec- any of the RDAT recommendations . tivity, fairness and neutrality with respect to special interest groups, both public and private . Making It Happen – The successful implementation of this plan represents a unique opportunity for progress . It has Gathering Information - Prior to their arrival, RDAT members great potential for broad benefits and positive impacts . Criti- prepared themselves by reading studies and County history . cal for success are the ideas, input and participation of Wal- They reviewed input gathered by the Economic Action Team lowa County's valued citizens and organizations . Committees from all aspects of the community . Their extensive research of local citizens are where "The rubber meets the road" to was conducted to best understand issues and problems fac- accomplish these priorities . ing Wallowa County . The result was a wealth of useful infor- mation about the desires, concerns, needs, opportunities and Key Organizations – Effective, mutually beneficial priorities related to the County, its economy and its citizens . relationships and collaborations between existing and new organizations and entities are important . The The Team findings are based on their own research to un- Economic Action Team does not intend to compete with derstand our needs, values and assets, our County culture, existing organizations . They will work with and support the social, financial, cultural, human, political; the physical their ongoing activities, fill gaps and take advantage of including buildings and infrastructure, along with the local opportunities to combine resources for a common goal . understanding and wisdom of what works in the County, to- Utilizing strategic partnerships is vital to support these gether with the explicit knowledge and the expertise present collaborations . Coordination of diverse, but related among individuals and groups . activities is one of the mandates . Wallowa County citizens and organizations will continue to work to make Get involved - Attend an Economic Action Team meeting . this plan a reality, just as they have during the 18-month Join one of the many subcommittees now forming . To receive process to facilitate the RDAT visit . information, Economic Action Team meeting notices, minutes and upcoming meeting agendas, please send your name and In the Beginning – A Wallowa County Economic Action email address to skip@espritinc .net or become involved by Team was formed to facilitate the RDAT application contacting the Wallowa County Chamber of Commerce at process . To guide them in this endeavor, the committee (541) 426-4622, or Skip Novakovich at (509) 586-7858 . developed a Mission Statement: To enhance the economic environment and vitality of Wallowa County Wallowa County Economic Action Team while maintaining our quality of life, aesthetic beauty, Working together, building a great future in Wallowa and environmental attributes . County! Peter Batchelor's Introduction to the Wallowa County Rural Development Assistance Team report My first visit to Wallowa County occurred in the with such a team occurred thirty eight years ago summer of 2004 at the time of the Oregon Mountain when we were able to save a vital historic district from Cruise . The streets of Joseph were filled with car destruction by an interstate highway system . Since owners displaying their exquisitely restored classic that time I have devoted my energies to building the automobiles . On this sunny day the mountains formed Urban and Rural Design Assistance Program, first a majestic backdrop for the crowds that spilled out over within the State of North Carolina and spreading the sidewalks and mingled with car enthusiasts . Like more recently to Maryland, Washington State, and every other visitor to Wallowa County I was impressed Oregon . with the sheer physical beauty of the valley . Design assistance teams are comprised of volunteers This, of course is what attracts tourists and retirees . drawn from a variety of professions which in this An abundance of wildlife, combined with good fishing unique case included the following disciplines and and camping facilities guarantees that the county areas of expertise: Forestry, architecture, business will continue to lure the outdoorsman in all of us . & education, landscape architecture, agriculture, However, neither tourism nor investment in homes is horticulture and sustainable development . Most sufficient to attract permanent jobs and opportunities teams possess 200 years or more of cumulative for young and established families . professional experience . Over the years teams have generated hundreds of millions of dollars of value- The future of the county depends on balancing its added investment, and have left a legacy of active current resources in agriculture and forestry with local organizations, potentially forming community the necessity to attract a population willing to settle development corporations . and raise families . Some citizens see this in black- and-white terms as a conflict between growth and Under Jane's leadership the ten-member team the preservation of Wallowa's natural and cultural Wallow Rural Development Assistance Team created environments . Nothing could be further from the the following plan for the future of Wallowa county . truth . It has been shown elsewhere in the nation that The plan is based on issues and needs defined by the growth can be managed through careful stewardship citizens of the county during a week-long workshop . of land, and that its impact can be minimized Achieving the objectives laid out in the plan will through ecologically sensitive approaches to land use not be easy, but the first step laid out here as the and development patterns . BVAC Center can move from dream to reality under a united and motivated citizenry and the leadership of These were some of the many issues facing the the Economic Action Team . Wallowa County Rural Development Assistance Team (RDAT) in the fall of 2006 . Team Chair Jane Peter Batchelor, FAIA, FAICP Willeboordse assembled skilled professionals from Director, Urban and Rural Design Assistance Program . across the United States to study the problems of the county and to create the guidelines for a plan for its future . This team studied the area and gave strong recognition of the community's value and in this case, land resources and jobs directly tied to the land . The strength of all the many local connections to the land were highlighted by this team report with a BVAC center that promotes jobs and benefits of learned stewardship . This Center will also begin to add resilience to the local economy and will be better for the county in the long run . Assistance teams such as the Wallowa County team have been helping America's urban and rural regions solve difficult problems – sometimes seemingly intractable ones – for the past forty years . These teams have visited communities ranging in size from a few thousand to several million persons, and from densely developed urban regions to rural counties . My first experience VISIONING RALLIES By Sara Miller In March of 2006, residents were invited to participate in a series Participants left each rally with a copy of the vision statement of community conversations about the future of the county . and a table showing the scoring of attributes by participants These conversations took place during four facilitated evening at each rally . A complete report on the Community Rallies, community rallies and several daytime sessions . Daytime visits including the definitions of the successful rural community included area high schools, a senior meal site, Rotary, Wallowa attributes and the community vision statements for the Troy, County Chamber, Wallowa Merchants, Joseph City Council, and Enterprise, Wallowa and Joseph areas, is included as Appendix arts and natural resources interest groups . In total, more than A in the Wallowa County Strategic Plan . 720 people from across a range of sectors, ages, communities and backgrounds participated . Although the vision statements produced at each of the rallies was slightly different, there were strong similarities . Following Participation was encouraged in many ways . Press releases the rallies, a task team of citizen volunteers reviewed the four were sent to local newspapers and radio . Flyers and posters community vision statements to identify common themes . were posted in incorporated and unincorporated communities . The task team then used the common themes, elements and Flyers were handed out at community events and meetings, sent language from the community visions to craft the following home with school children, and included in the County Chamber county-wide vision: newsletters . Verbal invitations were made at meetings and events . Volunteers handed out flyers and postcards to businesses and residents, and made phone calls . Babysitting and a meal were provided to encourage participation of young families and working people . Each rally consisted of: • A meal • Examples of successful rural communities who mobilized around a shared vision • An assessment by participants of their community strengths and weaknesses based on ten community attributes • Small group discussion • Creation of a shared vision statement • The opportunity to sign up to work toward achieving the shared vision Wallowa County Vision Statement Heritage and culture are a strong presence in Wallowa through new products and niche markets serving residents, County where people enjoy and celebrate a rural way of visitors and customers outside the area. A vibrant and life. We share our healthy environment and unique natural entrepreneurial environment fosters businesses enjoyed by landscapes with newcomers with similar values. Together we residents throughout the year in a County with no mega value wide-open spaces and intact ranchlands. We create anything. opportunities to carry agriculture and ranching forward into the next generation. We intentionally nurture and The vision statements are being utilized by a variety of groups, connect year-round residents, including young people and organizations, and decision makers . These include the Wallowa families, through new community-building and leadership County Strategic Plan, the Wallowa County Commission on opportunities. Our small towns, local businesses and active Children and Families Comprehensive Plan, the Joseph City volunteers collaborate to create a shared future. Council, and the Wallowa County Economic Action Team . Community level groups have organized in Joseph, Troy/Flora, Wallowa County cultivates a balance of compatible Enterprise and Wallowa to work on coordination and support of locally-owned small businesses which add to our diverse actions to implement the visions in their separate communities and innovative economy. We strongly support local and among the different communities . These activities provide entrepreneurship and opportunities that add value to our many opportunities for citizens to be involved in creating a natural, cultural and agricultural resources. We capture desired future . the value of local businesses and high quality agriculture County Survey – Summary of Adult Responses By Jean Pekarek & Jim Henson In 2006 many activities were conducted to determine the • Quality of life/Environment - Included are low popula- desires of Wallowa County citizens for their future . These tion; small town atmosphere; rural lifestyle; open included community visioning activities, a survey of county spaces; natural landscapes; controlled/managed citizens to determine desired actions and priorities and the growth; maintain or enhance land use planning; and site visit by a Rural Development Assistance Team (RDAT), pristine environment; to examine the economy and other dimensions of the county . The RDAT would make their recommendations for actions • Economy - Included are economic opportunities including based upon local citizen' comments, the team's interactions natural resources, timber industry and agriculture; with citizens and organizations, and the expertise of the enhanced business base including small businesses; RDAT's members . family living wages; affordable housing; The following is a summary of the desires and priorities of • High quality education and opportunities for youth; county citizens in response to three open ended questions about what they wished to KEEP, what they wished to • Quality Health Care; CREATE and what they wished to CHANGE in the county . The questionnaires were widely distributed to adults and • Culture/Arts/Heritage; students . Citizens were asked to indicate five priorities for each of the above-indicated categories beginning with the • Transportation; most important to the least important of the five . • Law Enforcement; The results of questionnaires were collated by Jean Pekarek . Because of the open-ended nature of the questions there are many different responses . The following is a summary • There were many other individual topics given with the of the responses indicating trends and the general opinions above being the most numerous by general subject . expressed by citizens . These are based only on the adult respondents and do not include student responses . In the table the responses are given according to the number of total responses for each subject . They are ranked as 1 According to the surveys, these are the most important being the most numerous, 2 being the next most responses topics/issues to KEEP, CREATE and CHANGE . The topics and so on . The number of responses is given in parentheses listed as most important reflect all five priorities for each after the numeric ranking . In every case the first two ranked category . Thus, only the most important topics listed by the responses were the most numerous . The total responses respondents are given . by each topic are given as the bottom line in the table . The Economic Action Team wishes to thank Jean for her tremendous efforts to compile the survey responses . The priorities have been totaled according to the following general subjects to indicate trends and summarization of responses: Topic KEEP CREATE CHANGE Quality of Life 1 (123) 3-4 (7) 1 (32) Economy 2 (54) 1 (90) 2 (28) Education/Youth 3 (9) 2 (31) 4 (10) Culture/Arts/Heritage 5 (5) 0 0 Transportation 0 3-4 (7) 0 Law Enforcement 0 0 3 (12) Health Care 4 (8) 0 0 Total Responses 228 204 202 7 Rural Development Assistance Team Executive Summary A traditional strength of Wallowa County residents has been The team recommends immediate steps be taken to restore their internal connections . The early residents struggled the county's job base, resilience and competitiveness by together creatively to wrest an existence from the natural business planning, site planning, funding, and construction resources at hand, building very personal connections – and a of a Business Value Added Center (BVAC) . Wide participation competent knowledge base – with the land, its seasons, and the in the BVAC from all the sectors identified in Section 2 is inherent vagaries of terrain and climate . The sheer diversity of essential . This is envisioned as a center where business sectors land-based activities was enabled by strong family/neighbor are reconnected and strengthened by collaboration, resource connections producing informal cooperatives that functioned and space sharing . Underpinning the entire activity is the for the common good . Thus, with meager resources, the growth of an educational sector using the entire county as early residents collaborated to build a resilient economy with a campus, integrating agriculture, forestry and culture . relatively little dependency on outside inputs . Co-locating these collected activities provides a visible Progress brought increased interactivity with external markets, place where a critical mass of cross-sectional creativity societal and political forces, and economic prosperity that emerges – as people work elbow-to-elbow – with each other to peaked in the boom years of the forestry industry . As external promote job creation . markets opened to Wallowa County the residents began to This will occur by adding value to local goods and services, the import essentials of food and fiber that had historically been introduction of a technology component, co-generation and supplied internally . A direct, but long-term, consequence of shared energy use (solar augmented), and lively interactions these external connections has been the dilution of internal within a younger generation enthused with the potential for a connections and the vital interdependencies of Wallowa vigorous economic future for their home county . County residents . The team proposes this bold action of strengthened connections A parallel activity was the growth of tourism, creating what in light of the words of John Tanaka, et al . – that the county is generally regarded as the third sector of a three-legged work to "…increase the resilience of its economy" . [5] Our economy based on agriculture, forestry, and tourism . An arts- experience with the people of the county leaves no doubt that based business and the influx of {Lone Eagles}[1], retirees and the bold leadership and can-do attitudes of its people can second-home buyers added other legs to the economy . As the accomplish the work recommended herein . economy segmented, the historically strong {local} connections The team greatly appreciates the enthusiastic and candid began to weaken . The RDAT finds these connections among participation (and patience) of the people of Wallowa County economic sectors weakened – but still in place . who joined with us in this work . It would have been impossible Economic dynamics have reduced the Real Average Wage otherwise . Earning/Job from an indexed (1969 = 100) high of 132 in 1972 to 82 in 2000 . [2] RDAT takes seriously Jim Henson's cautions regarding a business-as-usual slide into a Scenario III economy dominated by external {market forces} . [3] In response: A striking opportunity lies in building Value Adding Activities integrated across all economic sectors . A current example is the timber industry provides only 9 .4% of the total value added in Wallowa County [4] – but a huge percentage of the natural resource "bulk" leaving the county . Section 1. Integrated Vision and Strategic Priorities Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Business Value Added Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Wallowa County Campus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Workforce Housing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Critical Resources and Land Use . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Wallowa County Brand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 GOALS The community of Wallowa County has a clear and unified While the RDAT team looked at eight sectors of the vision of the future . From meeting and talking with many Wallowa County community in detail it has recommended people, it is apparent that the citizens intend to accomplish areas for growth and improvement in each sector within the following: this report . There are six top priority areas that should be addressed now . These six areas serve as a strong base 1 . Preserve the county's natural resources and working of support for everything the community says it wishes lands . to accomplish and, therefore, should take precedence in terms of the community's activities . These ideas include 2 . Preserve the county's rural lifestyle and sense of the Business Value Added Center, the concept of the community . county as a campus, workforce housing, fees, which need 3 . Provide opportunities for the retention of youth – or to be instituted immediately to help pay for the suggested employment sufficient to encourage their return . strategies, and the branding of Wallowa County goods and services . 