Deon Strommer presents a talk on disaster recovery. He speaks of his experience with the National Disaster Medical System in February 2020 to help contain the Corona Virus, to assist with quarantining of U.S. citizens arriving from Wuhan, China, and to help in the care of people who died from the virus. In mid-May he returned to Oregon to assist state agencies in preparing for a possible second wave of the virus this Fall. Mr. Strommer is a Funeral Director and owner of First Call Mortuary Services in Portland.
Presentation by Susan Bladholm, founder of Friends of Frog Ferry. Compelled by other river cities investment in passenger ferry services, Friends of Frog Ferry was conceived to challenge the status quo and call to question whether we should use our riverways as an additional transit mode. Ms. Bladholm, a transportation enthusiast, leads a team of volunteer experts, and has created a governance for the Friends of Frog Ferry.
Wendy Gerlach, of Pacific Forest Trust, discusses trees and their place in the environment. Trees provide us with wood, shade, water, recreation, and wildlife. Moreover, trees are an important part of the solution to climate change. Pacific Forest Trust’s work includes management of forests for climate resilience. Wendy also discusses how climate policies work, such as carbon offset credits. Wendy Gerlach is Senior Conservation Project Manager with Pacific Forest Trust. She is a graduate of Princeton University and of the University of Washington School of Law.
Dr. Melinda Hutson discusses the discovery of the Willamette meteorite and the controversies surrounding it in the context of meteorites in general and Oregon meteorites in particular.Melinda Hutson is the curator of the Cascadia Meteorite Laboratory at Portland State University. She is married to the lab’s director and together they have been doing research on meteorites since 1983.