The PFA Grant Program Advisory Committee works to ensure that the Grant Program funds maximize the conservation benefit for the fish and amphibian species covered by the anticipated Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP).
The Advisory Committee conducts public meetings on a monthly basis. The upcoming meeting schedule, meeting documents and materials, and minutes from past meetings can all be found here:
Advisory Committee’s Public Meeting page
Engage with the Advisory Committee
The Grant Program Advisory Committee wants to hear from you!
PFA Grant Program Oregon Administrative Rules
PFA Grant Program Advisory Committee Operating Procedures (pdf)
PFA Grant Guidelines (Released yearly in late Summer/Early Fall. Join the Mailing List to stay informed)
PFA Grant Program Advisory Committee ’s Expenditure Framework (pdf)
The Advisory Committee develops and reviews program priorities, project criteria, and policies and makes recommendations to the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission (Commission) and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (Department) to shape conservation and restoration. The following are the primary duties of the Advisory Committee:
The Advisory Committee consists of twelve members, seven of whom are voting members appointed by the Governor.
Each voting member serves a 4-year term after shorter and staggard initial appointments, and members are eligible for appointment for up to two terms. All appointments to the Advisory Committee shall be made by the Governor as follows:
Nuveen Natural Capital
Voting member | 4 year term
Chad is Manager of U.S. Sustainability for the Timberland group. Chad is responsible for managing the 3rd party forest certification program for U.S. Timberland assets.
Prior to joining Nuveen Natural Capital, he was a graduate research assistant at the University of Idaho. His research can be found in the state of Idaho’s Forest Action Plan where it is used to guide public funding for forest health improvement projects by identifying priority landscape areas. In his free time Chad enjoys spending time outdoors with friends and family.
Education:
B.S. in Forest Operations Management from Oregon State University
M.S in Natural Resources from University of Idaho
Oregon Conservation & Recreation Fund Member
Voting member | 4 year term
Mark is a wildlife conservation biologist who recently retired from a 33-year career with The Nature Conservancy. Prior to TNC, Mark worked on botany and wildlife for the Burns District BLM and for Malheur NWR. With The Nature Conservancy Mark worked on a wide range of projects including fisheries and waterbirds in the Warner Valley, on Sandhill Cranes, Black Terns and Yellow Rails at Sycan Marsh and Lake/Klamath Cos., Snowy Plovers at Abert Lake and along the Oregon coast, neotropical migrant songbirds in the Willamette and on Sauvie Island Wildlife Area. From 1995- 2012 Mark was TNC’s Klamath Basin Conservation Director, and from 2012-2020 led TNC’s Oregon Dry Forest Conservation Program.
Mark currently serves on the Advisory Committee for the Oregon Conservation and Recreation Fund. Mark has served as a Board Member for the Oregon Chapter of the Wildlife Society and the Pacific Birds Joint Venture Management Board. Mark also served on the Elliott State Forest Advisory Committee 2018-2022. Mark has a graduate degree in Wildlife Ecology from Oregon State University. With his wife Ginny, they enjoy birding and wildlife viewing while hiking, paddling and camping in Oregon’s vast outdoors.
Trout Unlimited
Voting member | 4 year term
Scott is a recently retired Fisheries Biologist from the Bureau of Land Management. He started his federal career as a field biologist and worked his way up through the ranks as new challenges presented themselves – first with the Forest Service (10 years) and then with the BLM (23 years). For the last 10 years of his career in public land management, he served as the State Fisheries Biologist for the OR/WA BLM, and co-leader of the largest Aquatics Program in entire BLM.
He earned his Bachelor’s in Biology at Oregon State University, and started working at a small marine research lab in the Bahamas. After returning to the mainland U.S., career moves with the FS and BLM took him to several communities in SW Oregon. He and his family eventually settled in the Umpqua Basin near Roseburg – where they’ve lived for the past 22 years.
Scott grew up on a ranch in Gold Beach, OR – within sight of the mouth of the Rogue River, where his family also had ties to the commercial fishing and timber industries. With that background, it only seemed natural for him to pursue a career in land management. He is passionate about balanced resource use, aquatic restoration, and collaborative partnerships.
Scott is an avid fly fisherman and can often be found chasing fish throughout Oregon and beyond.
Sierra Pacific Industries
Voting member | 4 year term
Courtney Griesel is the Oregon Community Relations Manager for Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI). SPI is a third-generation family-owned company with timberland and sawmills in Oregon, Washington, and California and was a signatory to the Private Forest Accord. She supports the company in focus areas of community and policy engagement, workforce development, and planning and land-use policies. She holds a Masters of Organizational Leadership from Gonzaga University and Bachelor of Science in Planning, Public Policy and Management from the University of Oregon. Courtney began her career in public sector service and global non-profit resiliency consulting. Prior to joining SPI in 2022, she served as Economic Development Manager for an Oregon municipality, focusing on traded-sector industry support and growth, tax increment financing, land acquisition and development, and public private partnerships. She has lived in the south Willamette Valley for over 20 years and most enjoys spending time with her family, especially camping and exploring new places, and taking long runs.
