Oregon Conservation & Recreation Advisory Committee
The Governor appoints the nine members of the Oregon Conservation & Recreation Advisory Committee who review Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) policies regarding use of the Oregon Conservation & Recreation Fund. The positions include six members representing the diverse ecoregions of Oregon and three members from Oregon-at-large with an interest in fish and wildlife conservation or outdoor recreation. One member of the Fish and Wildlife Commission serves as a liaison to the Committee and the Director of the Oregon Office of Outdoor Recreation participates as an ex officio member. The Committee makes recommendations to the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission and ODFW regarding use of the Fund.
The Fund is a dedicated account for activities that protect, maintain, or enhance fish and wildlife resources in Oregon. The Oregon Legislature created the Fund in response to recommendations from the Joint Interim Task Force on Funding for Fish, Wildlife, and Related Outdoor Recreation and Education to pursue a dedicated source of funding that reduces the financial burden on hunters and anglers and creates a mechanism for all Oregonians to support fish, wildlife, and their habitats.
Nearshore and Coast Range Ecoregion
Columbia Plateau and Blue Mountains Ecoregion
Dr. Karl Wenner (Chair), Klamath Mountains
Dr. Wenner has lived and worked in Klamath Falls for 30 years. He is a retired orthopedic surgeon and operates a 380-acre cattle ranch and 400-acre barley farm in Klamath County. In addition to his medical education, Dr. Wenner has a Masters of Science in Wildlife Ecology from the University of Florida. He also worked as a waterfowl biologist for the Florida Game and Freshwater Fish Commission before becoming a medical doctor. He served as a co-chair of the Klamath Basin Working Group, a member of the board of the Oregon Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, founding member of the Klamath Watershed Partnership, member of the board of the Klamath Falls chapter of Trout Unlimited. Karl enjoys birding, natural history, fishing, hunting, rafting, foraging, sailing, camping, and hiking.
Mauricio Valadrian (Vice-Chair), at-large
Mauricio Valadrian has been working as a Bilingual content producer and creative director for almost 19 years, and most recently, as a media consultant and diversity communications expert, in both, the private and governmental sectors. For the last 5 years Mauricio has been an active advocate for diversifying access and usage of public natural areas, particularly for families with young children and underrepresented communities. He has worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Urban Refuge Program; with the Intertwine Alliance; and managing content development and community outreach for the Northwest Family Daycation App, a mobile application that uses GPS technology to inspire families to get outside and connect with nature. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Hike It Baby, a non-profit with over 330 chapters across the United States focusing on building community while getting families on trails.
Chris Hager, at-large
Born and raised on the East Coast, Chris Hager grew up fishing across the country eventually following the lure of Salmon and Steelhead to the Pacific Northwest. Chris is currently the Executive Director of the Association of Northwest Steelheaders. Chris also volunteers as the Northwest Regional Director of the Oregon Chapter of the Backcountry Hunters and Anglers and serves on the Governor’s Task Force on Outdoor Recreation. He has a diverse background in aquatic habitat restoration, fundraising, and the commercial fish industry. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Biology with a minor in Geology from Augustana College.
Tim Davis, Northern Basin & Range
Tim Davis is the Founder and Executive Director of Friends of the Owyhee, a grassroots conservation organization in Malheur County dedicated to conservation advocacy, stewardship, and recreation. He also serves on the DOI’s Southeast Oregon Resource Advisory Council. Before leading Friends of the Owyhee in a full-time capacity, Tim spent 11 years as a correctional officer for the Oregon Department of Corrections. Before that, he was a wildland firefighter with the Bureau of Land Management. He is most at home around a campfire or driving a desert road. Public land issues in South East Oregon are of particular interest to Tim; and he cares deeply about seeing the Owyhee and public lands cared for future generations while working with all public land users and their interests.
Maret Pajutee, East and West Cascades
Maret Pajutee has 25 years’ experience in Natural Resource planning for public lands in sustainable forestry, watershed restoration, recreation management, post-fire rehabilitation, and invasive and rare plant species management. She is an experienced team leader of public land partnerships and collaboration addressing controversial issues such as old growth management, name changes to meet Tribal Trust Responsibilities, and recreation management to protect river values. She is also a founding board member of Deschutes Land Trust Non-Profit organization which has conserved over 9000 acres of high value habitat in the Deschutes River basin. She retired as a District Ecologist for the Sisters Ranger District of the U.S. Forest Service in 2016.