4 . Create new economic opportunities . BUSINESS VALUE ADDED CENTER (BVAC) RDAT envisions an integrated approach to achieving the innovative renewable energy options appropriate to above four goals . The centerpiece of this vision is the Wallowa County . Sufficient waste wood and solar energy Business Value Added Center (BVAC) . The BVAC is a place are available to permit the development of a strong and where diverse interests and sectors of the county intersect distributed energy producing capability which lessens with the specific objective of providing adequate wage jobs the county's dependence on this critical outside input . through added value . The center will be newly constructed, The center will be strategically sited with adequate room perhaps using recycled materials, with the involvement of for growth, access to forestry and agricultural products, Wallowa County youth, who will learn from the direction a labor force, and transportation . BVAC also houses of skilled trades people . The building will be of sufficient entrepreneurial support - professional assistance for those quality to be LEED platinum-certified by the US Green individuals, non-profits, or existing businesses desiring to Building Council (www .usgbc .org) . The BVAC will become start or expand their businesses and create new jobs . the central location for adopting and demonstrating WALLOWA COUNTY CAMPUS In tandem with BVAC, citizens should take steps to establish and leverage the educational resource of the county to the county as a comprehensive and integrated destination create new jobs, assist in career development, and bring educational "center" . The campus will coordinate, develop more revenue into the county per tourist visit . SECTION 1 – INTEGRATED VISION AND PRIORITY STRATEGIES WORKFORCE HOUSING The community needs to support local government in a community housing development organization, providing all housing types for diverse income levels in that can handle federal funds geared towards income Wallowa County, both existing and proposed . In particular, qualified homebuyers . This new housing nonprofit should supplying a strong percentage of workforce housing will be partner with the local government to ensure the proper critical in housing teachers, nurses, young families and mix of housing types and costs through the downtown labor for all sectors . The city and county governments development areas and where other opportunities exist . In must take an active role in the provision of renovated and addition, the county should also require that 30% of all new workforce housing by partnering with a to-be-formed subdivision homes be developed as affordable/moderate community development corporation, or more specifically, income homes . REVENUE FROM FEES Several methods of increasing city and county revenues have · Indirect administrative expenses are a typical line item been identified . These methods include development impact for grants obtained by non-profit organizations and/ fees, application/plan review fees, indirect administrative or government entities, and to date have not yet been expenses associated with grants administered in the collected by the Wallowa County . Many government and county, and real estate transfer fees . foundation grants allow up to ten percent for indirect costs to communities . In Wallowa County, where approximately · Impact fees should be charged on new development to $3 to 8 million dollars are estimated in grants to non- help communities pay the all-too-real costs that are profits, approximately $300,000 to $800,000 could be incurred when new development occurs . Oregon statute realized annually and added to the county budget . allows communities to charge impact fees for sewer, water, roads and parks – all services provided by local · Real estate transfer fees are captured when property is government to its residents . When new development sold, is paid by buyers, and could represent up to 2 to 3 occurs, it will use those services; impact fees help pay the percent of the sales price . Most of the resulting revenue use costs associated with new development . could be dedicated to a fund used to purchase community forest, community agricultural lands, and conservation · Application/plan review fees charged by local governments easements . should cover the cost of the cities' or county's staff time when they review, evaluate and approve/disapprove applications for development . County officials state that the current fees charged do not cover the actual time required to properly review applications and make recommendations to decision-makers . CRITICAL RESOURCES AND LAND USE Critical resources include the identification and protection be implemented . To be effective, the community must also of cultural lands, and agricultural and forestry lands . reach consensus on which lands are critical to protect Lands that contain some element of hazard, such as the and/or preserve as working landscapes, and which lands extreme fire danger on Mt . Howard and potential resulting pose threats to the community . These decisions must be floods could pose long-term impacts on potable water made during a public process where the entire community sources and the general economy of the county . These is involved, and the costs and benefits are thoroughly should, should be addressed immediately so that imminent presented and evaluated . dangers can be avoided and/or mitigation measures can 10 SECTION 1 – INTEGRATED VISION AND PRIORITY STRATEGIES WALLOWA COUNTY BRAND What is the Wallowa County brand? The brand is a visual image that can be printed on a broad freedom and empowerment . The brand should evoke these range of projects, marketing materials and packaging feelings immediately, compelling people to link positive used by county businesses, non-profits and governmental feelings to Wallowa County's land, people, products and agencies . The brand should be featured on products created experiences . at the Business Value Added Center (though not limited to these products) and, eventually, the Wallowa County 2 . A perception of unique value – Products carrying the Campus . In addition to the logo, the brand may include Wallowa County brand are "clean, green and high quality ." text printed on products that explains the uniqueness of The consumer knows the product has been produced locally products and services coming from Wallowa County (e .g ., with attention to the sustainable use of natural resources Tom's of Maine, Newman's Own, Ethos Water, etc .) and it and is of exceptionally high quality . Retailers, wholesalers, could even ask consumers to give donations to a special educators and service providers use the brand . It connects Wallowa County fund, which will be used to preserve the the consumer with a high quality experience of learning county's working landscapes and raw, natural beauty . and feeling a part of the land of Wallowa County . 3 . A call to action – The consumer feels compelled to support the people of the county in their quest to protect Why a Wallowa County brand? the land, while maintaining the values and character of their community . The brand projects a desired image both internally and Who owns the Wallowa County brand? externally . Residents will gain a heightened sense of identity with Wallowa County – a constant reminder of The brand is "owned" by the community . Administration the community and the values and vision that are held in of the brand should reside with a non-governmental common . Visitors and outsiders will remember and identify oversight committee that is charged with establishing and Wallowa County as a special place with unique products upholding standards for use . and services . The brand should have impact in three areas: 1 . A positive emotional response – When one sees the brand, a feeling of well being should be evoked; of connection to the land, the beauty of the natural resources and the closeness of community; a feeling of restoration and renewal; a sense of inner resilience, independence, 11 Section 2. Sector Analysis Forestry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Agriculture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Tourism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Land Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Downtown Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Housing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Arts and Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Education: An Integrated Economic Strategy . . . 31 The following sections are organized into two columns entitled strategies and connections . The strategies column includes ideas and suggestions on how to improve a given sector . The connections column indicates how the impact of each idea links to other sectors and how these linkages can create a positive feedback loop across sectors, thereby multiplying the economic impact of each idea . FORESTRY ~Sustainable forests sustain us Private forests, which cover 330,000 acres, (approximately non-traditional forest products including food, medicinal, 200,000 controlled by Forest Capital) are at risk for and ornamental products, as has been done in New York state parcelization and fragmentation . Private forestland tends with its Agroforestry Resource Center (www .news .cornell .edu/ to be a component of agricultural ownership or utilized for stories/Oct5/agroforestry .center .ssl .html) . grazing under leases . Traditional timber production is a major economic contributor, yet this resource is threatened The key to enhancing private forest stewardship and retention by parcelization, fragmentation, fire, insect infestation, of large tracts is to link forest management to education, disease, and exploitive harvesting practices . Large harvesting tourism, economic development and agriculture . It requires and milling operations that draw on the resource tend to the same land use protection tools needed by the agricultural limit competition and flexibility . Alone, they may be more sector . A combination of acquisition and conservation vulnerable than an industry with a mix of large and small easement strategies, coupled with a required educational operations . Furthermore, several small operations may be less program for new owners will promote retention of manageable vulnerable to market swings and other problems . They should forest tracts and provide a source of wood products needed to be able to shift and adjust more easily than large operations . stabilize one of the county's core economic foundations . Also, there may be opportunities to expand markets into 12 SECTION 2 – SECTOR ANALYSIS STRATEGIES CONNECTIONS I . Maintain traditional harvesting and land use . Education: "Project Learning Tree" (American Forest and Pulp Association), uses natural resources as a foundation to teaching math, -- See same land use control measures as proposed for the agriculture science, art, language, etc . sector . In addition, a "Master Forest Owner" program, analogous to the program Important: Undertake a campaign for passage of General Obligations Law, in New York state could be started . Landowner volunteers could assist which would limit landowner liability for activities related to education and neighbors and schools, exposing them to management concepts through tourism on private ranches, farms, and forests . peer activity, i .e ., Tree Farmer Leo Goebel . See: A . Implement mandatory management or lease policies . www .dnr .cornell .edu/ext/mfo/ . HOW: Develop regulation that new owners of classified forest and agricultural lands Develop an "Agro Forestry Resource Center" concept (not necessarily in attend a seminar regarding historical use and the need to retain those uses for economic a building) as a mobile program that could be presented in Flora, Troy, and environmental health of the region . And, to assure that use continues, require the Prairie Creek Center, (a pavilion or a woods walk, along an interpretive owner to manage for those uses or lease to those who will; otherwise owners will face stiff annual penalties in addition to loss of preferred tax status . trail or with kiosks) . Examples of programs that might be offered include: B . Create incentive payments to land owners for controlled public access . 1) Logger training This program would be administered by the state in order to release the 2) Forest Ownership For Tree Huggers landowner from liability related to access; fees would be paid by users/the (demonstrating that timber harvesting can achieve multiple goals) state to landowners; minimal landowner work load due to state oversight . 3) Mushroom growing HOW: Catalyze political action to create new programs . 4) Youth earth awareness C . Purchase forest capital or other lands as "community forest" to prevent fragmentation, loss of productive forestland, and to serve as a model 5) Training for elected officials forest . 6) Continuing education for natural resource professionals HOW: Empower the community and/or the county to buy strategic parcels to manage 7) New York state has a successful agroforestry program . for profit as model farms and forests . Raise funds . See: www .news .cornell .edu/stories/Oct05/agroforestry .center .ssl .html D . Encourage smaller scale operations (e .g .: 2 or 3 people, skidder, truck) Tourism and recreation – healthy forests lead to other potential income- to allow efficient operation on smaller tracts . producing activities: bird watching, astronomy, hiking, cross-country HOW: Scaling down both logging and processing facilities (i .e . sawmills) should skiing, etc . stabilize the forest industry and broaden the range of product markets . Offer small businesses low cost loans for planning and business establishment . Educate forest Health care – medicinal plants, tinctures, oils, teas . owners to utilize smaller scale and more frequent management actions . Agriculture and infrastructure – site manufacturing facilities for efficient E . Encourage whole tree harvesting to capture waste wood (tops, branches, utilization of heat, etc . etc) for new markets (pellets, fire-starter logs, fuel cells, etc .) and to reduce fuels for wildfires . HOW: Connect this with an effort to create new markets (pellets, fuel cells, biofuel, fire-starters, etc .) Small business loans and planning can help create new businesses . For example, loggers who have a straight job log truck with integral hydraulic loader and tag-along trailer (for efficient small scale operations) could buy one load of landowner-harvested material efficiently . II . Develop markets for small wood, waste wood (slash), and salvage wood, such as "fence-post" – (existing new, small wood market initiated by Wallowa Resources) . A . Encourage smaller harvesting operations – less overhead to allow profitable operation – to overcome difficulty in obtaining wood . HOW: Smaller logging and processing facilities (i .e . sawmills): see above HOW: Whole tree harvesting: see above B . Through grant program, allow salvage of under story thinning on federal land to reduce fire and insect risks . HOW: With grant, harvest pre-commercial thinning materials on federal and private lands to allow reduced fuels and material in which invasive insects can breed . C . Utilize salvage wood – insect infested trees, trees with root rot or blight, and/or fire-killed trees to capture economic loss and reduce fuels . D . Utilize waste wood – whole tree harvesting; take stem, limbs, and top as total unit to landing area . This allows efficient means of fuel reduction and potential resource for new markets (needles, fine branches, defective wood utilized for wood pellets, fuel cells, fire-starter logs, etc .) . HOW: Whole tree harvesting: see above 1 SECTION 2 – SECTOR ANALYSIS STRATEGIES CONNECTIONS III . Emphasize Agroforestry . Promote new products; teaching skills, job creation . Agroforestry promotes traditional forest products as well as new and Education: Youth project-based learning . innovative, niche markets and products . Traditional products include: Forest-related educational programs (flower hikes, photo tours, etc) can smaller diameter trees; medium density, fiber board; oriented strand board; encourage entrepreneurs to pursue unique activities that do not need much waferboard; fence posts and rails, related rustic furniture . start-up funding . Some potential products of the forest fall into the "hunter/gatherer" form . Niche products include: Food (mushrooms, pine nuts, oils, herbals, medicinal plants); fuel (wood pellets, biofuels, and fire-starters); Art (ornamentals, carving, wildcrafting); Restoration economy (fuel reduction, native plant materials for sensitive site restoration and invasive plant control) . IV . Reduce fire risk on federal lands . Priority area: federal lands surrounding Wallowa Lake pose a serious risk . HOW: Obtain grants to provide fuel reduction jobs . Implement a public relations campaign using celebrities to change federal policy . Create pilot project – grazing, coupled with thinning, control of invasive weed species, and removal of waste wood which further reduces fuel . V . Ensure safety net re-authorization . If that effort fails, consider creating a permanent "Forest for Wilderness" payment system . If wilderness is deemed a higher societal benefit than timber production, then in-lieu payments should equal or exceed prior timber related payments to balance the loss of industry in the region . HOW: Create a task force that interfaces with the county commissioners and the governor's office and approach Congress, the Senate, and U .S . Forest Service . AGRICULTURE Agriculture represents a foundational activity for the county global trends and markets) over which county residents because of its economic impact and the role it plays in have little or no control demand innovative local actions to maintaining a working landscape tied to a healthy resource protect and expand agriculture in Wallowa County . First, base . Production of livestock, hay, and small grains (wheat agriculture must become central to all residents regardless of and barley) are the backbone of the agricultural sector . It is their level of participation in livestock and crop production . characterized by forward-looking ranchers who have identified It should penetrate cultural, political, and social life . specialty products and markets (branded beef, high-quality Everyone should be able to describe the role that agriculture hay sold to Japan) to increase their profitability while they plays in the local economy and its impacts on natural and continue to produce traditional products for conventional human landscapes . Agriculture can be embedded within the markets . Although external forces threaten local agriculture, community, interacting with every sector . For example, we maintaining the land base devoted to agriculture/forestry recommend that agriculture be central to the local school is the single greatest challenge that the county can directly curriculum, shaping the teaching of history, literature, control . Consequently, we recommend strong actions math, and science for all age groups . Wallowa County is (purchasing community-held lands dedicated to agriculture/ uniquely situated to use this approach with its long history forestry, establishment of conservation easements, and of using animal and plant resources, beginning with the changes in land use policy to favor agriculture and forestry Nez Perce and other indigenous groups with their extensive over other uses) in order to safeguard and even increase the knowledge systems based on the management and harvest portion of the county's land base dedicated to agriculture . of natural resources . Descendents of homesteading families Without these actions, dramatically rising land prices, represent an extraordinary source of historical knowledge, coupled with the influx of developers and new residents agricultural science, and natural history . Linking knowledge uninterested in, or even hostile to, agriculture will reduce from all groups who have used and continue to manage the agricultural/forestry land base, seriously threatening the plants and animals across space and time through a range viability of these sectors with cascading and far-reaching of ecosystems and bio-environments powerfully connects harmful effects across the county . We also recommend the people at multiple levels and provides, engaging place- formation of an agricultural co-op to coordinate housing and centered curricula . Many communities use agriculture as a sequenced seasonal labor and to oversee marketing activities teaching tool in schools and their experiences and resources across the county for agricultural/forestry products . can be modified or used as a template locally . But safeguarding the land base for agriculture/forestry is not sufficient . External forces (rising fuel prices, federal policies, Continued on page 15 1 SECTION 2 – SECTOR ANALYSIS Continued from page 14 local food products featured in county restaurants and stores serve as visual reminders of agriculture's importance to the Second, the agricultural sector must expand to include community . new products and people who have not been part of the traditional agricultural sector . Development of new products Finally, connecting agriculture to tourism multiplies and should take advantage of agricultural activities already expands its economic effects while it increases awareness . For in place and exploit unique characteristics of the county's example, through agri-tourism, visitors pay to stay, work at natural resource base, as well as of the proposed BVAC . and/or observe ranches and ranching life . Other opportunities The diversity of bio-climatic environments coupled with the might include: influx of tourists and visitors offers multiple opportunities to develop new products and market them to new customers . 