Winter Fishtrap: Drought
An Online Conference
Saturday Mornings, January 22 and 29, 2022
Registration now open
Full registration: $50
Fishtrapper members: $45
Students: $20
Join us online for Winter Fishtrap where we’ll explore Drought in relation to the Environment, the Economy, Socio-Economic Justice, Cultures, and the ultimate future of the West. Guests include rural land use and water policy expert, Dr. Hannah Gosnell, Director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute, Dr. Erica Fleishman, and OSU’s Kyle Hogrefe in addition to local and regional experts.
Saturday Morning, January 22
10:00am – noon, pacific time
Ecological Contextualization of Drought
A Conversation with Dr. Erica Fleishman
Director, Oregon Climate Change Research Institute
Professor, College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Studies, Oregon State University
The western United States is becoming drier, and the effects of that process are intensifying. Aridity reflects not only precipitation, but temperature, wind, humidity, and how much of the Sun’s energy reaches Earth’s surface. Responses to aridity vary among native and cultivated species and in space and time. This Winter Fishtrap discussion will examine causes and consequences of aridification across the West, and some of the surprising ways in which natural and agricultural systems can adapt to these trends.
Erica Fleishman moved from the east coast to the west coast in 1988, and began working in the Great Basin in 1993. She is grateful to the many mentors who introduced her to the region’s ecosystems, human communities, authors, and artists. Erica currently is Director, Oregon Climate Change Research Institute and Professor, College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, Oregon State University. Her research group examines responses of animals and plants to environmental change in the Intermountain West and California. Erica also contributes to research and practice on conservation of private land under the US Endangered Species Act. She is happiest when listening to Pinyon Jays on summer evenings in the high desert.
Saturday Morning, January 29
10:00am – noon, pacific time
Drought: Ag, Timber, and Tourism
A Panel Discussion moderated by Katy Nesbitt
Join us for an online panel discussion exploring how continued drought has and will shape the future economy of the West.
Panelists Include: Rural land use and water policy expert, Dr. Hannah Gosnel, OSU Research Fellow Kyle Hogrefe, Wallowa County rancher Dan Probert in addition to local and regional experts.
Hannah Gosnell is a Professor of Geography at Oregon State University who studies agricultural landscape change, water resources, climate change, and environmental governance in the context of rural working landscapes in the U.S. West. Her research focuses on the human dimensions of rangeland management from a social-ecological systems perspective. She is particularly interested in the social, cultural, and psychological aspects of the transition to regenerative agriculture and the implications for landowners’ capacity to adapt to social, economic and environmental change. Hannah earned her MA and PhD in Geography from the University of Colorado and a BA from Brown University.
Dan Probert has spent his entire life in the Cattle Ranching business. Growing up on a ranch in Eastern Oregon, Dan moved to the central coast of California and started his own ranching enterprise in 1982. Dan moved back to Eastern Oregon in 1994 where he ranches with his wife. Dan also manages the resources on cow/calf and yearling operations in central Oregon and Nevada and is a minority partner in Beef Northwest Feeders, a diversified cattle feeding and Cow/calf operation in the Pacific Northwest.
The past 25 years Dan has been involved with the Country Natural Beef Cooperative first as a member then as its Production coordinator and served as its Executive Director for 5 years. Dan currently holds the title of Marketing Director for Country Natural Beef. CNB is a cooperative of family ranches that has been in existence since 1986. Currently CNB is 100 members strong and markets 65,000 animals per year to companies like Whole Foods, New Seasons, and Sysco.
During his tenure, Dan facilitated animal welfare trainings for Country Natural Beef ranchers with people like Dr. Tom Noffsinger, a well-known animal behaviorist and worked with a team of Country Natural Beef ranchers to create a set of “Raise Well”, animal compassion standards for the cooperative that were endorsed by Dr. Temple Grandin, one of the world’s most well known animal behaviorists. All Country Natural Beef ranches are audited by Global Animal Partnership and their animals carry a “GAP” 5-step rating.
Kyle Hogrefe is a PhD Candidate in the Geography Program at Oregon State University’s (OSU) College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences. After receiving his bachelor’s in Environmental Sciences from the University of Colorado in 1993, a stint in the Peace Corps, various field positions and a master’s with the same OSU program in 2006, Kyle employed his remote sensing and expeditionary research skills in habitat mapping projects for the U.S. Geological Survey Alaska Science Center. He returned to OSU after realizing the limits of satellite imagery and technical data in mapping and monitoring natural and cultural resources and the need to tap into local, place-based knowledge to get around some of those limits. Kyle now lives in Wallowa where, in his spare time, he helps run the family ranch, gets into the backcountry as much as possible and does his best to be a good dad. Kyle’s research harnesses the power of GIS, remote sensing and computer modeling to provide climate adaptation information for decision-makers in local communities. Using Wallowa County as a case study, he seeks to adapt existing models to local rangeland conditions and resource management realities by integrating place-based knowledge through community-based methods. His mission is to fill the gap between the scientific communities’ ability to analyze the location and condition of natural and cultural resources and their ability to deliver it to those who manage and/or depend on those resources. In this case ranchers and other rangeland managers or stakeholders. Kyle married into a 7 generation Wallowa County family 15 years ago and has since developed deep connections to the community and lands in his study area, so he values this opportunity to advance local climate resilience.
Joseph Goebel grew up just outside of Wallowa learning logging, forestry, and natural resource management from a young age. He attended Eastern Oregon University and Oregon State University while studying Forest Engineering, Mathematics, and Computer Science. During this time, he spent his summers on the wildland fire crew for ODF in Wallowa working through a variety of fire suppression positions. After college, Joseph went to work for the United States Forest Service working at the Sled Springs rappel base outside of Enterprise Oregon conducting fire suppression activities and fuels work. In 2013 Joseph returned to work for ODF managing aviation assets and fighting fire and eventually working as a field forester. He also began managing family timber and grazing properties, started logging part time, and became a partner in a small milling business. In 2015 Joseph accepted the Wildland Fire Supervisor position for ODF in Wallowa where he has managed and run the fire protection program since. Joseph is currently the interim Unit Forester for ODF in Wallowa.
