Business
AgLife
B
Thursday, September 29, 2022
The Observer & Baker City Herald
Heritage
program
aims to fi ll
vacancies
Oregon Agricultural
Heritage Program has
open commission seats
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
SALEM — The Oregon Agricul-
tural Heritage Program is looking for
new commissioners with broad exper-
tise in natural resources management
to help guide the future of farmland
preservation statewide.
Lawmakers created the program in
2017. It is administered by the Oregon
Watershed Enhancement Board.
However, it was not funded until
earlier this year, when the Legisla-
ture allocated $5 million for grants
intended to shield agricultural land
from development.
A 12-person commission — rep-
resenting farming, environmental
and tribal interests — reviews grant
applications and makes recommenda-
tions for funding to OWEB. Commis-
sioners, who serve four-year terms,
meet several times each year.
Two commission seats are currently
vacant with the retire-
ments of Mary Wahl
and Mark Bennett. A
third commissioner, Ken
Bailey, will be leaving
when his term expires in
2023.
Hanson
Replacements for
Wahl and Bailey will
be nominated by the
Oregon Fish and Wild-
life Commission and
state Board of Agricul-
ture, respectively, while
Bennett’s replacement
Larson
is chosen directly by
OWEB from applica-
tions submitted by the public.
The seat represents “natural
resource values,” said program coor-
dinator Taylor Larson, which could
mean someone with a background
working in agriculture, timber or
fi sheries.
“It’s sort of like our wild card seat
on the commission,” Larson said.
Those interested have until
Monday, Oct. 31, to apply. The seat
will be fi lled in January 2023.
Once new commissioners are
appointed, the Agricultural Heritage
Program will begin evaluating appli-
cations for its fi rst round of funding.
Of the $5 million appropriated by
the Legislature, Larson said approx-
imately $4.3 million will be set aside
for working land easements, providing
matching funds for the USDA’s Agri-
cultural Conservation Easement Pro-
gram. Conservation easements are
voluntary agreements in which orga-
nizations, such as a land trust or soil
and water conservation district, buy
a property’s development rights,
ensuring it is available for future gen-
erations to farm.
Another $150,000 will go to helping
landowners develop and implement
conservation management plans that
improve soil and water health.
The overall goal is to keep farms in
production, while simultaneously pro-
viding co-benefi ts including fi sh and
wildlife habitat.
“The purpose of the program is
really to fi gure out how we increase
the economic viability of agricultural
operations, and the whole agriculture
sector across the state,” Larson said.
“What’s the future of agriculture in
Oregon, and how do we set up the next
generation to be successful?”
According to the USDA, Oregon
lost nearly 10% of its farmland in
production from 1997 to 2017. Lisa
Charpilloz Hanson, OWEB executive
director, said the Agricultural Heri-
tage Program was established to slow
the rate of loss.
“The program provides tools to
protect working lands and supports
the successful transition of farmland
from one farmer to the next,” Hanson
said. “Farm and ranch land protection
also supports healthy watersheds, fi sh
and wildlife.”
For more information or to apply
for the OAHP commission, visit www.
oregon.gov/oweb/grants/oahp/pages/
oahp.aspx.
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Umpqua Bank in Enterprise has a new manager, Luci Scott, left, shown at the branch on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022, with banker Nick Porter, center, and
teller Brittany Garret.
B����n� ��
Union native Luci
Scott takes over
Umpqua Bank branch
in Enterprise, eager
to see bank grow
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — There’s
a new manager at the helm
of Enterprise’s branch of
Umpqua Bank, but she’s any-
thing but new to banking.
“I’ve been in banking for
17 years, so I guess experi-
ence,” said Luci Scott of her
greatest qualifi cation for the
post. “I’ve been doing it a
while.”
She replaced Mark Piper,
who left in March to take a
position with the Educational
Service District.
Scott, who lives in Wal-
lowa, grew up in Union and
graduated from high school
there. She took college classes
in business at Eastern Oregon
University and Blue Moun-
tain Community College and
she’s still working on her
bachelor’s degree, which she
expects to receive in business
management.
“That’s my ongoing edu-
cational goal,” she said. “It’s a
slow process.”
While she’s the mother of
a 10-year-old son, her boy-
friend, Pat Salmon, has four
kids. Salmon drives a log
truck and is a loader oper-
ator for the Joseph-based Pro
Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Luci Scott, of Wallowa, works at her desk as the new branch manager at Umpqua Bank in Enterprise on Tuesday,
Sept. 20, 2022. She took over the post Sept. 12.
UMPQUA BANK,
ENTERPRISE
Who: Luci Scott, branch manager
Where: 205 W. Main St., Enterprise
Phone: 541-426-3124
Email: luciscott@umpquabank.
com
Online: umpquabank.com
Thinning Inc.
Fortunate turn
Scott said it was a fortu-
nate turn of events that got
her into banking. She was
about 20 when she took her
fi rst banking job as a teller
at a bank in Hermiston in
2007. She later transferred to
La Grande, at what was then
Sterling Bank. She was living
in Elgin when her son started
school and an opening came
up at Community Bank there.
“So I thought what a better
time than to come work in
Elgin for a while,” she said.
She worked there six-plus
years and then heard about the
job in Enterprise.
“I thought it would be fun
to try something new,” she
said.
Scott said she then moved
to Wallowa, though her son
still goes to school in Elgin
because his dad lives there.
“I had no idea I was going
to apply for the job,” she said.
“I just applied and got it.”
Goals
Scott said her major goal
is to rebuild trust in the
bank, which currently has
assets totaling $30 billion
and will increase to $50 bil-
lion once a planned merger
with Columbia Bank comes
through.
See, Scott/Page B2
Local business celebrates 40 years in the valley
La Grande Gold and Silver opened its doors in 1982
By ISABELLA CROWLEY
The Observer
LA GRANDE — There were fi ve
jewelry stores in La Grande in September
1982 when Rick Gately and Darwin
Harris fi rst opened the doors of their
business — 40 years later, La Grande
Gold and Silver is the only full-service
jewelry and coin/bullion store store in the
Grande Ronde Valley.
“We saw the value of having one in
our area,” Gately said.
The business has operated out of the
same location, at 2212 Island Ave., since
the very beginning. Thirty years ago the
Rick Gately/Contributed Photo building was remodeled and the phys-
Rick Gately, left, and David Gately stand side by side in their ical location of the store shifted, but La
store, La Grande Gold and Silver, 2212 Island Ave., in this Grande Gold and Silver has kept the
undated photo. In September 2022 the owners marked 40 same address for all 40 years.
years of business in the same location.
The jewelry store diff erentiated itself
by off ering a variety of goods. The pair
sold traditional pieces like wedding
bands and gold or silver jewelry, but also
brought in newer styles and pieces that
were gaining in popularity, like Black
Hills Gold and chains. They also sold
coins and estate jewelry.
La Grande Gold and Silver has the
same wide variety of off erings to this day,
said Gately. Customers can also invest in
the precious metals market at the store,
have jewelry repaired and shop for gifts
such as clocks and jewelry boxes.
“We cover a broad spectrum,” Gately
said.
Harris died 10 years after the pair
opened shop, but the Harris family
remained invested in the business for
years to come, Gately said. Eventually,
See, 40th/Page B2