In his younger years, Tim Davis was skeptical of the idea of conservation.
“I remember bad-mouthing environmental movements as a young adult,” he said.
Now that view has definitely changed for Davis, who is the founder and executive director of Friends of the Owyhee. The nonprofit’s 10th anniversary was Saturday, Feb. 1.
The nonprofit celebrated that milestone at the Frosty Badger in Ontario on Saturday, Jan. 25. More than 50 people attended the event that included guest speakers, food, drinks and a silent auction.
Davis, in an interview, said his views evolved as he learned more about the biology and human history of the Owyhee Canyonlands, which span 7 million acres of high desert in Oregon, Idaho and Nevada.
In early 2015, Davis started a Friends of the Owyhee page on Facebook to get local people involved and “connected to the land.”
He saw a need for a local group to advocate for the Owyhee. At the time, he said, momentum was growing for the potential designation of 1 million of the 2.5 million acres, including 15 miles of the Owyhee River, as a national monument. That change would have limited ranching and development. Under the Antiquities Act, the president can designate areas as national monuments if they hold cultural, natural or historical significance.
Davis was working as a corrections officer at the Snake River Correctional Institution in the organization’s early days. Spending time on the Owyhee River and establishing Friends of the Owyhee became an “escape” and “focus” outside his day job.
Within a year, the fledgling Friends group began forming an advisory board of locals interested in the mission “to build a community around conservation.”
That meant bringing everyone to the table – including ranchers, recreation and conservation groups, landowners, Indigenous Tribes and Nations, sports enthusiasts and government agencies, he said.
The idea, he said, was to “ensure that the Owyhee’s unique ecological, cultural, and recreational resources are protected for future generations to experience and enjoy.”
The organization received funding from the Conservation Lands Foundation in 2015 to get established and then a two-year grant from the Wyss Foundation to hire a local employee. The nonprofit continues to operate with grants and private donations.
Davis, 38, said that about a third of the organization’s budget comes from private donors. It has grown with grants from funders, including the Roundhouse Foundation, Oregon Community Foundation, The Lazar Foundation, Charlotte Y. Martin Foundation, Autzen Foundation and the Oregon Wildlife Foundation.
By 2019, Davis said the group had earned its nonprofit status and he became the organization’s full-time executive director. The group’s nonprofit tax filing from 2023 lists executive compensation was $88,859, with other salaries and wages reported at $46,799. The nonprofit employs a part-time employee.
In 2023, the nonprofit’s total reported revenue was $305,136.
The past decade has seen accomplishments, Davis said, with the nonprofit advocating for conservation, engaging the community, and connecting the people to the land by acting as a “repository for data.”
He said the group has worked to bring opposing sides to the table, hammering out a compromise to advance federal legislation to get wilderness treatment for nearly 1 million acres of the Owyhee Canyonlands.
The U.S. Senate passed the Malheur Community Empowerment for the Owyhee Act , but it died in the House. U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden and U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz have vowed to collaborate on a bipartisan bill this year to protect the Owyhee.
Calls on President Joe Biden to designate an Owyhee Canyonlands monument in the final days of his presidency went unheeded, despite a letter from Gov. Tina Kotek in late November.
Protecting the Canyonlands has long been a hot-button issue in eastern Oregon, with conservationists arguing the land is home to critical habitat while ranchers and natural resource industries contending that federal protections would stifle economic prosperity in the region.
Davis said he takes a balanced approach, seeking “permanent protections” for the land.
Looking back over the past 10 years, Davis said bringing a diverse group of people together and fostering dialogue is a key accomplishment.
“We want to talk with everybody and understand everybody’s point of view and help bring that voice forward,” he said.
So far, the common thread that emerges from such discussions is that people want to preserve the land.
“We don’t want to see change,” Davis said. “It’s as simple as that. We want to see it stay the same for our future generations.”
He said how competing interests find common ground depends on political and philosophical differences.
Education and sharing information have been important to get people connected to the land, to help them understand the resources and appreciate the uniqueness of the Owyhee Canyonlands.
Davis said several years ago, the group was able to host an outdoor school program for Nyssa and Ontario to introduce youth to the region. He said they hope to bring an iteration of the outdoor school back, but currently, there’s no funding for it.
“We were a resource here that was able to help get kids in Malheur County connected to their own backyard,” he said.
He said if the nonprofit can secure funding, it would hire a paid staffer to run an outdoor school.
For now, Davis said increasing its community engagement is a priority.
Since 2015, the nonprofit has held monthly cleanups when the group cleans up trash, removes weeds and graffiti, and plants sagebrush.
The goal is not only to deepen people’s appreciation for the Owyhee but also to “empower them with the knowledge and skills needed to advocate for its long-term care and protection.”
The Friends of the Owyhee board
- Chair: Larry Sullivan, Ontario, a retired attorney
- Vice chair: Rhett Lawrence, Portland, an air quality program analyst with the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality
- Secretary: Lauren Wallace, Colorado, a grants and donors director with the Conservation Lands Foundation
- Treasurer: Erik Feibert, Ontario, a retired researcher from the OSU Malheur Experiment Station
- Board member: Siri Jackman, Ontario, a retired nurse practitioner
- Board member: Shane Davila, Boise, a realtor and photographer
News tip? Send your information to Steven Mitchell at [email protected].
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