People Who Collaborate

"One of the first experiences I had during a meeting at Malheur was, they asked us to line up by length of involvement and so I put myself at the end of the line as I thought I was the new person having just come into my job. But the refuge manager at the time said ‘Bob, you've been involved for well about 30 minutes now but your organization, Audubon, has been involved a little bit longer.’ So he said, ‘how long has your organization been involved?’ And I said really, since our founding in 1902. So he sort of grabbed me by the shoulders and marched me down to the other end of line and put me after the Burns Paiute Tribe and descendants of the early homesteaders. This was a powerful reminder that I am working with an organization that's been investing time, energy and resources out here for a very long time."

Bob Sallinger is the Conservation Director with Portland Audubon; it all started in 1992 with his girlfriend at the time and now wife, who found an injured Prairie Falcon. They took it to the wildlife hospital at Portland Audubon and "I wound up staying and volunteering, then was hired as temporary staff, and wound up running the animal hospital for about 15 years and have now been leading the conservation program for the last 15 years." READ MORE.

Wetlands Along the Pacific Flyway are Critical Habitat for Migratory Birds

“One of the big signs of fall is the birds flying overhead,” said Bob Sallinger, Conservation Director for Portland Audubon and a participant of the Harney Basin Wetlands Collaborative. The Pacific Flyway famously runs right through the Harney Basin, and locals are treated to quite the air show during the fall migration and even more so in the spring. The United States is split up into four flyways that run north and south. They are the Pacific, Central, Mississippi and Atlantic flyways. The Pacific Flyway stretches from the Arctic to the coast of Mexico and from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. From north to south it is more than 4,000 miles long, and in some places, it is more than 1,000 miles wide. About 70 percent of migratory birds — including over 6 million waterbirds — annually pass through the Southern Oregon Northeast California (SONEC) region of the flyway, which includes the Harney Basin wetlands where large concentrations of birds rest and refuel along the way. READ MORE.

High Country News Article About Collaboration

Started in 2007 High Desert Partnership turned 15 this year and we're continuing to evolve. The six collaboratives we support address land use challenges and opportunities as well as collaborating around opportunities for small business and youth in rural, frontier southeast Oregon.

A recent article from High Country News recognizes the collaborative culture built and growing thanks to so many people and individuals that believe in the patient process of collaborating where when disagreements surface, sides aren't taken, rather conversations continue to happen in an effort to find a path to common ground.

Illustration by Lauren Crow with High Country News.

2022 Upcoming Events

Tuesday, November 15 | Harney County Wildfire Collaborative Meeting

Wednesday, November 16 | High Desert Partnership Board Meeting

Tuesday, November 29 | Biz Harney Opportunity Collaborative Meeting

Tuesday, December 12 | Malheur National Wildfire Refuge Comprehensive Conservation Plan Collaborative Meeting

Wednesday, December 21 | High Desert Partnership Board Meeting

Tuesday, December 27 | Biz Harney Opportunity Collaborative Meeting

Check out High Desert Partnership's event calendar.

Harney Basin Wetlands Collaborative and

Reviving Malheur Lake

Harney County Wildfire Collaborative and
Megafire Prevention

Harney Basin Wetlands Collaborative and
Wild Flood Irrigation

Six Collaboratives Supported By

High Desert Partnership

HDP Website

Manage your preferences | Opt out using TrueRemove™
Got this as a forward? Sign up to receive our future emails.
View this email online.

PO Box 252
Burns, OR | 97720 US

This email was sent to .
To continue receiving our emails, add us to your address book.