“Oregon county declares emergency over water contamination”
Associated Press | June 11, 2022
“A team from the nonprofit organization Oregon Rural Action is assisting the county and has tested tap water in about 60 homes in Boardman and Irrigon. The team found almost all were above the federal safe drinking water limit and dozens were five times that limit, according to Kristin Anderson Ostrom, the group’s executive director.
Zaira Sanchez, ORA’s director of organizing, said it was hard to deliver test results.
“The common response from the community was immediate shock and concern,” she said.
Sanchez said some families boil their water, but that could worsen the problem. She added some families are already spending up to $100 a month purchasing bottled water.
ORA board member and former DEQ administrator Mitch Wolgamott, who has been working with Anderson Ostrom and Sanchez, said this is the first-time elected officials have stepped up and highlighted this issue. But he said the response doesn’t go far enough.”
“Morrow County declares emergency over high nitrate levels in wells”
By Monica Samayoa | OPB | June 10, 2022
“A team from Oregon Rural Action is assisting the county and has tested tap water in about 60 homes in Boardman and Irrigon. The team found almost all were above the federal safe drinking water limit and dozens were five times that limit, said Kristin Anderson Ostrom, the group’s executive director. Some residents were unaware of the health effects of drinking high levels of nitrate, and most were using the tap water to wash clothes, take showers and for cooking.
Zaira Sanchez, ORA’s director of organizing, said it was hard to deliver test results.
“The common response from the community was immediate shock and concern,” she said. “For example, one family had a result of 41 milligrams per liter in their water and I asked, ‘what do you think when you see that number or hear that number?’ And the common response was something like, ‘is that high, is that bad?’”
“Morrow County declares emergency over groundwater nitrate pollution”
By Alex Baumhardt | Oregon Capital Chronicle | June 9, 2022
“Oregon Rural Action, a nonprofit based in La Grande, has teamed up with the Morrow County Health Department to test 60 taps in an area just south of Boardman off of the city’s water system and in the nearby town of Irrigon. Both areas sit atop the Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Area.
The county estimates about 1,300 homes in Morrow County rely on well water that draws from this tainted groundwater area. Oregon Rural Action would like the county to eventually test the tap water at all of them. ”
La Grande Community Garden is Open
After a long year of uncertainty amid the COVID-19 pandemic and in partnership with Eastern Oregon University we have been able to open the La Grande Community Garden.
This spring, while waiting for this decision, an ORA Member and community gardener planned to rent a plot to grow food for himself and some for his neighbors. He had noticed some of his neighbors weren’t grocery shopping very frequently and wondered if the pandemic was having an impact. According to community members and Community Connections, the pandemic has exacerbated food insecurity in Union County including a 30% increase in new people seeking food at food pantries. (Union County FEAST, April 24, 2021)
Although late to the growing season, 13 community members have been planting with the help of Howell’s Nursery and individuals who donated vegetable plants. Gardeners utilized the seedlings in their personal plots and cultivated an additional 5 plots to share with the community! Woodgrain and Rogers Asphalt and Paving worked together to donate wood chips and transport them to build the garden’s walkways. The outpouring of support and excitement from people has been inspiring.
There is still space available for more people to come and grow food for the fall. As we face increasing food insecurity, heat and drought, we are asking ourselves, how can our garden be a place for community care, growth, and change? In this endeavor people with all kinds of experience and backgrounds and passions are welcome and encouraged to be a part of this journey and development.
If you are interested in hearing more, touring the garden, or getting involved for volunteer days please contact Kagan at kagank@oregonrural.org or 541-975-3724.
ORA Spotlight: Erin Lair
Highlighting the stories of ORA leaders.
Erin was elected to the Oregon Rural Action Board of Directors at the April 2021 Annual Meeting. She has lived in Eastern Oregon for most of her life, growing up in Baker City. Erin is currently the Director of Teaching and Learning at the InterMountain Education Service District. She and her husband are co-owners of a cherry orchard in Cove, Forest Cove Acres.
When did you first become interested in community organizing?
I have always been interested in community organizing - often spearheading efforts specific to the education space. After spending over a decade in education, I became increasingly interested in the advocacy side of policy and legislation relating to rural communication ties. To that end, I have spent the better part of the last 5 years really trying to find ways to elevate the voice of rural Oregon in the legislative process, especially relating to opportunity and access. The more we leverage community organizing, the more we are able to spread education and understanding, and broaden the possibilities to know and serve each other better.
Why is this work important to you?
