| OWEB Biennial Conference |
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| Keynote Speaker, Oregon Secretary of State -- Bill Bradbury |
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Wednesday, November 5
Conference Keynote Speaker
Bill Bradbury
Oregon Secretary of State
Bill Bradbury has served as Secretary of State since November of 1999. As the state's second-highest-ranking constitutional officer, Bradbury is auditor of public accounts, chief elections officer, and manager of the state's corporate filings and official legislative and executive records. Secretary Bradbury is leading the nation in protecting public confidence in elections with a Fair & Neutral Elections Administration pledge. He also serves on the Board of Advisors for the nonprofit Vote By Mail Project.
From 1995 to 1999, Bradbury served as executive director of For the Sake of the Salmon, a Portland-based non-profit organization dedicated to finding common ground for salmon restoration in the West.
Bradbury served in the Oregon Legislature for 14 years where he led successful efforts to develop the Salmon and Trout Enhancement Program. He also helped pass measures preventing offshore oil drilling and planning for state-owned ocean resources and enacting the Oregon Watershed Health Program.
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| Featured Speakers |
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Wednesday, November 5, Lunch Speaker--Dr. Tim Beechie
 Dr. Tim Beechie has worked in fisheries resource management since 1984, beginning with fish population assessments and catch monitoring in West African lakes as a Peace Corps volunteer. He later spent nine years with the Skagit River Indian tribes assessing impacts of land uses on salmonid habitats, potential recovery from increased sediment supply and loss of wood, and restoration strategies for Pacific Northwest river basins. He is currently the science coordinator for the Watershed Program, and leader of the Ecosystem Processes Team. He holds a B.S. degree in geology (1983), a M.S. in fisheries (1990), and a Ph.D. in forestry (1998), all from the University of Washington.
Current Research
Since 1990, Tim has studied the natural development of landscapes and salmon habitat, evaluated the relative influences of different land uses on salmon habitat losses, and led the development of a process-based habitat restoration strategy. He has conducted research on the influence of woody debris on fish habitat, recruitment of woody debris from second-growth forests, and recovery of salmon habitat from landslide impacts and removal of riparian forests. He is currently studying the formation and evolution of floodplain habitats, impacts of sediment supply changes on stream habitats, and restoration of incised stream channels in semi-arid environments.
Wednesday, November 5, Lunch Speaker -- Russ Hoeflich
 Russ Hoeflich joined The Nature Conservancy in 1981 and has been Oregon director since 1986. In 1988 he became a vice president of the organization. He oversees a staff of 100 engaged in biodiversity conservation work across Oregon. Russ is a voting member of the Oregon Global Warming Commission and co-chairs the Natural Resources Committee. He also serves on several statewide advisory committees addressing forest health issues, and is on the board of directors of the World Forestry Center. He has a B.A. in biology, a B.S. in environmental science and an M.S. in environmental management.
Thursday, November 6, Lunch Speaker--Julie Daniel
 Julie Daniel, aka “The Goddess of Garbage”, is executive director of Eugene’s BRING Recycling.
Under her direction, BRING is reinventing itself to meet the community’s needs for the next 30 years. She is overseeing the development of BRING’s new home, the Planet Improvement Center in Glenwood—a community and regional facility that’s part education center, part retail outlet for used building materials, and part conservation theme park and tourist attraction.
A London native, Daniel has been with BRING for 12 years. She says she came to the United States in 1971 to seek adventure. And she’s been finding it ever since, she reports. She’s the mother of three grown children who all recycle.
At BRING, Daniel directs a staff of 25 working in reuse, recycling, deconstruction and public education. She oversees a $1 million annual budget, including grants management and financial statements. Working closely with a volunteer board of directors, she serves as the organization’s public relations director and media spokesperson.
She served on an Oregon Department of Environmental Quality task force to develop the 2007 Waste Prevention Strategy. She is a graduate of the Lane Community College Business Development Center Non Profit Management Program and serves as a faculty advisor and guest lecturer for the University of Oregon Department of Planning, Public Policy and Management. A member of the Association of Oregon Recyclers, she is 2008-09 president-elect of the Professional Women’s Network of Oregon.
Thursday, November 6, Banquet Speaker--Chad Pregracke
 As the founder of America’s only "industrial strength" river clean-up organization, Living Lands & Waters, Chad Pregracke tells a compelling and funny story about growing up on the river and how his river experiences led to his unique vision to clean up the Mississippi River.
During his hour-long talk, Chad takes the audience out on one of the world’s greatest rivers - a journey filled with lively characters, colorful places and gripping adventures. His delivery is motivating, educating, compelling, stimulating, captivating, refreshingly spontaneous and genuine.
From the darkness of underwater shell-diving to the brightness of open-air community clean-ups, Chad’s tale embodies the importance of setting goals (one river and one piece of garbage at a time) and illustrates how determined hard-work and persistence pays off.
The river environment is relentlessly real and Chad brings the same up-front honesty to his presentation. Chad’s sincere enthusiasm is an uplifting wave as he relates his personal conviction to clean America’s rivers.
Chad will leave his audience knowing that each one of us makes a difference; he empowers the audience with his fascinating story and genuine compassion to make a difference.
Chad has been the recipient of more than 40 awards, including the Jefferson Award for Public Service presented to him in June of 2002 in the United States Supreme Court in Washington, DC. In August of 2002, Chad was invited by the Coca-Cola Company to attend the World Summit on Sustainable Environments in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he met and shared information about his river cleanup projects with people from all over the world. Since then, Chad’s projects have been filmed by many of the major networks such as CNN, the Today Show, CBS Sunday Morning Show, NBC Nightly News, MTV, and PBS. Time, People Magazine, Readers’ Digest, Life, Outside, Smithsonian, and National Geographic are among the numerous publications in which Chad has been featured.
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