1) Offering workshops that teach pioneer skills and wilderness Examples of new products and customers include beef jerky, survival cultivated and wild mushrooms, sheep milk cheese, fruit and 2) Matching new agricultural products to specific tourist vegetable leathers, jams, chutneys, herbal products, whole activities such as beef jerky and fruit leathers for hiking, grain and specialty flours . These products can be processed horseback riding, hunting, and fishing trips .opportunities that and packaged with renewable energy systems that make tap into local expertise will capture more dollars per tourist; use of waste and salvage products from forestry and other add higher paying jobs; create year-round jobs; increase the sectors . Further, embedding agricultural activities within base of higher-end tourists and provide experiences for local multiple educational venues (kindergarten though 12th grade citizens . Wallowa County can become known as a learning curriculum, adult and youth vocational training, student and destination, where education overlays with tourism and the adult exchange programs, and workshops/short courses) for county's resources . adult and youth audiences will make agriculture visible across the county and more economically productive . Additionally, STRATEGIES CONNECTIONS RESOURCES Safeguard/increase agricultural and forestry lands Increase/stabilize agriculture and forestry sector, preserving or increasing 1 . Purchase Community Agricultural Lands to keep land in agricultural jobs and other economic opportunities . production . HOW: Empower community and/or county to purchase agricultural land to manage Tourism - maintain scenery and views . as a model and for profit . Research and use same mechanism as community owned Provides funds for other initiatives . forests . These fees should be dedicated to 2 . Develop conservation easements to keep land in agricultural production . a fund that purchases community HOW: Use land trust organization to obtain perpetual conservation easements . forests, community agricultural lands, and conservation easements . 3 . Require leasing of land of absentee/non-active landowners for grazing and/or timber, otherwise stiff annual penalties apply and preferred tax Infrastructure - maintenance of status is lost . water systems and roads . HOW: Develop regulations at county level that link land sales with continued agricultural land use . 4 . Charge "new owner" fees but reduce them in exchange for leasing land for agriculture/forestry . HOW: Develop countywide regulations that reduce these fees . 5 . Require daylong seminar on "Code of the West" for new residential landowners . HOW: Develop countywide regulation to implement and enforce . 6 . Establish and collect impact, building permit fees, and real estate transfer fees . HOW: Develop county regulations to establish and implement . Establish Agricultural Coop to: Supports efforts to attract year-round Refer to Oregon Department of residents . Agriculture website for resource 1 . Coordinate housing for seasonal labor . links: oregon .gov/ODA Creates year-round jobs . Enables 2 . Develop pool of seasonal shared labor (with forestry, tourism, etc .) to locals to stay in county . extend time of employment . Leads to need for increased local 3 . Implement countywide marketing and branding . printing capacity and marketing 4 . Develop website for all Wallowa County agricultural/food products . positions (jobs) . 5 . Develop mobile slaughter house . Increases jobs and marketing HOW: Form a group of stakeholders to implement (Wallowa Resources? Cooperative opportunities . Extension? ) . Explore expanding local custom slaughter facilities to become USDA Branding certified . (USDA Agricultural Marketing Services Division offers grants to assist with establishing agricultural cooperatives . 1 SECTION 2 – SECTOR ANALYSIS STRATEGIES CONNECTIONS RESOURCES Embed agriculture within the community Enhances local schools with relevant, See Food, Land, and People experiential curriculum focused on www .foodlandpeople .org/ 1 . Develop school curriculum (K through 12) that uses agriculture to teach agriculture . Intersects with Campus/ math, science, social studies, and language arts . See Agriculture in the Classroom Education components . HOW: Identify curricular models using agriculture and forestry models . Food Land www .agclassroom .org/ and People Project may train local teachers in this area . Contact Nez Perce Tribal Intersects with Campus/Education . See Harvest of History Executive Committee for input and participation . Increases number of students in www .harvestofhistory .org/ 2 . Implement exchange programs for high school, college, and schools . See Project Learning Tree international students that focus on agricultural production . Makes agriculture visible through- www .nhplt .org/aboutNHPLT .htm HOW: Work with local school districts and new countywide educational coordinator out the community at many sites to identify existing programs . See The Oregon Agricultural and times . Education Foundation, a 3 . Establish apprenticeships for local and external youth with ranchers, Assists local youth to see agriculture nonprofit charitable organization farmers, agricultural businesses, food processors etc . as career path . for possible funding etc . HOW: Work with local schools to identify programs . www .open .org/~oaef/ Increases knowledge and con-nection 4 . Develop workshops for adults (local and external) that teach agriculture of whole community to agriculture . See OHS Curriculum Guide: skills and knowledge . Schools to Careers program Can interact with Agroforestry www .oregon .k12 .wi .us/ohs/ HOW: Work with Oregon Cooperative Extension and Wallowa Resources to determine Resource Center . Connects to Flora curriculum/career .htm feasibility and implementation . School . 5 . Identify intersections and multiplier sites for agriculture with arts, non- See Forestry section of this report Can enhance and partner with profits, governmental organizations, and businesses . harvest festivals, music events, art show etc . Expand Agriculture Process and package new food See Oregon .gov/ODA products with renewable, distributed 1 . Develop branded, high-value, new products (organic and conventional) . Also check out TransFair USA as a energy by using salvage/waste potential branding and marketing Examples include: Beef jerky, mushrooms, heritage fruits/vegetables, jams, forestry/agriculture products in model . They work to give fair fruit/vegetable leathers, greenhouse crops, local flours/pancake mixes, carbon neutral, closed loop system . prices and community support to cheeses, native plants for site restoration, herbals, WC spring water, etc . Connects with BVAC . Creates jobs farmers abroad and the concept and economic multiplier effects . HOW: Connect with BVAC planning and implementation group; Consult with the may have interesting linkages to Food Innovation Center: Branding farmers here in the USA: 2 . Develop vocational training for local youth in greenhouse, food www .fairtrade .org Increases jobs . Keeps youth in processing and specialty crops . www .eq .tv/# community . See apprenticeships above Connect Agriculture to Tourism Expands tourism . See Agri-Business Council of Oregon Agri-Tourism Workbook 1 . Develop agricultural and working ranch experiences for tourists, and Creates jobs . Increases agricultural http://www .aglink .org/ participate in year-long domestic or international exchange student visibility . programs . Branding HOW: Inventory interested ranches and farms . Work with Education Coordinator referenced in Education Sector strategies . Tourism/Recreation 2 . Link new food products to culinary activities, high-end restaurants, beer/ food pairings, using tours, workshops, short courses, etc . HOW: Match local restaurants, chefs, class sites with producers . See Tourism strategy . 3 . Match new food products (beef jerky, fruit leathers) to recreational activities (hiking, snowmobiling, fishing/hunting) . HOW: See Tourism strategy . TOURISM The beauty and natural resource base of Wallowa County is add higher paying jobs; create year-round jobs; increase the a powerful tourist draw . Enhancing and managing the tourist base of higher-end tourists and provide experiences for local experience can be an asset rather than a liability and can citizens . Wallowa County can become known as a learning support a high quality of life for all residents . Protecting the destination, where education overlays with tourism and the beauty and natural resources can be pro-actively included in county's resources . tourist activities . Well-designed tourist opportunities that tap into local expertise will capture more dollars per tourist; 1 SECTION 2 – SECTOR ANALYSIS STRATEGIES CONNECTIONS 1) Expand traditional recreational activities, such as hiking, rafting, fishing and horseback riding to include Agriculture, Forestry, Arts/Culture, educational and cultural experiences (examples): Tourism Geology hikes Fly fishing seminars Ski techniques River guide training Raft trips to locations to do sketching/painting 2) Expand hospitality lodging provider services to include guided tours, hikes, raft trips, etc . HOW: Inventory local providers of specialist skills and knowledge . Work with countywide education coordinator to develop events and programs using local and/or outside providers . Create marketing strategies and supporting materials, such as brochures, websites and advertising . 3) Create/expand educational tourism with new offerings, such as: Agriculture, Forestry, Arts/Culture, Tourism, Branding Railroad workshops Native American culinary traditions, site visits Agri-tourism: ranch and farm management/lifestyle farm stays and tours Birding tours, classes Ecology/ecotourism Art workshops/foundry tours Music camps Wood carving workshops Wilderness photography classes History/historical buildings Stargazing/astronomy Snow/wilderness survival workshops Vacation packages that are volunteer-based (clear trails, help ranchers) . Culinary classes/workshops featuring local products HOW: Inventory local providers with specialist skills and knowledge . Work with education coordinator to develop events and programs using local and/or outside providers . Create marketing strategies and supporting materials, such as brochures, websites, etc . 4) Enhance traditional shopping activities to highlight/include more local food and forestry products: beef jerky, Agriculture, Forestry, Tourism, soft wheat muffin mix; dried mushrooms, dried vegetables (could be greenhouse grown), fruit snack bars; wood Branding furniture; herbals; jewelry (like metal dipped pine cone earrings; clothing; handmade packs and sport kits filled with local products) . HOW: Identify take-home products (ideally made in local processing facility/home-based manufacturing, or co-packed elsewhere) . Provide showcases for merchants to see/taste new products . 5) Develop/expand "wellness" tourism, which taps into aging population trend and also serves local needs: Tourism, Branding, Infrastructure massage therapy, yoga, health workshops, aromatherapy . HOW: Inventory local providers with specialist skills and knowledge . Work with education coordinator to develop events and programs using local and/or outside providers . Create marketing strategies and supporting materials, such as brochures, websites, etc . 6) Offer connective tours: bicycling from B&B to B&B, or solo (with or without van support) . Tourism, Arts/Culture, Agriculture, HOW: Develop bike paths; create maps showing bicycle routes . Forestry Develop inclusive brochures describing countywide sites, lodging, trails, activities, and services, such as guides, tours . Refer to Travel Oregon (Oregon Distribute to every tourist site (lodging, restaurant, business, welcome centers, internet, etc) . Tourism) for development materials . LAND USE Land use is the over-reaching framework that blends all of community wants, and to adequately charge for growth so the other planning segments and is the most important tool that services and a high quality of life can be maintained . for protecting working landscapes and creating workforce housing . It provides guiding principles, with direction for Here, the land use objectives are organized according to Wallowa County and the small towns and communities that the level of government and responsibility: Wallowa County make up the centers of development in the county . It gives objectives, general city and town objectives, and specific broad perspective to issues that transcend city boundaries, city or town objectives . Our overarching intent is to protect and specific direction to the locations, patterns, focus, and the agricultural lands and forestry/grazing lands and intensity of development . It allows a community to proactively to concentrate development in cities and towns, thereby plan for growth, to create the sense of "place" the preserving the rural way of life and community values . 17 SECTION 2 – SECTOR ANALYSIS STRATEGIES CONNECTIONS I. WALLOWA COUNTY LAND USE PLANNING The unincorporated areas of Wallowa County should remain primarily as agriculture, forestry, open space, and undeveloped lands . A . Maintain agricultural and forestry/grazing large lot size – do not allow for subdividing . Branding HOW: Agriculture, Forestry · Begin an effort to repeal House Bill 3326 . Tourism · Pass a measure or require large building application/huge building permit fees that will discourage the parcelization of heavily Housing timbered forestlands . · Maintain the large 160- and 240-acre zoning in the county . Infrastructure Education B . Identify critical natural resource, hazardous areas, and cultural lands (moraine, steep slopes, American Agriculture, Forestry, Grazing Indian sites), and protect them . Tourism HOW: Arts and Culture · Utilize a public process to identify them . Education · Develop mechanisms and options preserving natural features by acquiring land or conservation easements, and other means of protecting them from development . · Take the reduction of forest fuels load issue to the state and federal government level for resolution . · Continue to partner with local governments, non-profit organizations, and community resources to address the forest fuel load concerns on Mt . Howard, and in other locations in the county . · Work with the Nez Perce tribes to locate and identify critical American Indian cultural sites for protection and preservation . C . Identify critical working landscapes and protect them . Branding HOW: Agriculture, Forestry, Grazing · Utilize community forestry and community agriculture programs and other options for acquiring land, conservation easements, Tourism or other means of protecting them from development . Infrastructure · Working with non-profits and government, raise a pool of funds that will be used for preserving working landscapes . · Partner with local landowners (ranchers and farmers) to identify and develop means of supporting continuing agricultural uses Education and working landscapes . D . Change regulations to capture fair property tax on EFU lands that are not used for agricultural/forestry uses . E . Try to limit Measure 37 impacts by: Agriculture, Forestry, Tourism, Arts · Requiring efficient patterns of development (e .g .: cluster development) . and Culture, · Requiring self-sufficiency, (e .g .: green architecture and low-impact site development) . Housing, Infrastructure · Requiring self-contained development (i .e ., "off the grid"), which provides its own water, sewer, power, and Education communications . Resources: · Requiring high application/review and development fees for housing outside of designated (city) area limits . (Fees should be based on the size of the dwelling and its value .) Rural by Design written by R . Arendt www .cottagecompany .com www .communitygreens .org F . Develop fee structures/activities that support the community, such as: Housing · An impact fee structure that covers new development's fair share for transportation and parks (as allowed by state statue (it is Infrastructure assumed that developments outside the urban growth boundary of local communities will provide their own sewer and water, thus impact fees are not applicable) . · Implement a real estate transfer tax (2 to 3% of sales price) payable by buyer at time of sale . Funds to be dedicated to certain uses related to agriculture/forestry, such as a fund to purchase community forests and community agricultural lands as well as conservation easements . · Re-evaluate plan review fees and criteria used to assure that the actual costs of county labor are recovered . · Require a one-day course for of new purchasers to the "Code of the West" that, among other things, would explain the historic and current importance of agriculture and forestry to the region, the long-time residents' perception of the impact of absentee owners on the community, and the community's hopes for contributions (financial and intellectual) of the newcomers . 1 SECTION 2 – SECTOR ANALYSIS STRATEGIES CONNECTIONS G . Provide space within the county planning office for a part-time or full time planner that is shared and funded Housing by the cities and towns . Infrastructure II. CITIES AND TOWNS – GENERAL A . Encourage development within city limits . Agriculture, Forestry HOW: Tourism · Use density bonuses and other tools to help focus new development within the urban growth boundary of cities and towns . Housing · Spell out clear guidelines for development limitations within both city and unincorporated town limits . Infrastructure · Maintain large lot (160-240-acre) zoning outside the urban growth boundaries . B . Revisit land use plans at both county and city levels and identify developable land . Agriculture, Forestry HOW: Tourism · Make adjustments as needed to accommodate actual land use conditions . Housing · Make adjustments to accommodate a mix of uses, including commercial, a variety of residential types, industrial development, Infrastructure parks and trophy homes . · Each community should include a mix of uses, including a variety of housing types in all price ranges . C . Focus commercial and industrial land within cities and towns - economic opportunities are focused here . Agriculture, Forestry HOW: Branding · Help identify the spirits of the various downtowns found within the county through signs, street furniture, benches, Tourism etc ., while tying each community into the Wallowa County Brand . Arts and Culture · Create an economic development policy that facilitates implementation of the uses . · Identify obstacles and ways to creatively overcome them . · Market the available economic development sites and the community's preferred use to create additional family wage jobs . · Develop a marketing/recruiting person responsible for identifying potential companies that can bring new jobs to the community and that fit the community's available land and potential sites . D . Develop fee structures/activities that support the community, such as: Agriculture, Forestry · An impact fee structure that covers new development's fare share for transportation, sewer, water, and parks (as allowed by Housing state statue) . Infrastructure · Implement a real estate transfer tax (2 to 3% of sales price) payable by buyer at time of sale . Funds to be dedicated to certain uses related to county's agriculture/forestry, such as the purchase of community forests, community agriculture lands, and conservation easements . · Re-evaluate plan review fees and criteria used to assure that the actual costs of city labor are recovered . · Require one-day course of new purchasers to the "Code of the West" to explain the historic and current importance of agriculture and forestry to the region, the long-time residents' perception of the impact of absentee owners on the community, and the community's hopes for contributions (financial and intellectual) of the newcomers . III. JOSEPH SPECIFIC FOCUS The City of Joseph should focus on planning activities and development that support the concept of an Arts destination and tourism hub in the county . A . By building on existing arts activities and expanding more, ensure that Joseph remains a recreation and Branding visual arts center . Tourism HOW: Arts and Culture · Create an arts and entertainment district overlay that offers incentives and start-up funds for implementation . Housing · Consider day spas as a recreation destination use . 