Across myriad industries, the stories of rural communities are often misunderstood. The passion and advocacy for sustainable practices and equity are embedded in so many of the efforts of our communities. However, cohesion across efforts can be difficult in rural settings. What Oregon Rural Action offers is a uniting modality for connection. I really feel that the work in community organizing allows for stories to be shared and hard work to be done as we all move toward shared hopes for our future.
What changes would you like to see in your local community?
There is a lot of good work happening in silos and behind the public eye. I think our local community- and many rural communities- could work together to highlight the stories that showcase the incredible efforts coming from local producers, entrepreneurs, service industries, and others working toward bettering their community.
What’s something bringing you joy at the moment?
We recently purchased our cherry orchard- Forest Cove Acres. Although exhausting in a way I have never experienced, each day working toward our first cherry harvest brings me a sense of fulfillment I have never known before. Watching my family working side-by-side fills me with such profound joy daily.
Forest Cove Acres
Oregon Rural Action Hosts FEAST Conversation
From the La Grande Observer:
Local community leaders on Saturday, April 24, will host Union County FEAST 2021 in collaboration with Oregon Food Bank, and the public can participate.
FEAST is a community conversation about "Food, Education and Agriculture in the community and building Solutions Together" for a more equitable and resilient local food system, according to the press release from Oregon Rural Action, which is helping with the event.
"Although FEAST is traditionally held in person, we are happy to have the opportunity to come together virtually this year," according to Kagan Koehn, community organizer for Oregon Rural Action. "Conversations about food in our community are too important to be postponed until we can all gather together again in person."
Read the full article here.
Pilot project vaccinates hundreds of agricultural workers
From the East Oregonian:
“We’re working with our local public health authorities to connect agricultural, migrant and seasonal workplaces to see if they can do an event(s) like this” across Oregon, [Akiko] Saito said.
The clinic began two days after Morrow County received approval from the state to move ahead and start vaccinating farmworkers after sufficiently providing doses to all other eligible groups.
At least 20 counties, most of them east of the Cascades, received approval from the state last week, including Umatilla County.
The change also comes just in time for harvest season, which brings thousands of jobs to the area. Morrow County Public Health Director Nazario Rivera said harvest season can bring as many as 8,000 workers to the region annually.
Read the full article here.
Umatilla County sponsors Spanish-speaking radio show to share experiences with COVID-19
From the La Grande Observer:
The Umatilla County Public Health Department allocated new funding to sponsor the radio show, which broadcasts out of Kennewick, Washington, and was launched in April 2020 by Oregon Rural Action, a grassroots organization that aims to promote social justice, diversity and the environment in rural Oregon communities.
“We’re told it’s become very popular,” said Joe Fiumara, the county’s public health director. “We thought it was a good way to keep an opening to the (Hispanic) population, which is hard for us to reach.”
The funds will help pay for advertisements and the show itself, and will help it run for another year. Fiumara said county health officials will work with the show to provide written responses to listeners’ questions about the virus.
Read the full article here.
Requiem for a mega-dairy: Bills seek moratorium on supersize dairy farms in Oregon
Oregon Rural Action, in partnership with other groups in the Stand Up to Factory Farms coalition, is fighting to keep our environment clean, our rural communities healthy and safe and keep small farms in business.
Check out this OPB article detailing SUFF’s most recent proposal to implement a moratorium to temporarily suspend mega-dairy activity.
“The legislation would temporarily prohibit the state departments of Agriculture and Environmental Quality from issuing or renewing licenses or permits to new dairies seeking to keep 2,500 cows or more. The moratorium would also apply to existing dairies seeking to expand to that size.
It would require Oregon to study mega-dairies’ effects on air, water, public health, animal welfare and the dairy industry itself and to develop laws addressing those impacts.”
Read the full article here: Requiem for a mega-dairy: Bills seek moratorium on supersize dairy farms in Oregon
FEAST to Take Aim at Hunger
Our recent partnership with the Oregon Food Bank to plan and host a series of local conversations around food and food systems was recently highlighted by the La Grande Observer. Check out some of what our Union county organizer, Kagan Koehn, shared about our work:
“In terms of what FEAST can do, in the way we’re looking at with Oregon Rural Action, is to create a really strong network of people in all facets of food that can continue past this grant cycle and can continue to have power to work on projects beyond,” said Kagan Koehn, a community organizer with Oregon Rural Action.
Koehn said a big part of what the FEAST program would be aimed at doing in Union County was organizing local people and resources, helping them communicate, collaborate and find grant funding to tackle local food insecurity.
Click here to read the full article!