VtF Board Self-Assessment 2021-2023
Board Self-Assessment 2023-2028
| 2022 | → VtF became an Associate member of the Oregon Coalition of Land Trusts. There are over 25 land trusts in Oregon and 1,700 land trusts across the country. These organizations are stewards of the land and work with people who want to conserve land in their backyard and local community. → Star Creek Trail extension completed. → Initiated a working group on water sustainability. → February 2022: Construction of the Amanda Trail Suspension Bridge completed. → February-May 2022: View the Future board members, OPRD, Yachats Trail crew, Angell Job Corps and Midcoast Watershed Council rehabilitated the Amanda Gathering Area and the entire area around the new Suspension Bridge. → May 2022: “Bridging Cultures & Healing Hearts”. Dedication of the Suspension Bridge with 140 in attendance including representatives from the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians and Confederated Tribes of Coos Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, State Senator Dick Anderson and Rep. David Gomberg, Director of State Parks, Siuslaw National Forest Waldport Ranger, County Commissioner and Yachats City Council. → June 2022: Provided presentation on local indigenous history to the Quest project participants who are using the TRAIL-ED maps. |
| 2021 | → Presented content on local indigenous history at a Newport- Rotary club meeting. → In partnership with Oregon Parks & Recreation Dept (OPRD)., Tribes, County, City, Angel Job Corps, and others, planning was completed, and construction began on the building of a 145-foot-long suspension bridge on the Amanda Trail. → Amanda Gathering Area expanded and improved. → Partnered with McKenzie River Trust on several projects including sharing an OSU post-graduate RARE associate Sam Hillman who has been working with VtF and City of Yachats on water sustainability. → Continued work on securing additional conservation easements with private landowners as well as potential land acquisitions. → Board meetings monthly, with attendance usually 100%. Additional committee meetings, site visits and inspections resulted in our all-volunteer Board members and volunteers putting in 1307 hours in 2020. → Organized an ad-hoc committee to plan the dedication of the Amanda Trail Suspension Bridge with partnership from OPRD, Polly Plumb Productions, Oregon Coast Visitors Association and the City of Yachats. → Secured a conservation easement on the 7-acre Statler property at on Yachats River Road that borders the uncut portion of the Riggs’ property which fronts the east side of Salmon Creek, one of Yachats’ water sources. → Partnered with City of Yachats, Yachats Trails Committee for design and installation of four new interpretive trail signs: The Amanda Trail, The 804 Trail, The Yachats Wetlands, and the Gerdemann Botanical Preserve. → In partnership with Yachats Trails Committee received grant funding of $2,000 from the Oregon Parks Foundation fund to reconstruct a safe and aesthetic trail link of the Oregon Coast Trail in sore need of rehabilitation between the Aqua Vista loop and the ocean front (804 North and 804 South.). → Received a grant from Trust Management Services (Braemar Charitable Trust) of $6,728 toward the TRAIL-ED project in partnership with the Oregon Extension Service and the Cultural Dept of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians to develop an interactive Trails map and QR code that teaches indigenous uses of plants and indigenous history along the Amanda Trail. → TRAIL-ED project completed, and 2000 maps printed. Maps with illustrations can be found on website. → Transferred $70,000 in raised funds from grants and donations to Oregon Parks and Recreation Dept toward the construction of the Amanda Trail Suspension Bridge. → Working under the supervision of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians and the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, created two land acknowledgements of what is presently known as Yachats. → Initiated, developed and planned with the City of Yachats to install bike racks on city property. Also working separately with Oregon Coast Visitors Association and local businesses to install bike racks at local businesses. → October 2021: Suspension Bridge construction began. A portion of the Amanda Trail is closed. |
| 2019 | → Awarded $2000 from Siletz Tribal Charitable Contribution fund for Amanda Suspension Bridge. → Awarded $10,000 from Three Rivers Foundation toward construction of new Amanda Suspension Bridge. |
| 2018 | → Awarded a grant from the Three Rivers Foundation for creating and installing two additional interpretive signs at the Amanda Gathering Area in partnership with the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians and the City, City of Yachats Trails Committee, and Angell Job Corps. The signs will describe the tragedies that occurred at the Alsea Sub-agency prison camp between 1860-1875 and will tell the true story of Amanda. View the Future was honored to be told that the Foundation Trustees awarded $500 more than what was requested because of the importance of this project to their Tribes.” |
| 2016-Present | → Reviewed, and researched, funding for the purchase of a 29-acre forested site adjacent to both sides of the Yachats River in partnership with the City of Yachats, Trust for Public Lands, and the Oregon Watershed Board. |