Voting member
Joe has worked for the Bird Alliance of Oregon (formerly Portland Audubon) since 2013. Currently he serves as their Statewide Conservation Director. His work encompasses coordinating and leading conservation efforts across the state from coastal marine to eastern Oregon initiatives. Prior to this, Joe worked for the Wildlife Conservation Society leveraging on-the-ground science efforts to protect wildlife and habitats in Arctic Alaska.
Joe is trained as a wildlife biologist and has been a contributing author on more than 30 peer-reviewed publications mostly focused on avian research. More recently, his work has shifted into the policy realm and his work crosses conservation science, policy and outreach disciplines. Joe currently represents statewide conservation interests on the Ocean Policy Advisory Council (OPAC). He serves on the Technical Review Team for an OWEB Harney County FIP grant. He is also a board member of Friends of Haystack Rock.
Joe received his Bachelor’s degree in Zoology from the University of New Hampshire and a Master’s Degree in Wildlife Management from Humboldt State University. Joe has lived in the northwest for over 25 years and in Portland since 2005. In his free time, he enjoys family time, playing and listening to music, exploring natural areas, and of course, bird watching.
Voting member | 4 year term (starts Jan 31, 2026)
Jock lives with his wife Pam on the 230 acre Tree Farm he grew up on. He also manages the 700 acre Shady Place, LLC Tree Farm where Pam grew up. Jock was always involved in activities on the Tree Farm, and his parents took him to OSWA activities from an early age.
After graduation from Reed College with an interdivisional degree in American History and Economics, Jock worked in a machine shop and learned to fly, eventually spending ten years flying in the Bush in Alaska, mostly in DC-3 cargo aircraft. He flew UPS packages on the West Coast of the USA for a few years before focusing on the family Tree Farm as his parents needed help there.
In the early 1990’s Jock discovered a vein of good rock on the Dalton Tree Farm, and with his brother developed a rock quarry which won numerous statewide environmental awards. This grew into a successful business that was sold in 2008 and left Jock free to develop the Shady Place Tree Farm by building roads, bridges, and other infrastructure.
The hard work on Shady Place by Jock and Pam was recognized when it was chosen as 2023 Marion-Polk Tree Farmer of the Year by the Oregon Small Woodlands Association and 2024 Oregon Tree Farmer of the Year by the Oregon Tree Farm System.
Jock spent 18 years on the board of the Polk Soil and Water Conservation District, including several as Chair. As Chair, Jock led the District in a successful campaign to establish a permanent tax base. He currently serves as a Board Member at the Oregon Small Woodlands Association and the Oregon Tree Farm system.
Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife
Non-Voting member | Indefinite term
I am currently the Umpqua Watershed District Manager for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife based in Roseburg, Oregon where I oversee admin, fish, wildlife, and habitat programs. Before taking this position, I was a Wildlife Habitat Biologist for ODFW in central Oregon where I provided guidance and information on a wide variety of land use projects and served as a member of an OWEB regional review team. I have worked throughout the Pacific Northwest on research and management of a variety of species including mule deer, elk, burrowing owls, tree squirrels, and waterfowl. I have a B.S. in Environmental Science from Western Washington University and an M.S. in Wildlife Science from the University of Washington. I also served 2 years in the Peace Corps as an education volunteer in Tanzania, East Africa.
Southwest Oregon Program Representative, Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB)
Non-Voting member | Indefinite term
Greetings! I am super excited to be able to serve on the Private Forest Accords Mitigation Advisory Committee representing OWEB. I have had the privilege of working for OWEB, serving Southern Oregon, since its creation as an agency in 1998. Prior to that I served a similar function working through the Governor’s Watershed Enhancement Board and before that as a team member of the Oregon Watershed Health Program where we successfully worked with local folks to develop watershed plans and stand up and establish the first recognized watershed councils in Oregon. Even earlier I worked for ODFW and proudly served in the United States Coast Guard. My work buoys my passion for the outdoors and with my family, I enjoy camping, fishing, hunting, rafting and horsing around.
Oregon Department of Forestry
Non-Voting member | Indefinite term
Jennifer Weikel works for Oregon Department of Forestry, Forest Resources Division. She is the wildlife biologist for the Division, and also serving as the Coordinator for the Oregon Private Forest Accord Aquatic Habitat Conservation Plan. Jennifer started working for ODF in 2003 and has over 30 years’ experience working in the field of wildlife management, with an emphasis on forest wildlife.
National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA)
Non-Voting member | Indefinite term
Kate Wells is the Willamette Branch Chief in NOAA Fisheries' Oregon Washington Coastal Office. She has held this position for three years and has previously worked in NOAA Fisheries' Protected Resources Division and the Sustainable Fisheries Division in the Southeast Reginal Office. Kate's current focus is ESA implementation and salmon and steelhead recovery in the Willamette Basin and Oregon Coast.
U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service
Non-Voting member | Indefinite term
Vacant.