Real Estate Show with Hannah Satein Jackson County Soil and Water Conservation

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Real Estate Show with Jackson County Soil and Water Conservation

Alice Lema: [00:00:00] Well, hey, Southern Oregon, welcome back to the Real Estate Show. So glad you could join us again today, and we have an outstanding show in store. We're gonna be interviewing Hannah Satein. She's the education and Outreach coordinator for Jackson County Soil and Water Conservation District. These are the folks that help homeowners talk about their soil, talk about their water, their animals, their plants, what they can do, good practices, not so good practices.

They're there to serve us. So Hannah Satein with Jackson County Soil and Water Conservation District is gonna come on the show here shortly. In the meantime, let's quickly jump into the stats, because if I'm right, we might be bottoming out in our prices and on the way to a little bit of an uptick. We'll see.

 That's why we check everything every week. Jackson County Prices year over year are only down 3%. The average residential single family home will now cost you $503,272. The number of solds in [00:01:00] Jackson County are down 31% from this time last year. Jackson County number of listings are down 10% from this time last year.

We have zero closed foreclosures in Jackson County this week. Zero closed short sales in Jackson County this week, but we have 4 -million properties that close this week in Jackson County, 1.3 million in East Medford, 1.19 million in Ashland, 1.05 million in East Medford and 1.0 million in Jacksonville, congratulations folks.

Klamath Falls prices year over year are down 17% with the average residential single family home costing $279,425 dollars for this time last year comparison in Klamath Falls. Klamath Falls number of solds are down 68%, but we watch and see if that pops up in the next couple of weeks. Klamath Falls, number of listings are down 7%.

There was one foreclosure that closed in [00:02:00] Klamath Falls this week for $256,000. It was on Dayton Street. We had zero short sales close in Klamath Falls this week, and zero million dollar residential properties close in Klamath Falls this week.

Josephine County prices year over year are down 28% with an average residential single family home costing $337,671. The number of solds in josephine County are down 43% year over year. Josephine County number of listings are down 10% year over year. We have zero foreclosures closed in Josephine County this week. Zero short sales closed in Josephine County this week, and zero million dollar residential homes closed in josephine County this week.

So folks, I really do think we might be at the beginning of an upward trend, but that's why we check these numbers every week. So stay tuned. In the meantime, we get to be educated by Hannah Satein of Jackson County's Soil and Water. Don't go away. We'll be right [00:03:00] back.

Well, welcome back to the Real Estate Show, folks. I'm Alice Lema, your host of the show. I'm a broker here in beautiful Southern Oregon with John L. Scott Real Estate, and today we're so excited to be interviewing Hannah Satein with Jackson County Soil and Water Conservation District. She's the education and outreach coordinator. Welcome Hannah.

Hannah Satein: Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Alice Lema: Well we love talking to you folks. Our listeners always learn a lot. Can you maybe start by just telling us a little bit about yourself and what you do there at J S W C D? It's quite a mouthful, isn't it?

Hannah Satein: It sure is. It sure is. And we can get into that mouthful and the explanation of our, of our agency if you want. So I do education and outreach, which means outreach, I think of. sharing sort of bite size, key relevant information related to the work we do. Natural resources in Jackson County. Also inviting folks to engage [00:04:00] with us engage with our services, certain programs and offerings we have. It might be tailored, it might be countywide. Just depends.

And then education. A lot of our, all of our staff help support education in the county doing different events and classes and things. And then I, I like to think that I sort of focus on youth education more specifically, but we definitely do adult education and youth education if it's programs or someone's inviting us in.

So that kind of explains my role. Do you want me to give background on J S W C D right now or,

Alice Lema: Yeah, let's just bring people up to speed about what the agency is and, and offers to people.

Hannah Satein: For sure. So, yes, our name is a mouthful, Jackson Soil and Water Conservation District, and most of the mouthful is that last four letters, Soil and Water Conservation District. And so we are an entity that a type of entity that exists across the United States. Soil and water conservation districts were [00:05:00] formed after the depo, so the federal government wanted to help folks avoid the issues of soil erosion and, you know, water management. There was a big drought going on. And so they started putting out funding via the Soil and Conservation Service, which is now NRCS, Natural Resources Conservation Service.