1 SECTION 2 – SECTOR ANALYSIS STRATEGIES CONNECTIONS B . Revisit land use plans and identify developable land . Housing HOW: Infrastructure · Modify land use ordinances/designations and maps to conform . · Make adjustments as needed to accommodate actual land use conditions . · Make adjustments to accommodate a mix of uses including commercial, a variety of residential types, industrial development, parks and trophy homes . · Consider recreation-oriented industries, i .e . Chums, Black Diamond, recreation equipment manufacture, etc . · Develop artist/studio space in downtown . · Review underutilized foundry facilities for reuse . · Consider day spas as a recreation destination use . C . Wallowa Lake Dam . Agriculture, Forestry, Grazing · Determine its safety and address disaster planning . Branding Tourism Arts and Culture Housing Infrastructure IV. ENTERPRISE SPECIFIC FOCUS The City of Enterprise should focus on planning activities and development that support the concept of a civic, cultural, health, and education center of the county . The County Government Center, new hospital, planned performing arts center, and educational campus center which extends throughout the county are ideal examples either existing or in planning . A . Through the Business Value Added Center (BVAC) and other means, develop uses in Enterprise so that the city Branding becomes a civic, education, health, cultural and performing arts center . Tourism Arts and Culture Education Jobs B . Establish a historic district with design guidelines . Branding · Identify historic structures and cultural features in Enterprise . Tourism · Develop design guidelines that are flexible and provide general guidance . Culture · Implement facade improvement programs . Housing · Implement streetscape, sidewalk, and landscape improvements . Infrastructure Education C . Reinforce and expand educational opportunities (see education sector) . Agriculture, Forestry Branding Tourism Arts and Culture Education D . Establish a health center to take advantage of "spin off" activities from the new hospital . Branding HOW: Tourism · Explore feasibility of health-related offices; mainstream medicine or "alternative" health practices . Arts and Culture · Services for the elderly, assisted living, senior center . Housing · Establish short to medium-range housing opportunities for patients requiring out-of-hospital recovery . Education 20 SECTION 2 – SECTOR ANALYSIS STRATEGIES CONNECTIONS E . Establish a cultural hub in Enterprise . Agriculture, Forestry, Grazing HOW: Branding · Support development of the EM&M building redevelopment as a performing arts center and mixed-use development . Tourism · The project should include housing, retail, rehearsal, and flex-arts space . Arts and Culture Housing Education V. WALLOWA SPECIFIC FOCUS The City of Wallowa should focus on planning activities and development that support the concept of a Gateway to Wallowa County . Establish a welcome center that serves as the "gateway" to the area . Agriculture, Forestry, Grazing HOW: Branding · Work with ODOT to develop an official "Welcome Center" . Tourism · Introduce visitors to the county and its many diverse opportunities . Arts and Culture · Introduce the "Code of the West" as well as the Wallowa County brand and its significance . Housing · Create a mixed-use center to attract visitor who stop at the welcome center to spend some time and money there on Wallowa County branded goods . Infrastructure Education VI. LOSTINE/MINAM SPECIFIC FOCUS The City of (Lostine) Minim should focus on planning activities and development that support the concept of establishing a sense of rural quality and small town atmosphere so that visitors begin to slow down and experience their arrival in Wallowa County . Continue to be a great example of a small, rural, charming town . Agriculture HOW: Depending on resident interest, work through specific plans for a mix of housing and/or businesses . Housing Infrastructure Education VII. TROY SPECIFIC FOCUS The City of Troy should focus on planning activities and development that support the concept of an outdoor recreation destination . Remote recreation center privately run . Offer: Branding · Fishing, hunting, camping, cabins, guided trips . Tourism · In order to gain control of the town, continue to pursue a cooperative relationship with the major landowner; seek to buy/ Education exchange land in town for land elsewhere . Other: · Seek a family that could take in a paying international (or domestic) yearlong exchange student (or foster child) to keep the Troy school open . · Advertise for a family of 4+ to move to Troy in exchange for free/reduced housing and job assistance . (Interview them just like you would any job applicant .) VIII. FLORA SPECIFIC FOCUS The City of Flora should focus on planning activities and development that support the concept of a regional folk-life education center . Focus on history of the area and folk-life education . Courses could take advantage of the town's remoteness, Agriculture, Forestry limited water resources, and the independent, self-sufficient lifestyle . Branding HOW: Tourism · Identify partners (sister community) to restore historic and other buildings; hands-on preservation effort . Arts and Culture Education 21 SECTION 2 – SECTOR ANALYSIS DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT Additional considerations: Land Use STRATEGIES CONNECTIONS City Pursue a historic district designation for Enterprise . Branding – highlight the area's traditional architecture HOW: as a way to reinforce the brand of this rural community . · Must include design standards . Focus on major character defining features like setbacks, window Tourism – encourage heritage tourism . Typical heritage placement/size, orientation of the front door to the street, etc . Do not focus on details like paint color . tourists spend more dollars and stay longer than other tourists . · Identify similar communities with design standards in place and amend those standards to fit the local community . Downtown – encourage the retention and enhancement of · Be sure to create a clear, concise document/resource book (in addition to the ordinance) that both the traditional downtown atmosphere . explains and pictorially shows how the design standards work . See the Clinton, IA example attached to Arts/Culture – retain and enhance a place where arts the report . and culture can thrive . Create a façade improvement grant/loan program to stimulate investment in downtown Branding – enhance the area's traditional architecture buildings . by providing funds to ensure good maintenance of the HOW: building stock . · Search the Main Street web site (www .mainstreet .org) Knowledge Database to see the guidelines, Tourism – attract additional tourists through the application forms, etc . created by other communities . Amend these programs to fit the local community . enhanced appearance of the business districts . Dedicate time to recruiting participants to the façade grant/loan program – in many communities, an intensive sales process is needed to kick off the first few projects . Downtown – improve the appearance of the downtown communities . · If the community finds raising the necessary dollars for a façade program is not feasible, consider the example set by Meredith, New Hampshire, where the community initiated an Extreme Makeover: Arts/Culture – create the opportunity for the use of art in Small Business Edition contest . The community could complete the makeover using sweat equity and the renovation of buildings as well as potentially result the talents of the local community members, potentially with minimal in-kind contributions to the in additional spaces for arts related businesses . improvement project . Develop a technical assistance program focused on marketing for the downtown business Branding – utilize the consultant to help businesses communities . capitalize on the branding of Wallowa County and HOW: BVAC . · Hire a consultant to assist existing businesses with developing marketing ideas to target customers within Tourism – increase the number of customers to further the county – possibly as an expansion of the business plan assistance currently available . support existing businesses . · Develop cross-promotional marketing ideas for existing businesses – how can each existing business work Downtown – strengthen the downtown economies with other county businesses to attract each other's clientele, beginning with the Business Value Added through the increased viability of individual businesses . Center . Education – offer additional educational oppor-tunities · Address either the perception or the reality of poor customer service by community members – see as to the downtown business communities . example the Hampton, IA: Service is Our Signature Campaign . Create a micro loan program to provide additional opportunities for downtown Branding – potentially use the dollars to increase the entrepreneurship . marketing budgets for area businesses . HOW: Tourism – increase the number of businesses that serve · Develop a micro-loan product that focuses on the entrepreneur who has difficulty in accessing financing both locals and tourists . thru traditional sources . Downtown – decrease the number of downtown · Focus on small grant amounts (under $5,000) . vacancies . · Tie financial support to participation in the free business training already available in the county . Education – offer a link to existing and planned · Encourage new businesses to fill downtown vacancies . educational programs to increase the effectiveness of the micro-loans . Hold a business plan competition to reduce downtown vacancies . Branding – recruit businesses that tie into the Wallowa HOW: County brand . · Offer an incentive package for potential business plan competitors that could include items like free rent Downtown – result in a new business that could fill a for a limited time period, access to free technical assistance, free web access, printing support, etc . downtown storefront . · Potentially focus the business plan competition on specifically desired businesses – as identified by Education – offer access to educational programming to community members and supported by market analysis – tie the business category to each community's the business plan competition winner to further enhance land use focus . his chance for success . Tourism – increase the vibrancy of the Main Street experience . 22 SECTION 2 – SECTOR ANALYSIS STRATEGIES CONNECTIONS Support the creation and/or development of merchant associations in the county's downtown Branding – revisit merchant activities and events to areas . ensure a strong tie to the Wallowa County brand . HOW: Downtown – strengthen the viability of downtowns · Utilize merchant associations to create or strengthen communication links between businesses – e-mail through better coordination and communication . list serves, newsletters, etc . Arts/Culture – celebrate the communities' history · Offer additional networking opportunities where businesses can learn more about each other so that the through improvement projects . knowledge gained can be used to make better referrals to their existing clientele . Education – serve as a forum for identifying and · Focus the discussion on what the group can do –manageable small projects – make the efforts of the organizing educational opportunities . group action oriented . · Take on key improvement projects to enhance the appearance, customer friendliness and/or business atmosphere in a downtown . · Utilize the downtown streetscape as a place to describe and interpret the community's history – the interpretation could be signs or art, or it could be incorporated into the street furniture – benches, light poles, etc . Offer a mix of uses – commercial, service, dining, residential, institutional, etc – in the Land Use – offer a development pattern that can downtown cores of the county's communities . discourage car trips/additional traffic while creating a lively core . Housing – encourage a diversity of housing types . Identify areas in need of additional streetscape improvements . Branding – incorporate the Wallowa County brand into HOW: the streetscape elements . · Provide on-street parking to the extent possible . Land Use – offer enhanced street amenities to further support the pedestrian friendliness of · Look to provide additional street trees – celebrate the variety of the natural landscape by planting and the communities . identifying the different tree types . · Create "bulb-outs" or wider sidewalks at intersections to improve the pedestrian friendliness of the main streets and to allow for additional landscaping . Add a landscape element at the intersection of Highway 82 and Main Street to increase Branding – incorporate the Wallowa County brand into awareness of the Performing Art Center and Main Street businesses . the streetscape elements . HOW: Downtown – promote downtown Enterprise to passing · Create a sense of arrival and refocus attention on the west/east axis of Main Street through the use of a traffic as an activity center . landscape element (circular with a pavement change) . HOUSING Housing is a critical component of any community . In from enacting new policies to providing actual funds to Wallowa County, the housing demands include residents support the community's housing goals . Whichever route or with a variety of income levels, seniors who may have special combination of routes traveled, the community needs to work housing needs, part-time residents and both short and long to create appropriate incentives that result in more workforce term visitors . The community needs to continually work to housing . find the best balance between the various housing types with an eye toward protecting the working landscapes as well as To the largest extent possible, new housing should be focused creating housing for returning youth and the new Wallowa within the urban areas found in the county . This framework County Campus . will ensure that the adjoining natural resources continue to serve the county as working landscapes . The addition of The community has clearly expressed that the current housing housing within existing communities also can help to create market is out of balance relative to the provision of workforce new clients for the area businesses . housing . The demand for workforce housing – generally expressed to be in the range of $90,000 to $130,000 – is not met by the current supply . The lack of workforce housing is an issue in many communities across the nation . The issue requires intervention by the local community to create additional housing resources . These interventions can vary 2 SECTION 2 – SECTOR ANALYSIS STRATEGIES CONNECTIONS Cities' Role Have city and county governments take an active role in the provision of new workforce Agriculture/Forestry – maintain working landscapes by housing . locating residential development within cities . HOW: · Identify potential housing development sites within each city . · Set the preferred parameters for new housing development – price of the new units, ownership vs . rental, single family, duplex, etc . · Recruit existing housing developers or create new housing developers within the County – a CDC, a Habitat for Humanity chapter, an affordable housing land trust, etc . · Form partnerships – potentially including funding - to see the projects to fruition . Develop policies and programs to support the provision of workforce housing . Land Use – creates supportive land use policies to HOW: discourage residential development outside the urban growth boundary and encourage residences inside the · Allow for smaller lot housing development . As an example, see www .cottagehousing .com . cities . · Require future developments to set aside a percentage (30% is suggested) of the housing units as workforce housing – utilize existing ordinances from other communities as models . · Develop financial incentives for the renovation of existing homes, possibly through an expansion of the downtown façade improvement program . · Create programs that utilize sweat equity in the provision of workforce housing . For example, Habitat for Humanity . · Offer apprentice opportunities for community members to learn new or additional skills during the construction process . Take advantage of existing opportunities to provide additional workforce housing . Downtown - increases the use of existing community HOW: resources and helps to further activate the downtowns . · Develop second floors of downtown commercial buildings as residences – consider residences, arts live/ work spaces, housing for attendees of educational programs, dorms, etc . · Renovate and offer for sale existing vacant residential properties – help support CDCs that can acquire properties for renovation . Take advantage of state and federal government programs to assist with the provision of housing . Encourage a mix of housing types, price ranges and owners, as well as rental units, within Arts/Culture – helps retain the community's culture, each neighborhood . which values diverse neighborhoods . Provide senior rental housing opportunities for the growing mature population in the county . Land Use – offers an opportunity to address a housing HOW: need that impacts a growing section of the community's population . · Identify housing opportunities or sites that offer easy access to the hospital and services . Provide longer-term rental housing opportunities to serve people who are taking advantage Education – creates an opportunity to house of the restorative powers of the local landscape – people recovering from severe injuries, educational tourists . professionals on sabbatical, etc . Limit the maximum square footage size of new housing within each city . Land Use – creates policies to support the mix of housing types . 