| 2016 | → Wrote and was awarded funds from the Ford Family Foundation for the Yachats Community Garden to build raised beds in partnership with the City of Yachats and garden members. |
| 2015 | → Co-wrote and received an "Every Day Event" Grant in partnership with the Cape Perpetua Foundation and the Siuslaw National Forest to partially fund the Artist in Residence Program, Marble Murrelet Survey, and National Trails Day. → Acquired 1/3 acre for preservation and to protect the Gerdemann Botanical Preserve in partnership with the private landowners, private contributors, Oregon Coast Community Forest Association, Lincoln Land Legacy Program, and the Lincoln County Commissioners. → Established the Ben Christensen fund to create local First Nation interpretive signs. |
| 2013 | → Became holder of the Bryan Conservation Easement partnership with the Lincoln Land Legacy Program, and the Lincoln County Commissioners. |
| 2007-2013 | → Wrote and received a grant from the Oregon Parks Foundation Fund for the construction of the Ya'Xaik Trail. |
| 2012, 2013, & 2014 | → Co-sponsored National Trails Day with Siuslaw National Forest. |
| 2012 | → Set up the Gerdemann Botanical Preserve Endowment as well as GBP maintenance fund partnership with the Oregon Community Foundation. |
| 2011 | → Co-sponsored kiosk at the Yachats State Park on Central Coast history in partnership with the City of Yachats, the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians, and Travel Oregon. |
| 2010-2011 | → Became holder of the Gerdemann Botanical Preserve Conservation Easement contributed funds to its development, and established an ongoing maintenance fund in partnership with the private landowners, City of Yachats and their Trails Committee, private contributors, Lincoln Land Legacy Program, and the Lincoln County Commissioners. |
| 2009-2011 | → Wrote and received the grant for Amanda Bridge Project and solicited matching funds in partnership with the City of Yachats and its Trails Committee, Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, private contributors, Angell Job Corps, Oregon Recreational Grants Program, and Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. |
| 2010 | → Officially named “Amanda Creek” crossing the Amanda Trail in partnership with neighbors, riparian consultant, the Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians, Oregon Geographic Names Board, and the US Geological Survey. → Paid for capital improvements to a new section of the Amanda Trail in partnership with private contributors, the City of Yachats and their Trails Committee, and Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. |
| 2007 | → Co-sponsored 100th-anniversary event of the Siuslaw National Forest in partnership with the Siuslaw National Forest and City of Yachats. |
| 2006-2007 | → Co-sponsored Giant Spruce Tree designated as an Oregon Heritage Tree with the Oregon Heritage Tree Committee under Travel Oregon, Siuslaw National Forest, and private individuals. |
| 2005-present | → Fundraised for land acquisition in partnership with a variety of partners including the Oregon Community Forest Association and many volunteers. |
| 2005-2006 | → Became holder of the Kittel Conservation Easements in partnership with the Lincoln Land Legacy Program and the Lincoln County Commissioners. |
| 2004-Present | → Researched, arranged, and/or presented educational sessions and public awareness symposiums on ecological protection with Oregon Coast Community Forest Association, the local chapter of the Audubon, and others. → Conducted outreach and education via brochures, newsletters, press releases, and a website, plus setting up booths at a variety of events. |
| 2004-2015 | → Developed relationships with land-owners, consulted with Paul Engelmeyer, partnered with the Oregon Coast Community Forest Association Lincoln Land Legacy Program, The County Commissioners, and the U.S. First Capital in an attempt to acquire and protect 1000 acres of Yachats viewshed. → Researched, arranged, and /or presented educational and sessions and public awareness symposiums on cultural history and ecological protection. |
January 2018 “Those Who Came Before” a story by Michael K. Shay.
The November/December 2017 edition of the Oregon Coast Magazine, published a story titled “Those that came before; A short history of the early inhabitants of the Yachats area,” written by Michael K. Shay.
It describes a piece of the history of the Alsea and Coos Indians that inhabited the early Yachats area for thousands of years, and of the dark years when Yachats became a detention camp for forcedly displaced Indians as their land was reallocated to settlers. The Amanda statue on the Amanda Trail pays tribute to that history and to one native woman who experienced it. The statue and the grotto it sits in has become a source of healing, and for the last eight years, Yachats’ citizens and tribal members have joined in a New Year’s Day Peace Hike walking from Yachats to the Grotto to hear Amanda’s story “it’s a solemn and spiritual path that remembers in perpetuity” (J. Kittel 2017).
View the Oregon Coast Magazine Article Nov/Dec2017 in PDF format.
Media Mentions
- Community celebrates conservation easement – Joel Gallob Of the News-Times, Dec. 7, 2005
- Postcard from Yachats – Bob Welch Columnist, The Register-Guard Published: Tuesday, November 29, 2005
- Conservation easement planned for forest property above Yachats – Joel Gallob, Newport News-Times, Nov. 18, 2005
- Yachats Community meeting – Joel Gallob, Newport News-Times, posted Mar 26, 2004