And they're like, oh my gosh. We don't really know what's going on across the entire United States. It's so big. It's so broad. We need folks on the ground that are connected to their communities. So they encourage states to create soil and water conservation districts, and that's really at the heart of what we still do, is we try to work with residents to figure out what are the natural resources concerns going on, where are the issues and step in and provide assistance, whether it's technical assistance, so information, plans, designs, expertise, connections to other folks financial assistance.

We have some internal grant programs, our staff, right? Grants or yeah, right. Grants [00:06:00] external funds, of course, we do education, we do outreach, and we also do monitoring. So those are our five areas of service and it really, we do, we serve the whole county. We predominantly focus on private lands, and that again, goes back to that history of where soil and water conservation districts were formed and, and why we were created.

But certainly our work does not only benefit the folks whose lands we were working on, it benefits the, the whole county and, and residents.

Alice Lema: Wow, that's amazing. And so I bet a lot of people didn't realize that, that this agency came about because of the traumatic soil erosion from the Dust Bowl.

Hannah Satein: Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's where Soil water conservation district.

Alice Lema: Wow. Wow. That's fabulous history. So you said something about youth classes, if that's something you particularly engage in. What, what's going, what are you teaching?

Hannah Satein: Oh, that's a great question. You know, so [00:07:00] some of it is, is fixed. For example, our flagship educational event for youth is called the Southern Oregon Regional and Envirathon, which is a natural resources competition for high schoolers.

And it really, yes, yes. It is the only regional event in the state that then feeds up to the state envirothon, which then feeds up to an international envirothon. And I just have to You know, really plug all of our wonderful teachers and students who participate in this event. So that one focuses on wildlife, ecology, soil and land use, aquatic ecology.

A current issue of the year, but aquatic, did I say aquatic ecology and forestry or forest ecology. So that's a really great event and we have really great partnerships around it. One of our teams has won state the last two years and is we'll be going to the international competition again this year, representing Oregon as well as Jack Jackson county. So that's really cool. And then other than that, you know, it kind of depends on, [00:08:00] a lot of times teachers will reach out and say they have a need or will be invited to do some sort of educational event. And I would say it's in our areas of focus, you know, it might be water quality or agricultural water quality, water conservation.

It could be learning about soil health and land use, things like that. Maybe forest health, wildfire. The role of fire in forest health as well as prevention of large destructive fires. So yeah, so it's, you know, it kind of ranges the gamut, but mostly within our, our areas of focus.

Alice Lema: Wow. So I, I don't know where to start this youth the, the youth training that you have is really robust. You've got well, let's talk about the fire part, because that's, You know kind of in our face. Yes. Off and on. Yeah. So what, what what are the youth CLA is? So are you doing youth classes about fire?

Hannah Satein: I think that it's probably better to speak about the restoration work we do. [00:09:00] I mean, okay. So we can do education related to it with youth, but yeah,

Alice Lema: Let's talk about that. Yeah.

Hannah Satein: The, the focus of our work for our forest restoration work, we're predominantly focused in the northeastern part of the county. There's you can, this evolved out of the south Obenchain fire in 2020 and so from there our staff have really been focused on post-fire restoration as well as increasing forest health for the benefits that brings, as well as resiliency to future wildfires.

So that is a large focus of some of our staff's work. And of course, you know, that is focused in one area of the county, but we all face impacts from wildfire and from wildfire smoke. And so certainly you can see how that benefit extends beyond that area.

Alice Lema: So how are the youth involved in the restoration part of that?

Hannah Satein: Youth wouldn't be necessarily involved in that restoration. It would be something we could [00:10:00] educate about or bring folks. But that, that wouldn't be, we work with adults predominantly for that.

Alice Lema: And what, what are the restoration efforts? I mean, what do those look like?

Hannah Satein: What does that look like? What does that mean? So it really means, you know, connecting with residents, landowners working on their properties to do thinning removal of hazard trees. Oh yeah, definitely restoring native species. You know, much of the county is a fire adapted ecosystem, which means naturally and historically indigenous peoples applied fire, fire naturally occurred. And so there was not these large super destructive fires, but frequent low intensity fire and that really served to burn off fuels and debris and keep those native species in place and keep the forest healthy.

And in the absence of that, in the absence of more hands-on management, like thinning mean, things like , we've had big fuel build up. In addition with increased [00:11:00] drought and warming temperatures. We've got ourselves, you know, ripe for these big wildfires. So we're trying to work to restore some of those conditions where the fire, the, the forests have more space, there's less fuel buildup, they're healthier and they're gonna be more resilient to ignition.