2 SECTION 2 – SECTOR ANALYSIS STRATEGIES CONNECTIONS Encourage green building in the new housing stock . Branding – position the Wallowa County brand as one HOW: that promotes building techniques that protect working landscapes . · Pursue grants for local green technologies . Education – offer additional training to · Offer training for local professionals to expand their skills base to include green building techniques . enhance the skill sets and potential income · Provide a density bonus for building green . of area residents . Resources: Rural by Design by R . Arendt The US Green Building Council www .usgbc .com Community Greens www .communitygreens .org Rocky Mountain Institute www .rmi .org Consider the use of green roofs in new projects and use low impact development techniques during the construction period . Check out the publication Environmental Building News, www .buildinggreen .com Implement impact fees to begin to recover the cost of development . Land Use – create policies that support the fiscal health of the community . County's Role Offer recreational housing opportunities . Agriculture/Forestry – create a housing alternative that HOW: allows for expanded recreational opportunities without negatively impacting the natural areas . · Focus on green building, small scale, rental opportunities – for example yurts, small cabins, etc . to assist with creating additional full-time, year-round recreational based jobs . Require homes built outside the urban growth boundary to provide their own water, sewer, Agriculture/Forestry – diminish the impact of housing on electric, etc – subsist off the grid . the natural landscape . Increase the permit application fee for new residences constructed outside of the urban Land Use – create policies that support the fiscal health growth area based on square footage and home value . of the community . Capture property tax revenue from any residential properties located on agricultural lands Land Use – create policies that support the fiscal health when lands are not in productive use . of the community . ARTS and CULTURE Wallowa County is a place of unique history with an enormously beauty, isolation and quiet, variety of landscape, affordability important indigenous presence that began centuries before and a real place where people live and work . The artistic and the arrival of Euro-Americans and continues today . This is cultural community can be a part of preserving working coupled with an American homesteader history and immense landscapes by artistically celebrating the natural resource scenic and natural resources . The art and culture of Wallowa base as well as serving as an attractor for jobs . Art works can County celebrate and reflect this abundance . The aspects be used to further depict and promote the community's long of Wallowa County that are valued by local artisans are history of human habitation with its multiple connections to expressed by the greater community as things the community natural resources and shared values . holds dear – a long history of native (Nez Perce) and Euro- American engagement with the natural environment, natural 2 SECTION 2 – SECTOR ANALYSIS STRATEGIES CONNECTIONS Cities Develop an arts institute . Branding – strengthen the brand, as all arts institute HOW: offerings include Wallowa County logo . · Feature opportunities to learn from local artists in a Involve Nez Perce Tribal Executive Committee at all workshop setting . levels and activities . · Explore the possibility of college level courses in the arts . Tourism – attracts visitors to the new educational · Utilize the local environment, culture and history as teaching tools . For example, pack trips to specific opportunities available, can help to extend the season painting locations, canoe trips to specific sites to sketch, local artisans teaching traditional crafts, etc . and create more full time jobs . · Develop workshops that showcase Nez Perce art . Downtown – locate the workshops/artist housing in · Workshops for all ages, locals as well as visitors . a downtown area to increase the number of potential customers of nearby shops & restaurants . Additional · Focus workshops in the winter months to extend the tourist season . customers can help increase the viability of the existing · Utilize the arts institute to fill empty storefronts in downtowns . business base . · Include space within the institute to display both professional and amateur art . Education – offer educational opportunities to a mix of · Utilize Fishtrap as a model for the creation of the arts institute . ages as well as residents and visitors . Tie to the Wallowa County Campus . Inventory all small-scale existing arts education programs to better understand the arts resources Branding – encourage existing programs to include the available in Wallowa County . Wallowa County brand . HOW: Agriculture/Forestry – document programs that celebrate · Examples include the pioneer workshops held at the Flora school and the Winter Fishtrap Photo and/or explain the county's working landscapes . Gathering at Wallowa Lake with the Wallowa Lake Photography Club . Tourism – market the resulting list to increase the tourist dollars spent within the County and to extend the season . Education – offer programming to a variety of ages . Further capitalize on the local artisans currently in place in the community . Branding – encourage existing programs to include the HOW: Wallowa County brand . Examples: Agriculture/Forestry – document programs that celebrate and/or explain the county's working landscapes . · Consider extending the Arts in Education program offered through the Eastern Regional Arts Council in the La Grande area to Wallowa County . Tourism – market the resulting list to increase the tourist · Encourage the Friends of the Wallowa County Museum to continue and possibly expand their mobile dollars spent within the County and to extend the education program . season . · Once complete, encourage the usage of the Alvin Josephy Library at Fishtrap by educators and Education – offer programming to a variety of ages . community members . · Contact Nez Perce Interpretive Center to include and expand art initiatives . Promote the art communities' support of outdoor education . Branding – carries Wallowa County logo . HOW: Agriculture/Forestry – help promote the need to retain · Examples of places to conduct outdoor arts education include the Nez Perce National Historic Trail existing working landscapes as people personally that can promote linkages between art, the outdoors and history, as well as the Zumwalt Prairie and interact with the land and better understand its raptors program . importance . Tourism – create an opportunity to support the educational tourism efforts underway in the county . Promote the creation of artist residency programs to celebrate local heritage, educate Branding – carries the Wallowa County logo . community members and help extend the tourist season into the winter months . Consider Agriculture/Forestry – base of the program is to use local special programs to attract Native American artists . resources as a source of inspiration for artistry . Tourism – serve as an attractor of educational tourists housing downtown – locate residency program within a downtown to further activate the storefronts . Education – utilize as a unique educational format . 2 SECTION 2 – SECTOR ANALYSIS STRATEGIES CONNECTIONS Utilize the community's natural resources in the production of arts and crafts . For example, Branding – include the Wallowa County logo on all the creation of furniture using the local forestry resources . crafts created using local resources . Agriculture/Forestry – further support existing indu- stries through partnerships with the artistic community . Investigate the foundries as an arts and culture resource in the Business Value Added Center Branding – include the Wallowa County brand on items (BVAC) and in Wallowa County . forged in the county . Education – include the arts in the educational programming developed in Wallowa County . Create the necessary city policies to allow and encourage the development of art live/work Branding – identify the area as supportive of artists and spaces, focused on the downtown areas found within the county . arts related projects . Downtown – create uses to fill existing vacancies . Support the development of a performing arts center in downtown Enterprise, including an Branding – offer programming that carries the Wallowa auditorium for musical performances . County logo . Tourism – attract visitors and use events to extend the season . Use tourists to improve the health of local businesses . Downtown – create a new generator for downtown Enterprise . Education – offer coursework that extends the community's knowledge of, and involvement in, the performing arts . INFRASTRUCTURE ~the things that keep us functioning and moving forward By and large, much of the infrastructure of Wallowa County non-governmental staff that will serve countywide industries, is sound . However, in order to move the county forward and individuals, non-profits, and government in the areas of allow it to be the driver of change, rather than the victim of it, business marketing/branding, personal financial advice, and certain critical improvements must be made . These are noted educational-activity coordination . (For other suggested fees, below . In addition, two potential community-devastating such as a real estate transfer tax, application/review fees and risks need to be addressed before they significantly impact development impact fees, see the land use section .) the land and the economy - namely, fixing the Wallowa Lake dam and reducing the fuel load in the forests, especially those Infrastructure needs have been classified into two categories, surrounding the lake . the obvious "hard" infrastructure elements such as roads, water, and communication capacity, as well as the equally In addition to reducing the forest fuel loads and fixing the dam, important "soft" community infrastructure items such as the other two top priority infrastructure needs are the capture non-profits, governance, venture finance, and new county- of the indirect costs of grants that come into the county and wide legal, marketing and educational assistance . The time dedication of those funds (estimated at $300,000 - $900,000 frames below indicate the estimated amount of time for initial annually) to the purchase and creation of community planning and execution . forests/agriculture lands and to funds for conservation easements . This would also fund salaries for three new 27 SECTION 2 – SECTOR ANALYSIS STRATEGIES CONNECTIONS I. HARD INFRASTRUCTURE I. HARD INFRASTRUCTURE Power/Energy: Utilize natural resources to become a leader in local- a . Creating biofuels will necessitate the sowing of crops such as hybrid renewable energy products/processes . sunflowers, acquisition of intellectual property that could lead to the manufacture of biofuel processing equipment, small (2 to 5 horsepower) Time Frame: start now; see first results in 1-2 years . While this is not engines as well as hydrogen for fuel cells . (agriculture, jobs, education) . a current crucial infrastructure improvement, it is worth trying to get ahead of the "peak oil" curve and its potential devastating effects . The b . Wind will result in the hiring of skilled workforce for maintenance/ communities that do get ahead of the curve will find that they will be more operation . (jobs) . economically resilient and prosperous . c . Solar is already in use . As fuel prices increase, more customers will want Examples include: solar, resulting in more construction services for new and retrofit real estate development . (jobs, education) . a . Biofuel; fuel cells d . "Closed loops" will foster cooperation of industries and efficiency of b . Wind operations, allowing for waste in one process to be food in another (e .g .: c . Solar (net metering and passive-solar construction design) hydrogen for fuel cells) which leads to more new employment and profits . d . "Closed loop production facilities" where waste in one manufacturing (jobs) . process becomes fuel in another e . "Polluters" are looking to buy "carbon credits" to offset their pollution . e . Emissions trading The first exchange in the USA, the Chicago Climate Exchange, has been established that might provide partial funding of community forest HOW: purchases . (forestry, jobs) . For "a" and "d": Create a team that will investigate mutually beneficial financing arrangements - see "Financing" below under Soft Infrastructure . For "b": Citizens, tribe, and energy company to decide if they can resolve tribal and bird issues to allow for wind power . If not, drop for now . For "c": Solar will be driven and paid for by residential home owners/businesses converting to solar . Awareness by contractors of these products as a value-added option is all that is necessary for now . For "e": Assemble group to determine if this route could be useful for forestry in the county; check out their web site at www .chicagoclimatex .com . Transportation: Maintain roads while providing alternative means of a . Supports local economy and workforce; improves tourism; allows elderly transportation . to get out more; reduces commuting expenses for residents and pollution; creates jobs . (tourism, jobs) . Time Frame: now/on-going b . Ensures public safety and product delivery; tourism, maintain roadwork a . Continue countywide busing next year . jobs (jobs, health, agriculture, forestry, tourism) . b . Maintain roads . c . Enhances tourism activities; exercise for public health (tourism, health) . c . Create marked/signed bike paths from Troy to Joseph . HOW: Delegate a citizen-staffed working group, overseen by county commissioners, to seek state funds for all of above . Contact Wallowa Resources to help with obtaining private grants if public grants do not materialize . Communications: Obtain more high-speed internet capacity . Encourages the relocation of more Lone Eagles, allows for telecommuting, exporting of local products, establishment of internet businesses and Time Frame: Uncertain; outside area of citizens' direct control; subject to adjunct learning . (jobs, education) . corporate decision . HOW: Emphasize the "education of youth" to the CEO of Verizon . Will Anderson, RDAT member, can help make introduction . Water/Fuels Reduction: FIX THE DAM/REDUCE THE FUELS!! A breach of the dam could lead to loss of life, reduction of recreation and tourism, and devastation of agriculture in the county for years, not Time Frame: Uncertain, but should be ASAP to mention personal liability lawsuits for the owners . A forest fire could HOW: Convene a working group that will bring in federal help . similarly lead to loss of life as well as reduction of tourist interest in the lake/mountains for a long period of time . (tourism, agriculture, health, housing) . 2 SECTION 2 – SECTOR ANALYSIS STRATEGIES CONNECTIONS II. SOFT INFRASTRUCTURE - Strategies II. SOFT INFRASTRUCTURE - Connections Capture indirect costs of grants: Each year the county is not collecting an Excess funds, beyond the annual cost of a grants manager, should be used estimated $300,000 to $900,000 in indirect grant costs . for 3 new county-wide positions that will benefit all sectors and industries on a county-wide basis (see below) and other high priority county needs Time Frame: 6 months to 1 .5 years for staffed position . such as funds for the purchase of community forest/community agriculture HOW: Create a fundraising team that will seek an initial "capacity building" grant lands or conservation easements . These funds should be dedicated funds that will allow the county to hire a full-time grants manager and purchase new and not used to fund other county operations . (jobs, agriculture, forestry) accounting software that will be used at the county level to seek "indirect" grant costs . After the first year, the position will be paid by the indirect grant proceeds themselves . Countywide personnel: Create countywide non-government positions that Will spur the demand for more Wallowa County goods and experiences . will provide specific services "a la Myron Kirkpatrick" to government, non- (branding, jobs, tourism) . profits, and businesses . Will allow for more land to stay in family hands . (agriculture, tourism, Time Frame: 1 .5 – 2 .0 years to allow for the capture of indirect costs and/ forestry) . or grant funds . Will allow for residents to manage finances better; increase financial Crucial services include: options for their children to return . Marketing advisor (Wallowa County branding, entrepreneurial businesses) . Will allow people who have never engaged in "teaching" to start and manage new "educational" side-line businesses with minimal burden . Financial advisor (focuses on intergenerational land transfers, personal financial budgeting/planning, preparing children to return to the county) . Educational coordinator (helps ranchers, farmers, and foresters to create and manage "short courses", yuppie work vacations that pay the host family, semester or year-long student work credit courses that pay the host family, and other educational programs that will serve residents of the county-wide "campus") . HOW: Fund via private grants or the recapture of indirect costs of grants as noted above . Governance: Encourage and support governance that embraces and This is a critical historic moment to elect officials who will embrace celebrates change . Encourage excellence and innovation in elected and follow through with courageous and bold new initiatives . Effective government leaders; ensure official accountability and enforcement of and innovative governance will move the county toward a future that is laws, fees, etc . determined by local citizens, rather than one that is imposed from the outside . Courageous, thoughtful, innovative approaches are needed now! Time Frame: 6-12 months; certain "education" could be started right away; on-going curriculum could be created over time as funds are In order to embrace and implement new ideas that the community is received . surfacing, elected officials may need to understand the basics of a variety of fields . An innovative curriculum may need to be developed which in turn Educate in: The basics of "green" economics, land use planning benefits, could lead to new job creation . (education) . development impact and real estate transfer fees, and other issues as suggested by citizens or the commissioners . HOW: Funded via private and public grants . Enforcement: Officials must be willing to enforce laws and prosecute "scoff-laws" . (E .G .: people who build houses in industrial zones and pay industrial rate real estate taxes on both the industrial and the residential portions .) Airport: Ensure that the area airports are not open to commercial Keeping the airport closed to commercial traffic will maintain community passenger aircraft . structure, slow the dislocation of remaining agriculture/forestry workers, and slow the rate of escalation of real estate prices . If the airport is opened Time Frame: Uncertain, due to political process . up to passenger traffic, "Aspenization" of Wallowa County is not far HOW: County commissioners assign a citizen-driven task force (that reports to the behind . Commissioners) to pressure the state to cease installation of {IRF=IFR?} and/or pass a countywide ordinance that will ensure that runways are not extended in length . 2 SECTION 2 – SECTOR ANALYSIS STRATEGIES CONNECTIONS Non-Profits: Ensure robust, efficient non-profit sector . Creates benefits that are good for families; may allow for more part-time job holders to live here (health) . Time Frame: now/on-going . Allows for different non-profits to combine forces in synergist activities and Create association that individuals can join to obtain health benefits at a joint grant proposals that will net more money than if they were operating group rate (E .G .: Cultural Alliance of Greater Washington D .C . provides alone . this service to its members www .cultural-alliance .org) . HOW: Amend by-laws of existing non-profit to allow for membership and the offering of health insurance to its members or create a new entity that will do the same . Explore possibility of HMO services from the new hospital . Re-start Round Table to discuss sharing of resources/joint training, reduce (future) redundancy of activities and competition for funds . HOW: Find meeting space, set up regular schedule, determine topics of mutual interest that make meeting worthwhile . For deeply discounted software, check out Tech Soul, www .techsoup .org . For business training for artists Empowered Women International is a good model of training; www .ewint .org . Financing: Seek financing/training from angel and venture capital Allows businesses to get needed capital (jobs) . investors, micro-lenders, and program-related investments from foundations . Time Frame: now/on-going Examples of Potential Funders: MIT Enterprise Forum (enterpriseforum .mit .edu/) – [present business plan presentations via courthouse video conferencing] Social Venture Network (www .svn .org) Shore Pacific Bank (www .eco-bank .com/index) Paul G Allen Family Foundation; Paul G Allen Forest Protection Fund (www .pgafoundations .com) The Betty and Gordon Moore Foundation (www .moore .org/) The Orton Family Foundation (www .orton .org) Omidyar Foundation (www .omidyar .net) HOW: Research via the web, share membership to the online Foundation Center (www .foundationcenter .org); ask for introductions to potential funders from Lone Eagles or 2nd home buyers; create literature given out at stores and at the Wallowa County Welcome Center requesting funds from tourists to support an "endowment" for Wallowa County business incubation and/or land preservation in the county . Part of the endowment fund could become a revolving loan fund for businesses . 