Oregon Women for Agriculture Support Abolition of OWEB During Annual Meet

Oregon Ag Women speak out with record attendance at state convention Resolutions support convention theme - "Reclaiming our Lands"

Oregon Women for Agriculture members voted to ask the Oregon Legislature to abolish Oregon's Watershed Enhancement Board and hand over its responsibilities to Soil and Water Conservation Districts, in which elected officials preside.

That was one of a record-setting 17 resolutions and policy motions the group adopted during their 33rd annual meeting this month. Another record that fell during the convention was for attendance, which was higher than any earlier conventions, according to OWA president Arlene Kovash, of Pedee, Oregon.

Other motions supported defunding the Gorge Commission and supporting the federal Healthy Forests Initiative that allows salvage logging of fire-ravaged national forests, which burned out of control during most of the summer of 2002.

The resolution to dismantle the current bureaucratic structure for OWEB and turn responsibility over to SWCDs came from OWA member (Alicel Chapter) Sharon Beck, of Cove, Oregon, who also a leading member of Oregon Cattlemen's Association.

"The functions of OWEB are duplicative of SWCD. Eliminating the administrative costs of OWEB and diverting saved money to on-the-ground watershed enhancement projects... makes good fiscal sense," Beck said. She added that SWCD board members are elected by voters in the districts, unlike OWEB's current watershed council structure.

The resolution regarding the Gorge Commission noted that Washington and Oregon state governments are short of funds for education and public safety, yet pay the Gorge Commission $3,000,000 biannually.

The Gorge Commission is a controversial quasi-governmental group that claims regulatory powers over property owners in the Columbia Gorge through administration of the federal Scenic Act. The commission has been faulted by Oregon legislators and local residents in the Gorge for not following provisions of the federal law which established the Columbia Gorge Scenic Area..

Other RESOLUTIONS adopted during the convention included support for abolishing Oregon's Endangered Species Act to avoid duplicating regulations of the> federal ESA; support for several bills introduced in the state legislature regarding wetlands regulations; and opposition to the Buy Oregon food policy bill.