Alice Lema: And one of the reasons we're so excited to talk to you is because you work with what you call private private owners. This is like people that own rural property out in Eagle Point, for example.

Hannah Satein: Exactly. Exactly. Definitely. Yeah. Yep, for sure. And we are also, you know, we have a big focus on water quality out in that area as well. For, for residents, for folks, for example, in Eagle Point that could be thinking about storm water runoffs. So when we have big storms and that water hits your house, where is it going? What pollutants is it picking up? And how can we better manage that to reduce. Our impacts in our creeks, rivers, and streams. So our storm water management is is a [00:12:00] great thing to highlight for folks in that area.

Alice Lema: What does storm water management like actually entail?

Hannah Satein: Like what does it look like? So sometimes it's about, oh, I mean, most of it is about slowing that water, so, when a big rainstorm happens, and if that just runs off your gutters into the storm water system, it goes right out into our rivers and streams. It raises them really quickly and it runs out.

Alice Lema: And so it raises the volume of water. Mm-hmm. Gotcha.

Hannah Satein: And as opposed to if it falls like in a forest or in a meadow, you know, it naturally kind of percolates, it slows, it collects, it filters out pollutants and it, it more gradually releases to our rivers and streams, which means that they have a more consistent supply as well as a cleaner supply.

So stormwater management is about trying to collect some of that, you know, it might be in a planter box, it might be in a rain garden. It might be moving through a swale and it filters it out. And then more gradually [00:13:00] releases later. Or also in rain storage tanks. That's also very common is to collect it in rain storage, and then that can be used in the summer when we're not having rain for emergency storage, things like that.

Alice Lema: Wow. So what does some of the collection Containers look like. That's all very interesting that you can even do that.

Hannah Satein: Yeah, they're, I mean, they're like I'm sure folks have seen them, you know, they're the large, I don't know, I wanna say eight to 12 feet. I might be getting my numbers wrong, but like, diameter and, you know, maybe 10 feet high and you'll see 'em connected to downspouts or gutters. And then, yeah, then, or they can look like that. Or the storage could be a rain garden, you know, a beautiful garden that is naturally collecting and filtering that water.

Alice Lema: So a rain garden, I didn't, what, what is that?

Hannah Satein: A rain garden. So a rain garden is meant to, it's, it serves the function of storing water. So, for example, [00:14:00] bioswale, as I've learned from my colleague, Cora Muell, who does our residential water conservation and water quality focus. A bioswale is meant to collect that water and sort of move it along, filtering it as it moves along and out, whereas a rain garden collects it and holds it for longer and lets it filter down.

Alice Lema: So, Wow. Wow. The science is so fun. It really is. We're talking to Hannah Satein of Jackson County Soil and Water Conservation District. She's the educational and outreach coordinator. And I don't mean to be like firing all these questions, but it is absolutely fascinating. And all of this information is what you provide to homeowners.

Hannah Satein: Mm-hmm. 100%. Homeowners also, you know, we educate folks who maybe renting as well. You know, residents, we try to serve all of our community members here in the way that makes sense, for sure.

Alice Lema: Ah-huh Okay. So going back to the rain garden mm-hmm. Is, are there speci specific [00:15:00] plants or is this more of just a geological. Or ground formation?

Hannah Satein: No, you, I mean, yeah. You can create the elevation and I, I'll just disclaimer that I'm not going to, since I'm not the person that does the implementation of those to it as well, if my colleague would, but I'll do my best. So Yeah, you, you know, you definitely would need to have plants that could be tolerant of collecting a lot of water.

But also we wanna think about in the summer, you know, we don't get a lot of precipitation, so choosing plants that can also handle a drier summer so that while you're creating a garden to manage storm water, we also don't wanna create a big bill for folks in the summer or a big water need. So plants that can, can do both.

And the great thing is our native species are already adapted to that. That's our natural climate here. So picking native species that can handle that influx of precipitation and then also tolerate our hot dry summers are great options. And of course, You know, it depends on your shade and your sun [00:16:00] availability. Definitely property specific.

Alice Lema: That's, that's just amazing. We're gonna have to take a quick break. We're talking to Hannah Satein of Jackson County Soil and Water District she's educational outreach coordinator. Lots and lots of science. Very interesting. Do not touch that dial. We'll be right back.