0 SECTION 2 – SECTOR ANALYSIS EDUCATION: An Integrated Economic Strategy ~ the Wallowa County Campus Concept External forces are acutely felt in Wallowa County . Land The Wallowa County Campus is an essential element of the prices, land use, cost of housing, prices for agricultural and overall "branding" of the county . It positions the county in forestry products, tourism demands, and other factors are the minds of residents and the outside world as a model determined to large degrees by forces outside the county . of successful rural economy and a place where learning The county is unquestionably and increasingly engaged in is fully integrated with a range of economic activities, a market economy . In a very real way, the county can be including value-added product development, tourism, arts thought of as a large, diversified business entity . As with and recreation . The beginning action steps for the campus any business, the county must consider what it is selling, will coincide with the early stages of the Business Value to whom, and what structures must be in place to do that Added Center (BVAC) . efficiently and effectively in ways that maintain the health and integrity of its assets and create a high quality of life The potential of the Wallowa County Campus is as vast as for its people . the knowledge held by the people and the land . Consider the volume and breadth of learning you've received in Wallowa Wallowa County is blessed with resources that the world County and the knowledge and wisdom you've shared in wants – value-added agricultural and forest products, the county . Organizing and coordinating the exchange of natural beauty, arts, recreational and cultural experiences this vastly diverse knowledge will create a powerful force and land-based knowledge . People of the county have – one of the key forces enabling the county to design its the opportunity to ensure that these resources are shared own future rather than simply react to external forces . for the benefit of the land and community, and that these resources bring a premium . The county has the How to create the Wallowa County Campus . opportunity to set the terms, but if they don't, those with The key to establishing a unique and highly functioning greater political and economic power will determine its rural education network is partnerships, many of which future . People of the county must combine their talents are mentioned throughout the sector reports . The core of and energy to drive an integrated business model to create these partnerships is internal to the county, harnessing a self-determining community . the collective learning energies and reaching out to A critical piece of the business model is the "Wallowa untapped experts knowledgeable about Wallowa County . County Campus ." The Wallowa County Campus is not a Partnerships with people and organizations outside the physical entity, but a term that refers to a framework within county will provide essential inputs to the campus – money, which to organize integrated educational initiatives . The ideas and advocates - to help protect Wallowa County's framework of the Wallowa County Campus will organize natural treasures . education spatially, with coordinated centers of activity Establish an education council, a dedicated education located in various cities and unincorporated towns . It coordinator, and a master plan will also provide a framework for collaboration between educational programs, more effectively positioning 1 . Establish an education council . the county as a destination and center for education – benefiting the land, the residents and visitors . The council will convene for five principle purposes – to embody the concept of an education network, support In the framework of the Wallowa County Campus, the integration projects (BVAC), exchange knowledge, seek county will become an education center for residents and funding, and draft a long-term Wallowa County Education a destination for visitors for learning about the land, Campus Master Plan . effective natural resource management, the arts, and Native American and pioneer culture . In many ways, this A . Convene representatives from all sectors of Wallowa is already happening . There is tremendous opportunity for County education as well as key external education people to learn in Wallowa County towns, from its working entities, such as: landscapes, and from its people . The campus framework is a critical opportunity for the county to capture more dollars 1 . Students from across the education spectrum . from each visitor to the county by offering educational (Student Project to conduct Wallowa County knowledge/ opportunities as an integral part of the visitation experience . inventory) . It is also an opportunity to enhance the quality of life of the residents of the county, by creating knowledge bridges, human connections and jobs . Continued on page 32 1 SECTION 2 – SECTOR ANALYSIS Continued from page 31 B . Establish a facility in a central and convenient location (BVAC) . 2 . Educational service district, all school principals in K through 12, including private (e .g . Providence C . Recruit for the position – ideally a candidate with: Academy, Montessori, Seventh Day Adventist, etc .) . – Roots and deep knowledge of Wallowa County 3 . Non-profit education (example – Wallowa Resources, human and natural resources and working lands . Fishtrap, TNC, etc .) . – Experience across the education spectrum (from 4 . Higher education (e .g ., BMCC, EOU, OHSU, OSU, "K to Gray," formal, informal, continuing education) . UO, Whitman) . The community can reach out to the young former 5 . New residents who can consume/provide/fund Wallowa County residents with the skills, passion and education in Wallowa County (e .g . retirees, Lone interest to return . Eagles, seasonal residents) . 3 . Create the Wallowa County Education Campus Master 6 . Individuals and emerging organizations with Plan specialized knowledge and educational/vocational potential (eg . BVAC, biofuel, greenhouse projects) . A . Draft comprehensive plan to include goals and mutual benefits to Wallowa County education entities 7 . Government with education component (e .g ., in the following areas: fisheries, forestry, Travel Oregon) . – curriculum 8 . Potential education funders (e .g ., Kaufman Foundation for entrepreneurial education) . – faculty B . Charter the education council membership and – marketing establish responsibilities and timeline for creation of – financing master plan and presentation to community . – job creation C . Support BVAC integration project to demonstrate viability and begin the campus-concept creation . – economic impact Concentrate resources and energy to BVAC to create jobs, connect education, engage youth and community, – environmental impact, natural resources, working and protect working lands and natural resources . lands 2 . Create a Wallowa County education coordinator – housing/green building This position will be the catalyst to identify, connect and – tourism/recreation support the various education centers across the country . B . Present to Wallowa County Commissioners for A . Research and secure multi-year funding to compensate adoption and implementation . the position . 2 SECTION 2 – SECTOR ANALYSIS The following strategies will act as a catalyst for the Wallowa County Campus concept and master plan STRATEGIES CONNECTIONS K through 12 Education . Connecting school districts . Share teachers with different expertise across school districts . Connecting statewide higher education with Wallowa County secondary education . Increase partnerships with vocational schools and other higher education institutions to offer more advanced coursework, and career-related Many young people leave the county to pursue higher education . Some are coursework, to 11th and 12th grade students . leaving and not returning . Others are getting an education, and want to return to the county . With more economic opportunities to earn a living Establish a counseling center or position to assist young people to design through jobs and entrepreneurship generated in formal and informal an educational path (with appropriate mixes of vocational and university/ education and other sectors, young people leaving to get an education college education) that will enable them to work and raise families in will seek learning that they can apply in Wallowa County, and return to Wallowa County . By coordinating efforts with the campus educational the county to use their skills and raise families . In addition, with more coordinator, this counseling will help students target their learning outside opportunities for vocational and higher education at home in the county, the county to jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities available within the some college students will not need to leave the county at all, but will be county, enticing and enabling young people to return . able to get an education here and then begin working immediately . Create opportunities for young people from other parts of the state and Connecting young people from urban areas with families from Wallowa country to come into the county as K through 12 students, to learn here County and with the land . and experience a different way of life . Create a high school "Wallowa County Abroad" program – students come from an urban or international environment to live with a Wallowa County family for a year . Facilitate more opportunities for adopting foster children by Wallowa County families . Boarding Secondary School: Expand the existing Providence Academy, or develop from the ground up - a boarding secondary school that would make full use of the natural and cultural resources of Wallowa County to provide a unique education for students from across the country . Experiential education: Wallowa Resources has innovative experiential programs for K through 12 students utilizing the natural environment of the county as a learning laboratory, and exposing students to adults with Native American and pioneer cultural knowledge . Emulate this experiential model, developing programs in the arts, writing and literature . Fishtrap is an example of an existing resource for experiential K through 12 programs in the arena of writing and literature . A similar organization is needed in the arts . This may be an existing non-profit, the existing Wallowa County Arts Council, or a cooperative that is created for multiple arts-related purposes, including organizing, branding and marketing the arts – which could also create educational programs for K through 12 students . Engage youth in project-based learning . Adopt a countywide program based on the Wallowa School model of project-based hands-on learning . This fills the need for youth-based activities and provides diverse workplace exposure . Many of the integrated education goals of the Wallowa County Campus are present in this concept; hands-on learning, "real world" career experience, specialized vocational knowledge transfer, leveraged resources for the betterment of youth and future job opportunities . Continued . . . SECTION 2 – SECTOR ANALYSIS STRATEGIES CONNECTIONS . . .Continued from page 46 Connecting the underutilized resource of knowledge experts across the spectrum - artists, agriculturalists, ranchers, foresters, and others with Create a youth corps . special knowledge – with the youth of Wallowa County . Students who embark on special projects (senior projects, team projects, Connects youth with adults who are working the land . etc .) – for the purpose of identifying and utilizing educational resources (primarily people and places) in the county . Connecting with Wallowa County Agroforestry Resource Center and Master Forest Owner models . Projects: The Earth Conservation Corp . in Washington, D .C . is an interesting model . Youth corps to conduct an asset inventory of knowledge resources It taught inner-city youth to care for the Anacostia River which, in turn, (What knowledge do our residents have to share? Are they willing to share allowed bald eagles to return to the nation's capital (www .ecc1 .org) . it within the informal education system?) Connects retirees and Lone Eagles in the community with youth, building Conduct similar asset inventory of natural resource learning centers bridges and opportunities for learning and jobs . (Where can we teach, or promote self-learning?) Activate the under-utilized knowledge resource . Use residents with special knowledge, either as volunteers or paid educators in programs designed to expand the diversity of learning opportunities for K through 12 students . This could include not only scheduled classes or workshops, but also individual mentoring and tutoring . Re-establish the Wallowa Ranch Camp model . Establish residential summer camps that would bring youth from outside the county to experience the Wallowa County environment – including activities such as horse-back riding, wrangling, hiking, swimming, etc . Expand the offerings for weeklong day camps for resident and visiting youth in the summer . Adult Education . Connecting Wallowa County residents, especially those displaced by changes in the forest products industry, with other land-based job Diversify career opportunities for adults . opportunities . "Hands on Lands" is an important initiative designed to help adults Connecting Wallowa County residents with each other and with non- diversify their skills and expand from seasonal employment to year-round residents for the benefit of the land and job creation . employment . People who want to experience the beauty and recreational value of well- Encourage research, knowledge-sharing and classes for adults in managed resources can learn on deeper levels how they themselves can technologies and strategies to create value-added products utilizing be protectors of it . On a practical level, more education means not only traditional agricultural and forestry lands . more jobs, it means real dollars and a year-round economy . By opening The center for this educational exchange would begin in Enterprise, as part the doors of education to the outside world, the citizens of Wallowa County of BVAC . can enjoy far greater service themselves, in the form of health care and Formal programs, as well as informal exchanges, would serve other services essential for a high quality of life . entrepreneurs and adults in Wallowa County who need to diversify their Connecting tourist businesses with each other to strategize and market economic activities . Formal programs will also serve adults coming from value-added services, including education, Wallowa County branded gift- many parts of the country to see first-hand, and study, examples of using shop products, tours, etc . to produce more dollars per tourist . agriculture and forestry resources in a way that maintains the health of Some examples, also mentioned in the tourism sector (not an exhaustive the land and the fabric of rural community . list): Leverage Tourist Visitation . Stargazing – astronomy Perhaps the most important contribution of the Wallowa County Campus Geology workshops and hikes to the economic prosperity of the county is through programs offered to out-of-county visitors . Currently, there is a love-hate relationship that Ornithology, bird hikes county residents feel toward tourists . Residents do not currently see Art workshops, demonstrations tourist dollars producing family wage jobs . Therefore, tourists are mostly tolerated, rather than encouraged and seen as important contributors to Fishing seminars the county economy . Woodcarving The shift that is needed is to aggressively find ways to entice tourists to Wilderness photography spend more money on higher-end services, including education . This shift aligns with a national trend in tourism . People increasingly want to spend their vacation dollars in ways that add to their lives through learning while also relaxing and enjoying a place . Wallowa County is perfectly suited to both stimulate and respond to this demand because of its richness in scenic beauty, recreational opportunities, arts, cultural history and knowledge . Continued . . . SECTION 2 – SECTOR ANALYSIS STRATEGIES CONNECTIONS . . .Continued from page 47 Connecting tourist businesses with each other to strategize and market value-added services, including education, Wallowa County branded gift- Through services offered, and coordinated marketing, businesses in the shop products, tours, etc . to produce more dollars per tourist . county will attract the kind of tourists that: Some examples, also mentioned in the tourism sector (not an exhaustive 1) Spend money to learn about art, the land and the cultures it has list): traditionally supported – through classes and tours . Stargazing – astronomy 2) Spend money on high-end products and services such as fishing, hunting, guiding, spa services, gourmet restaurant food, artwork, and Geology workshops and hikes specialty agriculture and forestry products . Ornithology, bird hikes 3) Take action to politically and financially support the efforts of Wallowa Art workshops, demonstrations County residents to sustain the health of their land and the character of their community . Fishing seminars Create research-based education opportunities . Woodcarving Design and promote research opportunities for graduate students to Wilderness photography inform and improve the model for the Wallowa County Campus and its focus on a one-of-a-kind hands-on rural education network focused on natural resource management . The multiplier effect of graduate student participation will include additional monies, jobs, ideas and potential new families . Enroll New Residents . The demographics of the county are changing . Residents of the county can choose to meet new people with resistance, or to welcome and invite them to participate in the county as valued resources . New people bring hidden talents . They need to be pulled into the education system . They can consume more learning about the area – enabling them to contribute in healthy ways to the land and economy - and they can provide more learning to the community . Establish a mechanism within the campus concept – a committee or office to welcome new people into the area and invite them to participate in the learning/sustaining activities of the campus . Establish a unique National Model . Life-long learning is becoming an increasingly important part of the national economy, and Wallowa County has a unique niche . The county has an opportunity to demonstrate to the world how a large rural community can create an effective, integrated campus of learning based in land, art and culture . Wallowa County's remarkable opportunity … integrated education Over and over again, the RDAT has met residents of Wallowa County whose families have lived in the county for multiple generations . These residents, among many others, want the drivers of the old economy to be respected and preserved in ways that are viable today . They also want their own children to have real opportunity to prosper in Wallowa County . Education as an export to the world is a central piece of providing that opportunity . Youth in Wallowa County say they want more options for careers . Expanded initiatives in education will not only help prepare them for those careers, but provide them with career opportunities . The spirit of individual hard-working initiative that has been at the core of Wallowa County for so long has already planted seeds and created working, demonstrated models of small scale education programs that build understanding and provide for the people of Wallowa County . The Wallowa County Campus will capitalize on the positive energy that is already here, making education programs more efficient, better known and more effectively marketed . SECTION 2 – SECTOR ANALYSIS Comments on the Wallowa Campus Education Concept Will Anderson, December 2006 Education as a solution in Wallowa County Bringing more education to Wallowa County addresses jobs in two directions . The first is apparent, but the As a visitor to Wallowa County through the RDAT process second is just as deep and long term . in October 2006, I was struck but the role education plays in the vitality of the community, as well as the untapped 1) A better educated workforce is more attractive to potential education holds for even greater returns . My employers, which is an essential ingredient to economic team mates echoed that assessment . prosperity … whether growing more of your own entrepreneurs (see the BVAC recommendation), or So, one of the key overarching strategies our RDAT attracting desirable businesses to set up in Wallowa team recommended in both presentation and planning County . I can tell you emplo-yers say it a primary reason documents was centered on education … the Wallowa for economic boom here in Maryland . Campus concept . We see great merit in an organized education effort . 