Jane Hartline, Willamette Valley
Jane Hartline retired after a 29-year career as Marketing Manager of the Oregon Zoo so that she could do her REAL job --- being more on the front lines of conservation efforts. She brags that since PERS now pays her salary, she can do whatever she wants. “Whatever she wants” includes, among many other things, founding and heading the Sauvie Island Partnership,serving on the Oregon Native Turtle Working Group, the 4-County Weed Management Area and the Oak Prairie working group….AND being a board member for both the West Multnomah Conservation District and the Scappoose Bay Watershed Council.
She is a consummate weed warrior, frog shuttler, volunteer wrangler, and plant, amphibian, pollinator and bird surveyor. And since all that doesn’t keep her busy enough, she also wrangles a flock of sheep and chickens and tries to keep up with her own 3-acre habitat restoration project on her Sauvie Island Farm. In addition, she owns and manages a native plant nursery.
Mark Stern, at-large
Mark Stern is currently the Director of Forest Conservation for The Nature Conservancy in Oregon. He has worked on wildlife projects and natural resource issues across much of Oregon over the past 25+ years, including stints in Harney County for the Burns District BLM and the USFWS at Malheur NWR, as well as on wildlife, water and forestry issues with The Nature Conservancy in Oregon. Mark has worked on a wide range of wildlife projects, including fisheries/water birds in the Warner Valley in Lake Co., sandhill cranes, black terns and yellow rails at Sycan Marsh and Lake/Klamath Cos., snowy plovers along the Oregon coast, neotropical migrant song birds in the Willamette Valley, bird banding station on Sauvie Island WMA, western pond turtles in SW OR and more than a dozen different projects involving fisheries, water birds, amphibians & freshwater mollusks in the Klamath Basin and elsewhere. Mark has a graduate degree in Wildlife Ecology from Oregon State University and enjoys recreation in Oregon focused on wildlife viewing (birds, elk, sheep, whales, turtles, plants) while hiking, biking, backpacking and camping in Oregon’s vast outdoors.
Commissioner Mark Labhart, Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission
Mark Labhart is a former Tillamook County Commissioner where he served for 12 years. Prior to that he worked for the Oregon Department of Forestry for 34 years with 20 years as the Manager of a majority of the Tillamook State Forest. He was an Incident Commander on one of Oregon Fire Teams for 11 years. He has served terms on the Fish Restoration & Enhancement Board, the STEP Advisory Committee, the Oregon Hatchery Research Center and the ODF&W External Budget Advisory Committee. He chaired the Legislative Task force to find alternate funding sources for ODF&W. Labhart sits on the OSU Sea Grant Advisory Committee as well as the OSU Extension Statewide Advisory Committee. He was a founding member of the Salmon Super Highway Project that looks to restore salmon access to tributaries in Tillamook County. He was chosen as Tillamook County’s Citizen of the Year and volunteer of the year previously and Forester of the Year for Oregon by the Society of American Foresters. His passion is fly fishing in the central Oregon lakes and deer and elk hunting. He and his wife moved to Sisters to be closer to children and especially their grandchildren.
Cailin O’Brien-Feeney, Director, Oregon Office of Outdoor Recreation
Cailin O’Brien-Feeney is the first head of the Oregon Office of Outdoor Recreation, the purpose of which is to elevate outdoor recreation in every corner of the state. Cailin has worked in the recreation field for 15 years, including stints with the U.S. Forest Service and as a river guide in Idaho, and was the State and Local Policy Manager for the Outdoor Industry Association (OIA) until 2019. The OIA is a national trade group, and under his leadership, Cailin’s worked with governors, legislators, and agencies across the country to improve access to outdoor recreation opportunities, encourage strategies that increase economic benefits, and promoted establishment of Offices of Outdoor Recreation in other states. He holds an Environmental Studies undergraduate degree from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon and an Environmental Science graduate degree from the University of Idaho.