People Who Collaborate

COVID-19 has been very hard on small business, especially rural business. Well, imagine starting a new job just as the virus hits with a role of helping small businesses. This is Andrea Letham's story. Andrea is a business advisor with the Treasure Valley Community College Small Business Development Center (SBDC). "I started with the SBDC just as COVID hit, so I've only known this landscape. My goal quickly became to assist and support businesses in any way. I became immersed in the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program and the Payroll Protection Program and sought to help businesses apply and manage for Small Business Association funding. Things were tough. Owners carried (and still carry) a lot of worries. Things are still difficult and ever changing for businesses. The challenges are many, but the human spirit is resilient. Businesses have forged on adapting, pivoting and working harder than ever." READ MORE.

Pictured: Andrea Letham, Business Advisor

Making It Easy For You

Have you checked out HDP's new site?! August 12 HDP's new website went live; ready for you to learn something new about collaboration in Harney County.

HDP Website

Harney County to Helsinki Finland

Tuesday, August 18, 40 students studying at the University of Eastern Finland had the opportunity to learn from Harney County's own, Chad Karges and Gary Marshall, (two of the founders of High Desert Partnership) about HDP's brand of collaboration. Chad, Gary and Sagebrush Collaboration author Peter Walker provided presentations and responded to questions from this international cohort that is addressing natural resource conflicts around the globe. This session was both an opportunity for Chad and Gary to share what has been learned about effective collaboration in Harney County's rural piece of the U.S. as well as hear from the students the questions they are striving to answer. It turns out, the questions these international students had are similar to what folks in the U.S. ask about collaboration and it's exciting to know that the bedrocks of collaboration, like building stong, trusting relationships, is something students across the planet want to explore.

Pictured: Gary Marshall and Chad Karges.

Sneaking up on Carp!

There's a carp round-up coming this month but a few of us decided to sneak up on them early and rid the Blitzen River of about 3900 lbs of the scoundrels.

Malheur Lake Study Looks At Ways To Clear Turbid Water

In its current state, Malheur Lake is not a hospitable environment for plants. In fact, the murkiness of the water allows so little sunlight to penetrate the water column that there are places in the lake nearly devoid of life. “You pull the mud up and there’s nothing. There’s not a bug, there’s not a worm, there’s nothing. I occasionally see a couple of dragonflies, which are a bug that can live in the lowest water quality,” said Dominic Bachman, Harney Basin Wetlands Initiative Coordinator, during a recent trip to the lake to transplant some vegetation. “It’s so murky and there’s so little vegetation to stop the wind from churning it up and the carp from eating it all that it’s just dark as coffee—coffee with half milk, half coffee. That’s what it looks like.” The Harney Basin Wetlands Initiative, a collaborative of the High Desert Partnership, seeks to change that. Read more. (This link takes you to an articles page, near the top of the list find the article titled Malheur Lake Study Looks At Ways To Clear Turbid Water)

Pictured below: A mesocosm prototype, made from PVC pipe and plastic sheeting, being tested in Malheur Lake.

Mentor Match Teen Entrepreneurship Program

This program began in 2019 with a pilot run and it's back this month offering Harney County teens an educational program to help move their ideas from purely ideas to developing businesses. Find much more about this program including how to apply, HERE.

Experiencing Harney County's Natural History

Events are planned by Portland Audubon's Eastern Oregon Field Coordinator, Teresa Wick.

Find the calendar of events here with the knowledge that future events could be cancelled to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Please check the calendar: Portland Audubon Harney County events before venturing out to an event or contact Teresa Wicks at twicks@audubonportland.org.

2020 Upcoming Events

Wednesday, September 16 | High Desert Partnership Board Meeting

Thursday, September 17 | Harney County Wildfire Collaborative Meeting

Tuesday, September 22 | Harney Basin Wetlands Initiative Collaborative Meeting

Wednesday, October 21 | High Desert Partnership Board Meeting

Thursday, November 5 | Wet Meadow Summit, day one

Thursday, November 17 | Wet Meadow Summit, day two

Wednesday, November 18 | High Desert Partnership Board Meeting

Wednesday, December 16 | High Desert Partnership Board Meeting

*All meetings, not including field trips, are virtual meetings that can be accessed via ZOOM conferencing or a phone call. Contact Ben Cate at ben@highdesertpartnership.org for conferencing links and numbers.

Check out High Desert Partnership's event calendar.

Shop Harney County!

Spark Mercantile is a new online marketplace supporting local Harney County makers making it possible for their goods to be purchased from far and wide while helping to create economic opportunity in Harney County.

Click SHOP below to see what's in the store.

SHOP

Malheur Lake Airboat Tour

Feel the wind in your hair.

Reviving Malheur Lake

A short film about Malheur Lake, its current condition and what is being learned to help stage its revival.

Six Collaboratives Supported By

High Desert Partnership

COVID-19 Information Sources

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Oregon Health Authority

Governor Kate Brown

Small Business Resources

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