2) Looking at education as a business itself, there is a strong multiplier of outside dollars that echo through But WHY do we suggest Wallowa County focus on the local business community . Think of Wallowa Lake's education? seasonal tourists coming for the vistas and landscapes only obtained in Wallowa County . They pay for that Why put precious Wallowa time, energy, and resources primary service, and then spill dollars into the Joseph, into a comprehensive education model? Everyone is busy . Enterprise, Wallowa, etc . Let's think of them now as Everyone multitasks already . And "everyone" is actually a consumers of outdoor and natural resources education . small population over a large landscape . What would happen if those dollars flowed in year- Why in the world would we ask you to take on an round as visitors came for the knowledge only obtained innovative undertaking that sounds unfamiliar? Doesn't in Wallowa County? Increased family wage jobs are part this notion bring to mind very basic questions like What of that answer . are you talking about? and Sounds nice, but how will this Goal: Retain and bring back the county's young people; help us? So, Why education? With hubs of education-activity comes knowledge-based Answer: Because doing so WILL help solve big, long business activity . With it come jobs, the kind that can standing problems . retain Wallowa County youth and return those Wallowa Before getting to WHAT it might look like . Let's focus on County youth who slip past Minam for post-secondary the essential question: education but welcome a chance for careers back home . What is to be gained? Initially, we could expect Wallowa County-raised undergraduates and graduate students to "return" as a We believe that once Wallowa combines its talent and part of their education … serving in the research capacity . energy into an organized education frame you will net Research is needed to develop the education concept and the following toward the EAT's mission: this group is poised to be active participants . • greater control over Wallowa County's future stability The other half of R&D, development, follows in the and success process . Dollars come at both stages . Entrepreneurs and businesses will arise to apply the knowledge gained, over • enhanced economic vitality while maintaining your the longer term . And with them come greater opportunities quality of life, aesthetic beauty and environmental for "Wallowa's Greatest Export" … these talented, hard attributes working young people that the world is so grateful to import . Building the conditions to pull them home is Let's look specifically at the goals you laid out for us . no shorter a process than the process that created the I've mapped the education-concepts to each of these current situation pulling them out . But education is an to illustrate that even though it seems roughly defined ingredient for change for the short and long haul . education actually impacts each of your goals in quantifiable ways . Goal: Broaden the tax base in a sustainable manner; Meeting your goals through education More education providers (faculty, administrators) and more education consumers (students, employers) mean Goal: Increase family wage jobs; more revenues to Wallowa County . As mentioned above, Continued on page 37 SECTION 2 – SECTOR ANALYSIS Continued from page 36 - Wallowa County is open for business visitors to Wallowa County coming for education spend - Wallowa County has unique assets you can't get dollars for the local merchants' benefit . New resident elsewhere educators also add to the tax base . The branding of Wallowa County as a place of high Also remember the sizable dollars that can be drawn in quality education across the spectrum … K though 12 … from institutions of learning . Of course, higher education sends that brings major dollars . But so too can the unique informal education centers already succeeding in Wallowa County message to business . The infrastructure that can often -- like Fishtrap, Wallowa Resources, etc . New groups like come with places of learning are well suited as business- the Wallowa Mountain Institute are well suited to foster friendly communities . new education partnerships as well . As these groups gain Wallowa County can be a place that develops knowledge, strength and effectively grow partnerships with formal shares it and applies it on a greater scale, but within the education centers -- like the ESD, BMCC, EOU, OHSU, niche it already occupies … a place of natural resource, OSU, UO and Whitman -- greater dollars flow in as well . land, native culture and community stewardship . The Its worth repeating that the untapped revenue stream terms Wallowa County has set for itself are already being RDAT identified in indirect dollars from grants (estimated embraced by the world of learners … at Imnaha, from near $900,000 a year) is low-hanging fruit, easily Minam to Joseph, out in Flora, and places in between . captured money that is due Wallowa County . But that They come for your unique gifts, from the moraines to could be a fraction of the revenue gained from a growth the Nez Perce heritage . Businesses already live on the in education services . "campus" centers at Zumwalt, Eagle Cap, Troy … and with organized support more will flourish . Goal: Enhance support of schools; So, these are the initial reasons why I feel education is Its commendable the amount of solid education already worth a look, certainly a dedicated work group moving in place in Wallowa County, delivered by the public forward! school system, independent schools, extensions from high education, and numerous non-profit organizations . What will bring about a thriving education coalition? What is in place is successful, but to an extent successful I think you NEED an ongoing mechanism for organizing in silos . Organizing the education sector, providing the the education effort . services to Wallowa County residents AND Wallowa Convene! ALL levels of institutions, formal and informal, County visitors will create leverage and multiply the should be invited to the table . effectiveness of each provider . Establish a group ("education council") to organize, set Just by sharing organized information of the pool of priorities, support participants and monitor progress . education assets in Wallowa County with the secondary schools will net you big returns in awareness and Ask this first: What mutual benefits could be gained by utilization of the abundant and creative programs in working together in education? Wallowa County . Beyond that, long standing residents as well as newcomers can be welcomed into an organized That is the essential question to draw organizations in, system, a place and method to bring their talents with have them actively improve the whole group and remain . may otherwise be ad hoc or simply untapped . Then market other another, share people, go after joint grants, share infrastructure, promote youth engaging A mechanism to organize education would create synergy activity, establish and commit to goals inside EACH to support the schools and the community in new ways . OTHER's organizations, find ways to be accountable to Perhaps such a body could help break down barriers one another as an education system . between groups of people who now have little in common but wonderful Wallowa County views! Beyond that, I'd get into these core questions: Goal: Provide infrastructure and services for existing and What new partnerships could we establish collectively new businesses that are now out of reach independently? Businesses need people and a culture of hard work and I'd like to see a real education asset inventory conducted . dedication . Wallowa County has it . The challenge is to let When we look at intellectual property potential in business the outside world know two things: we address three basic questions, one at a time: Continued on page 38 7 SECTION 2 – SECTOR ANALYSIS Continued on page 37 1. What do we actually have as education assets? Who are our existing consumers of education? 2. What do we need to develop and/or protect? 3. How do we bring the assets to market? Then segment them as best as possible . That is a basic framework for a business looking at What does each segment need that we can provide? marketing its own IP . If you don't get clarity on #1, you What is their current mindset of Wallowa County as an stop . Same for #2 . This kind of approach would help the education center? Wallowa Campus concept fall in line with the old project management mantra . . . All projects should have clear Relative to competition or an unacceptable status quo . successes, or die very early . Next up Addressing these three questions will lead to key strategies on finding such components as recruiting the coordinator, You have great people and organizations in place to make financing, infrastructure (citing an education office), and the education concept a reality . Support them, get behind roles and responsibilities of the council moving forward . them, lock arms with them . Who is needed? I'm really looking forward to the year ahead and seeing what Wallowa County does with our recommendations! You folks know who needs to be at the table . But I'd suggest you also turn your attention quickly to the market . Business begins here . Nothing happens with a sale and a sale happens when you know who wants want you could Will Anderson - RDAT get them . Baltimore, Maryland December 2006 Your education council may take on some market research (or use those talented high school students in projects paired with researchers, maybe grad students) . You'd want to learn: Section 3. Implementation Timeline Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Comments by Joseph McCabe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Frameworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Schedule TIME FRAME ACTIVITY 0-3 Months 4-6 Months 7-9 Months 10-12 Months 13-24 Months Business Value Added Center Convene BVAC Team Launch business planning process Develop architectural renderings Use architectural renderings to sell vision Begin construction of the Center Open Center ACTIVITY 0-3 Months 4-6 Months 7-9 Months 10-12 Months 13-24 Months Wallowa County Campus Launch an Educational Council Hire education coordinator Launch master plan process ACTIVITY 0-3 Months 4-6 Months 7-9 Months 10-12 Months 13-24 Months Fees Create team to seek capacity building to hire a person to process indirect grant costs Launch application fee review by cities and county Identify funds to hire an impact fee consultant Launch a process to initiate a real estate transfer tax of 2-3% of the sales price and creation of a dedicated fund into which these monies will flow Vote to enact the application fee Enact a real estate transfer fee Hire the impact fee consultant Raise funds for hiring of staff person who will seek indirect grant costs Begin capturing indirect grant costs Implement the impact fees SECTION – IMPLEMENTATION TIMELINE Schedule TIME FRAME ACTIVITY 0-3 Months 4-6 Months 7-9 Months 10-12 Months 13-24 Months Critical Areas Elevate the urgency of Mt . Howard fire hazard and the dam to state and federal level Implement "Hands on Land" Launch youth core natural asset inventory Meet with tribal leaders to identify cultural lands Take critical resources inventory to public ACTIVITY 0-3 Months 4-6 Months 7-9 Months 10-12 Months 13-24 Months Branding Create the Wallowa County logo Launch usage of the logo Begin developing marketing campaign Coordinate brand with BVAC identity ACTIVITY 0-3 Months 4-6 Months 7-9 Months 10-12 Months 13-24 Months Housing Discuss set-aside percentage for workforce housing for new development Adopt set-aside percentage for workforce housing Launch Community Development Corporation or similar agency 0 SECTION – IMPLEMENTATION TIMELINE Comments by Joseph McCabe An invited RDAT member who was not able to attend the October meeting in Wallowa County - October 9, 2006 Last weekend I reviewed the RDAT documents, took http://energyi .mccabe .net/woodworking_oct_98_kiln . notes and recognized where my capabilities might exist pdf to help your efforts . Upon reflection these capabilities fall into three categories: Solar, Song, and Education . Can the Nez Perce tribe be more involved in solar, are they interested? Sandia National Labs in Albuquerque Solar has information for tribal solar activities . They have a publication called "The Solar Way" (http://www .sandia . My hammer is solar . It is all about energy, and for me gov/pv/docs/solarwaytoc .htm ) which might help with the solution always comes up solar . tribal solar . A woman named Sandra Begay-Campbell Solar can be part of an economic model in many from Sandia is an excellent leader in tribal solar issues . ways . Don't let the low cost of hydro electricity derail Solar Subtopic: Renewable Energy from Biomass: sustainable renewable energy solutions like solar energy . Jobs creation and the economic multiplier of energy Wood waste and scraps can be turned into energy dollars being spent in the community being just two using small modular biomass to energy solutions of the economic drivers for using solar energy . As Jim like Community Power Corporations Bio Max (more Henderson has indicated "Central is the concern of how information at http://www .gocpc .com) . citizen's can influence their future and that of Wallowa County" . Spending money in the community and voting Anaerobic digesters are used to convert animal waste to for local considerations can help direct the citizen's electricity . Recent work from California, possibly specific future . Developer agreements can be sculpted that to colder temperatures, can be found at the UC Davis include requirements for solar thermal, solar electric, Biomass Collaboration (http://biomass .ucdavis .edu/ ) . combined with building energy efficiency measures . Possibly there are biomass funding opportunities which Laura Barton, Trade Development Manager, might be For many years, Oregon has a nice solar thermal hot knowledgeable? water incentive program . More recently, on-grid solar electric state tax incentives are available in Oregon . Music Places to start are the Industry Association http:// My hobby is music, attempting to archive through the www .oregonseia .org/ and the solar energy association: taping of live shows . I was under the impression that http://www .solaror .org/ . The September issue of Photon a nationally recognized music event happens in Joseph International indicates that Oregon is considering OR every year . Can this be expanded upon, not to create increasing its cost share for solar manufacturing more transportation impact, but have mass transit facilities from a maximum of 25 .5% ($10 million project solutions for groups of people to enjoy location often in increments) to a maximum of 50% (in $20 million a controlled fashion? Telluride Colorado seems to be a increments) . remote place that has weekly events, often music events Off-grid solar solutions for water pumping, street lighting that might be replicated in Wallowa . and catholic protection should always be considered as Education economical without subsidies . Craig Schoeder Rotary presentation indicates the desire Any solar company working in the local area should be of "…attracting and retaining our youth" . What is the consulted as to how their work can be supported by your availability of higher education in the region? Higher economic renewal plans . education, and trade schools could provide some While reading the RDAT files, I wondered if an article increased economic activities, with high density living, on solar drying kiln would be of interest to the area . I've economic multipliers, and smart teacher families that want scanned a October 1998 Woodworking Magazine Solar to live, and stay, in the location . Kiln article that will be hosted at this address for a few Continued on page 42 months: 1 SECTION – IMPLEMENTATION TIMELINE Continued from page 41 A forestry school can keep the knowledge in the As a final note, while working on my RDAT assignment, community, where others from different locations would I was walking down the street of Winters California come and learn from the Wallowa knowledge base . If and saw an older gentleman with a shirt that says you want to build a legacy, build a school . Wallowa, OR (he is wearing a hat that says Winters) . I ask him if he is from Wallowa, OR; no but he used Wallowa land use patterns seem to rival Montana's, written to vacation there at an RV place . He thinks Joseph is about in the book Collapse by Jared Diamond . Collapse a great place . He is a Rotarian, and knew me from my traces the fates of societies to their demise . From my Solar Cookers International demonstration at the local perspective, Wallowa region provides a sense of security . Rotary club meeting . He didn't have any suggestions for Security of place can be value . High density downtown economic development . This leads me to a question, for developments can help increase this value, where people which I don't have the answer: How can this value that interact with people and new arrivals are scrutinized, but Wallowa has be exported, without the environmental welcomed into the community . ramifications of individuals travel? The Omivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan discusses As Diane Snyder indicated in the Sarker lecture series… community supported agriculture (CSA) . Because of the "will we be able to replace environmental gridlock that isolated nature of your region, it seems like CSA is something has impacted public land management with collaborative that benefits the community . Is CSA a concept that can resource management?" I think you are on the right be supported through education, tax incentives and public track . Please let me know if my solar perspective can be policy? A simple public policy suggestion would be where of further help . Developer Agreements can specify locally produced wood products for any (all) new projects . Use the high-value-added model of CSA efficiently shipped to other Oregon locations . Michael Pollan also wrote The Botany of Desire where he traces various agricultural products that have latched onto humans for their proliferation (apples, potatoes…ect .) . Is there a unique aspect of Wallowa region that can create a desire for an agricultural product or service? Frameworks ... or What to Say When You Talk to Yourself 1) The "glory days" are not behind us . New glory days lie ahead . 2) We can drive change, not merely respond to external pressures (such as second-home buying, rising land prices, changes in agriculture and forestry marketplace, federal and state land-use policies/regulations) . 3) Second homebuyers are potential partners . Common perception holds second-home buyers as threats to the economy and fabric of the community . But these people can be tapped as sources of knowledge, energy, and money if proactively engaged . 4) More tourism, if done right, means more money, not just more people . Tourism is commonly perceived as an unwelcome invasion of the serenity of the community . Tourism can be tapped with value-added services (including education) and products to bring in more dollars from each tourist rather than bringing more tourists into the county . 5) We will exploit the economic and policy realities . We will focus on what we can control . Things have changed . The timber industry is not going to be what it was . This is an area the community is expert in – adapting to changing conditions . Use the changes to turn attention to opportunities . 6) Education is a gold mine, not a drain of youth . The knowledge and skills in the people of the community are huge resources . 2 Appendices What is RDAT? