From herbicide drift stories to Oregon Wild summer adventures

Hello! My name is Marla Waters and I’m Oregon Wild’s Conservation and Outreach Intern at the Eugene Office. I’m going into my senior year at the University of Oregon and double majoring in Political Science and Environmental Science with a minor in Business Administration. When I am not in the office I am either exploring Oregon’s beauty with friends or working with fellow classmates to fight environmental justice issues relating to aerial herbicide spraying.

I moved to Silverton Oregon at the mere age of 3 and since then I have always identified as an Oregonian. Growing up on a 40-acre farm nestled at the base of Silver Falls State Park, I fell in love with nature at a young age. Whether it was exploring the sparkling streams that ran through my backyard, caring for the farm animals on our property or exploring the rolling hills of the national park I always valued nature as equal to myself. The ocean has always fueled my passion for the environment. Feeling the sand between my toes, hearing the roar of the waves and tasting the salt gives me a sense of peace and power. But the forest is where my heart lies and that is why I am passionate about Oregon Wild and the mission that this organization stands for.

In my junior in college I had the privilege of being a part of the UO Environmental Leadership Program, through this program I learned about the deep-seeded issues engrained in our timber industry. I am talking specifically about the use of aerial herbicides to control vegetation in recently clear-cut private timberlands. During this program I worked with a team to create a short documentary - "Drift: A Community Seeking Justice" - about a spray incident in Cedar Valley in 2013. This documentary set a small fire under the timber industry and has developed into a tool much larger than we expected. We aired this documentary at the Public Environmental Law Conference, and at Advocacy Day at the State capital as well as held panel discussions in Tillamook, Gold Beach and Eugene. This summer we plan on hosting over five more panel discussions in different communities along the coast.

After creating a documentary, my class went on to create a website documenting several women, who have been involved in the fight against aerial herbicide spray.  This experience has influenced my vision of change and reminded me why I got involved with environmental work in the first place.

To learn more about the project, view the profiles or watch the documentary visit http://juststories.uoregon.edu.

With my work at Oregon Wild, I will be focusing largely on helping to protect public lands and wilderness areas in Oregon. This year the US Forest Service is looking at revisions to the Northwest Forest Plan, which is there to keep balance between logging and wildlife habitat. This management plan has allowed for the restoration of old growth forests that had previously been devastated by unsustainable logging. It is important that we keep fighting for the protection of public lands to ensure improved water quality and salmon health.

This summer I look forward to exploring Oregon on the many hikes that Oregon Wild administers, as well as getting to know members of the community who are passionate about the Oregon Wild mission during our events!