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Community Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 RDAT Team Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Contributors & Donors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 What Is A Rural Development Assistance Team? From one individual's request in the 1960's, The American Rural Development Assistance Teams are comprised of Institute of Architects (AIA) began a program involving a volunteers drawn from a variety of professions: architecture, volunteer team of architects and planners who agree to city and regional planning, civil engineering, related social work with a community to study issues identified by the and economic disciplines . Team members volunteer their community and then make recommendations to overcome time, giving up at least a week of professional practice for a those issues . Rural and Urban Design Assistance Teams community they have usually never visited . Team members have been helping America's communities solve difficult are selected on the basis of their skills and knowledge of problems – sometimes seemingly intractable ones – for the the problem to be studied . It is not uncommon for a team past almost forty years . to possess two hundred years of cumulative professional experience . Over the years teams have generated hundreds Teams have visited communities ranging in size from a of millions of dollars of investment in communities, and few thousand to several million persons . Historic districts have left a legacy of active local organizations with all the have been saved from destruction by an interstate highway attributes of civic involvement . system; riverfront districts have been revitalized and properly planned for development; design and planning The local Steering Committee forms a number of task assistance for economic development issues as well as teams consisting of community wide residents to help physical issues have been prepared for rural environments facilitate the Rural Development Assistance Team visit . looking for ways to bring their county into the information Local companies provide the equipment and facilities, age of the twenty-first century . logistical support and other items needed by the Team for the weeklong workshop . The Steering Committee also To be selected as the one community in the United States organizes and carries out a number of public events to gain to receive a visit during the year, the community must host public input for the Team before and during the scheduled an initial site visit, demonstrate a committed citizenry, and Rural Development Assistance Team workshop . show the ability to organize community support and provide the necessary resources to support a Rural Development The final, deliverable product is the Team Report presented Assistance Team visit . While the Rural Design Assistance by the Rural Development Assistance Team to the Steering Program is a free program, the host community is required Committee as a community-wide vision, plan and to pay travel, meal, and accommodation expenses for the implementation program addressing the issues identified professionals who make up the team . The host community at the beginning of the process . covers expenses relating to the operation of the Rural and Urban Design Assistance Program . And, the host community must also provide workspace, supplies, and various equipment needed for the project . Appendices Message from the Community Coordinator The Wallowa County Economic Action Team was formed with a primary objective of being an all inclusive group working for the common good of Wallowa County's future . Every citizen in Wallowa County was encouraged to let their voice be heard through Community Rallies, Public Input Survey's, an abundance of public meetings, or by any other means they felt comfortable informing the Economic Action Team on what they would like to KEEP, CHANGE, or CREATE in Wallowa County . The responses received to this county outreach were overwhelming and provided the basis for the recommendations offered in this report . Wallowa County is a very unique blend of aesthetic beauty, cultural diversity, and admirable local pride . To be allowed to take part in the successes of the Economic Action Team is an honor for me personally . I find myself humbled having opportunities to listen and learn of Wallowa County's fascinating history and economic past from the most reputable individuals I have ever met . To appropriately recognize everyone who contributed to the Economic Action Team's success in bringing a Rural Development Assistance Team (RDAT) to Wallowa County unfortunately is not possible in the limits of this Team Report . However, it would be remiss to not appropriately acknowledge a gentleman who, after over forty-five years of helping cities in more than fifty cities and towns in three countries, made the Wallowa County Rural Development Assistance Team the last official Assistance Team of his career . Peter Batchelor, the now retired director of the Urban/Rural Development Program at North Carolina State University, vowed to make the Wallowa County RDAT visit his finale and his best . Professor Batchelor's career consisted of achieving national prominence as an educator and receiving over thirty major awards for his work . At the top of Batchelor's list of achievements is his tutelage of Jane Willeboordse who he chose as the most talented individual to Chair his final RDAT visit in Wallowa County . Ms . Willeboordse' vast experience and professional contacts nationally blessed Wallowa County with perhaps the finest, most experienced, RDAT ever assembled . It now remains the responsibility of every citizen in Wallowa County to consciously be aware of what they can do to help make Wallowa County a better place to live, work and play . The Economic Action Team invites everyone to join in the work to implement the approved and prioritized activities detailed in this report . Quoting from a letter written earlier by Wallowa County Commissioner Mike Hayward, "we all bring different skills, abilities, and available time to the process . . . think strategically where you might best fit in the process . Your various areas of expertise, your burning desires, and your ability to look at the big picture or your attention to small details are all important to the success of this endeavor ." Skip Novakovich, LTC, USAR (Ret) Chair, Wallowa County Economic Action Team Community Coordinator, Wallowa County Rural Development Assistance Team Visit Appendices Wallowa County Rural Development Assistance Team Will Anderson Will Anderson is the director of technology projects at the Maryland Business Roundtable for Education ( www .mbrt .org ) . MBRT is a Baltimore-based not-for-profit coalition of more than 100 leading employers in Maryland that have made a long-term commitment to support education reform and improve student achievement . His primary project is the Teen Web, ( www .BeWhatIWantToBe .com ) which makes students aware of the ample career opportunities available to them and inspire them to move from interest to action, through education . Laura Barton Laura Barton is a trade manager with the Oregon Department of Agriculture, and has conducted trade activities for 18 years with the State . Her work includes assisting Oregon agriculture producers stay viable through long range planning, leveraging resources and thinking "outside the box" . She facilitates cooperative marketing efforts between companies, agricultural associations and participates in the Governor's Economic Revitalization Team, the Oregon Farmers Markets Association Board, and the Hazelnut Marketing Board . She has assisted with the formation of the Oregon Cheese Guild, Oregon Spirits Guild and founded the Portland Culinary Alliance . She is a native of San Francisco, and has lived in Portland, Oregon for 21 years . Michael Greason Michael Greason is the experienced forester on the team with early experience in a sawmill and as a self-employed logger . After serious accidents following forestry school, he became a state forest forester for Massachusetts prior to 29 years with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, with a bulk of that time spent overseeing the private forestry assistance programs statewide . He retired in 1998 as Chief Forester over private forestry, urban forestry, forest health and rare plants, utilization and marketing programs and the state tree seedling nursery, now working as a private consultant working a 150 mile radius of Catskill, New York . He is active with the New York Forest Owners Association, the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Greene County, and their Agroforestry Resource Center advisory committee . Kate Herrod Kate Herrod is Director of Community Greens, an initiative of the citizen sector organization Ashoka: Innovators for the Public . Prior to joining Community Greens, Kate ran her own consulting business, focusing on the non-profit arena . Clients included the California Center for Land Recycling/ The Trust for Public Land, Cameroon Mountains Conservation Foundation, the International Sustainable Development Foundation, Ashoka: Innovators for the Public, and Get America Working . For several years prior to starting her own business, Ms . Herrod was the Deputy Director of Development for The Nature Conservancy overseeing Planned Giving, Trade Lands, Conservation Science Fundraising, as well as Foundation and Corporate Support . She also spent over a decade in the private sector as Vice President for commercial real estate finance with Citibank, Chemical, and Security Pacific banks on the east and west coasts, underwriting over $3 billion of commercial real estate transactions . She is a graduate of Amherst College and the Wharton School of Business . She dreams of greening cities all across America . Burke Miller, M.A. Burke Miller teaches leadership seminars, coaches executives and facilitates retreats at major corporations, conducts public workshops on life purpose through the Spirit River Institute . A defining aspect of Spirit River Institute is using solitude in nature as a catalyst for leadership development . He is currently undertaking an intensive training in native wisdom teachings with WhiteEagle of Dancehammers and the Ehama Institute . He has also founded and led an environmental education center and directed the communications initiatives of the American Solar Energy Society . I am a graduate of the Advanced Coaching and Leadership programs of the Coaches Training Institute (CTI) and the Denver Community Leadership Forum . I have advanced training through CTI in Organizations and Systems Coaching . He has a masters degree in environmental philosophy and has spent 20 years teaching and writing about the interconnections of consciousness, nature and human development . Kara Norman, AICP Kara has served as the Executive Director of Downtown Frederick Partnership since October 2002 . The Partnership operates the Main Street Program in Downtown Frederick . In 2005, Downtown Frederick was honored to be selected as a Great American Main Street, the first city in the State of Maryland to achieve this national recognition . Prior to joining the organization, Kara spent 5 years working in San Antonio as a senior neighborhood planner and special projects coordinator . In addition, she has experience in North Carolina, Iowa and Missouri . She has a bachelors in urban planning from Iowa State University and a masters in planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill along with over 12 years of experience in the field . Appendices Wilson W. Orr Wilson Orr is research faculty and director of the USGS Science Impact Center for Prescott College in Arizona, as well as a partner with Blueline Counsulting Group, LLC . Wil and his team work to develop practical applications for state, regional and local governments for scientific and technological advances within USGS, NOAA, DoD, NASA and other federal agencies . They have developed a model-based Digital Comprehensive Plan to reduce costs of the long term planning process, and an event assessment model to evaluate the impacts of natural or human-caused disasters . These tools are then used to assist local / regional governments in coping with growth (sprawl), weather extremes, loss of agricultural lands/open space, water, transportation, etc . He currently holds six patents in the GIS and remote sensing fields, with a seventh pending . He managed new initiatives in sustainable community development and advanced technology applications for ten years prior in local government senior management positions with the cities of Tucson and Scottsdale . Also a former Fire Chief, Wil has practical experience in the emergency management services . Jane Mt. Pleasant Jane Mt . Pleasant is an associate professor at Cornell since 2002 . She also serves as director of outreach for the American Indian Program . Her area of research is in soil and cropping systems research with emphasis on sustainable agriculture . She conducts research on cover crops in corn-based systems and on mechanical weed control in corn . Results of this research are extended to dairy and cash grain farmers in New York . Mt . Pleasant works with the College's Small Farms task Group and coordinates efforts to better serve small farmers through research and extension initiatives . She also directs the American Indian agriculture Project that emphasizes conservation and distribution of traditional Iroquois open-pollinated corn varieties and the enhancement of indigenous agriculture . In this capacity she lectures frequently on indigenous agriculture and its links to sustainability for contemporary agriculture . Jan Striefel Jan Striefel, FASLA, AICP, LLA, is principal and president of the landscape architecture and planning firm of Landmark Design, Inc . in Salt Lake City . This is a small woman-owned business specializing in regional and historic landscape design, urban design, collaboration with artists and architects, multi-disciplinary team planning and project management, and public involvement and facilitation . Jane Willeboordse, Chair Jane Willeboordse is an architect working in areas of housing redevelopment and green building design . She has been involved with Design Assistance Teams since working with her college professor Peter Batchelor on a publication of national case studies in the 1980's . She has been on three teams around the country and hosted an urban team (UDAT) in Maryland . Jane also worked internationally with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on energy alternatives for the built environment, specifically as liaison for the International Solar Energy Society (ISES) to the UN Commission on Sustainable Development . She specializes in neighborhood revitalization, previously as project manager for Baltimore County Office of Community Conservation and as the director of the Dundalk Renaissance Corporation . As director she established a Community Housing Development Organization to renovate historic housing and had the historic town designated a Maryland Main Street . This community development organization facilitated the implementation of the Dundalk UDAT plan: highlighting the steel town's industrial legacy while also providing a new link between the Baltimore Harbor and Historic Dundalk . Joseph McCabe Joseph McCabe is Vice President of Business Development for Ascent Solar Technologies, Inc . (NASDAQ:ASTI) (BSE:AKC) . Mr . McCabe brings over 15 years of photovoltaic (PV) industry experience to Ascent Solar and has expertise in the areas of building integrated photovoltaics, photovoltaic / thermal collectors, and zero energy homes . Mr . McCabe owns a U .S . patent integrating LED lighting directly into PV surfaces . Prior to joining Ascent Solar, from 2000 until 2004, Joseph McCabe managed solar energy research for the State of California, at the Public Interest Energy Research office of the California Energy Commission . Most recently he has generated multiple contracts with the Sacramento Municipal Utility District and is a technical support contractor for the California Energy Commission . Appendices Acknowledgements Wallowa County Commissioners Mike Hayward, Chair Ben Boswell Dan DeBoie Mayors Enterprise - Irv Nuss Joseph - Peggy Kite-Martin Wallowa - Ron Philbrook, Adam Williams Task Teams & Volunteers Accommodations / Meals / Snacks Jack and Judy Burgoyne Big Brother / Big Sister Program Peggy Kite-Martin, Marya Nowakowski, Diane Snyder, Jeff Parker, Skip Novakovich, Sara Miller, Lance Bailey, June Colony, Lisa Dawson, Vicki Searles Blogging Activities Christy Barber, Wallowa County Online, Wallowa County Chamber of Commerce Editors Billie Jo Jannen, Cheryl Jenkins, Walter Smith, Wendy McCullough Facilitators Diana Corder, David Beurle, Jane Willeboordse, Burke Miller, Lisa Dawson, Sara Miller, Skip Novakovich IT Sam Summers Institutional Involvement Linda Bauck Interview List Compilation/Consolidation into Groups Diane Snyder, Bob Keyser, Mary Swanson, Vicki Searles Interview Scheduling Julie Todd Logistics / Procurement Peggy Kite-Martin, Doris Woempner, Sam Summers, Vicki Searles, the Cities of Wallowa County Maps and Documents Lance Bailey, Harold Black Mission Statement Economic Action Team Neighborhood Involvement Economic Action Team Photography Linda Bauck, David Bridges, Harold Black, Linda Casady, Linda Eytcheson, Linda Hilderman, Marylin Goebels and Mike Novakovich 7 Appendices Public Forums Sara Miller, Diane Snyder, Peggy Kite-Martin, Vicki Searles, Jane Willeboordse, Burke Miller, Skip Novakovich Public Relations / Media Wallowa County Chamber of Commerce Retail / Commercial Involvement Peggy Kite-Martin, Bob Keyser, June Colony, Betsy Lathrop, Jim Henson, Jayne Warrener Speakers Bureau Vicki Searles, Skip Novakovich, Wendy Hansen Special Events Vanessa Thompson, Lisa Dawson, Jack Burgoyne, Judy Burgoyne Sponsors/Fundraising Vicki Searles, Wendy Hansen, Harold Black, Sara Miller, Economic Action Team Survey Review and Compilation Marya Nowakowski, Jim Henson, Linda Bauck, Linda Eytchison, Jean Pekarek, Liz Bohenkamp, David Bridges, Doris Woempner Team Location Host Steve Lear Technical Writers Peggy Kite-Martin, Diane Snyder, Liz Cunningham, Walter Smith, Wendy McCullough Word Processing Marya Nowakowski, Liz Bohenkamp, Peggy Kite-Martin, David Bridges Tours and Transportation D&R Motors, Vicki Searles, Harold Black, Sam Summers, Diane Snyder, Peggy Kite-Martin, Wendy Hansen, Bob Keyser, Bill Clemens, Skip & Shannon Novakovich, Francis Buckles Video Taping and Production Harold Black Volunteer, Security / Site Management Wendy Hansen, Jean Pekarek Additional Economic Action Team Volunteers Ben Henson, Chris Parkins, Dennis Lund, Earl Loree, Elane Dickenson, Lisa Armstrong-Roepke, Margie Shaw, Michele Young Appendices Financial Contributions to the Rural Development Assistance Team Visit Major Contributors NFQHA Our Little Store Wallowa County Board of Commissioners Safeway Pacific Power Sports Corral Wallowa County Chamber of Commerce Sterling Savings Bank USDA Rural Business Enterprise Grant Wallowa County Chieftain City of Enterprise Wallowa Lake Lodge Esprit Graphic Communications, Inc . Wallowa Mountain Properties, Inc . Wallowa Resources Business Contributors Wallowa Valley Photo Club Wing Ridge Ski Tours, Inc . Lodging 1910 Historic Enterprise House Bed & Breakfast Individual Contributors Meals Bob Keyser Cloud "9" Bakery Doris Woempner Diane's Kitchen Gerald Perren El Bajio Harold Black Embers Brewhouse Irv Nuss Family Video & Pizza James Henson Glacier Grill & General Store Jean & James Pekarek Gobbler's Knob Julie Todd La Laguna Family Mexican Restaurant Linda Courtney Lear's Main Street Pub & Grill Liz Cunningham Lee's High Country Dining Marya Nowakowski Lostine Tavern Mary Hawkins Mad Mary & Company Mary Kearns Mountain Air Café Michele Young Outlaw Restaurant Peggy Kite-Martin RimRock Inn Sharon McEwan Subway Skip Novakovich The Cougar's Den Stewart Jones Video Buffs Pizza Vicki Searles Internet Services Walter Smith EagleCap .net Wendy Hansen Wendy McCullough Publication Printing The Economic Action Team and it's editors apologize to anyone who participated Esprit Graphic Communications, Inc . in the RDAT process and is not appropriately recognized . Rental Cars for Team Transportation D&R Motors Other Supporters & Donors Black Rock Engineering Borgerding Fence City of Joseph Community Bank Dollar Stretcher