Well, hey, Southern Oregon, welcome back to the Real Estate Show. We're talking to Hannah Satein of Jackson County Soil and Water Conservation District. She's the educational and outreach coordinator, and she's very smart, very educational, and she's just filling this up with lots and lots of knowledge and good ideas. Thank you for coming back, Hannah.

Thank

Hannah Satein: you for having me.

Alice Lema: So during the break we were talking a little bit about what your agency can do to help the agricultural homeowners, so let's, let's go there next.

Hannah Satein: Yeah, definitely. So we have several programs that work on agricultural land. So [00:17:00] you know, we work with farmers and ranchers people with farmlands to help work on water quality and water quantity. And a neat thing is a lot of projects that provide one set of benefits, water quality or water quantity, can do both at the same time. So in cases where it's appropriate and applicable, for example, converting flood irrigation to improve flood irrigation or to sprinkler drip systems can improve water quality by reducing runoff temperatures, reducing runoff in general, and the pollutants that that carries with it.

And so, so working, and then also at the same time being more efficient. So using less water for the same amount of crop production, enabling you know, more crops to be produced, or more water to be used for different purposes. So that's really great. We also work on improving soil health, so thinking about grazing management, pasture [00:18:00] management, things like that.

So getting out on the ground. And working with people to see what their needs are, what their interests are, and where we can work together for something that serves everyone. So those are really great programs.

Alice Lema: So what would some grazing management ideas be for, for homeowners?

Hannah Satein: Yeah. So, you know, with grazing management You definitely something to think about is rotational grazing, and it does take some effort to, to move the animals around, but essentially you want them to equally graze and not just graze their favorite things down to nubs and leave the things that they that's what they do.

Yeah, exactly. So you move 'em along so that you can sort of keep that balance and then keep that healthy, diverse mix. And also encouraging you know, native species and species that are beneficial for the animals and the environment and that they're happy to eat as well and are, you know, nutritious.

And of course you know, also thinking [00:19:00] about mud and manure management, things like that in the winter, having a heavy use area or a sacrifice area so that you know, your livestock and your animals can, you know, do the thing they do and make it muddy and messy in a certain area, but it's away from streams.

It's not impacting other parts of your property. Fencing along stream sides, things like that to find alternate sources of water for livestock and reduce. Either the number of access points or how much they're accessing.

Alice Lema: Oh, so they're not actually getting down into the creeks and streams and rivers, is that what you're saying?

Hannah Satein: Yeah. Limiting it or like hardening it. So it reduces the impact on the stream if they need to cross it. So, You know, we try to take best management, best science, and also work with people's needs and make something that works for everyone.

Alice Lema: Mm-hmm. Well, I like that you're just going out and helping homeowners with good practice suggestions. It doesn't sound like they're getting tickets or getting in trouble.

Hannah Satein: We're, we're non-regulatory, so we, [00:20:00] we'll let people know what the, what the laws and rules are, but we are not enforcement in any way. We're not reporting. That's not our role. Our role is to really be that bridge and help folks do, you know, do the right things for themselves and for everyone else.

Alice Lema: Mm-hmm. We're talking to Hannah Satein of Jackson County Soil and Water Conservation District. She's the educational Outreach Coordinator and we're just learning tons and tons of stuff. I've got some more questions before we go to another break. Do you wanna tell people about your website real quick before we go on with the interview?

Hannah Satein: I would love to do that. Thank you so much. So our website is a really great resource. It's www. JSWCD.Org. So it's our, our acronym, Jackson Soil and Water Conservation District. And you know, we have, we highlight upcoming events, we highlight ways to get involved. Our resource pages are really wonderful. There's connections not only to technical and financial [00:21:00] assistance opportunities we have, but other ones in the community that folks can access some great overview information if you wanna learn more, or if you really wanna dig in, we have links to that too. So I really wanna flag our, our resources pages. But in general I think it's, it's a really great hub of information and we try to keep it very updated and user friendly and accessible.

Alice Lema: So yeah, I've been on your website. I love it. It's very very deep, very robust, and very easy to use. You don't have to be a scientist.

Hannah Satein: That's the goal. Yeah, that's definitely the goal.

Alice Lema: So speaking of science you happen to mention in passing, and I'm, I hope this is okay to ask manure management. Like, what, what is that? I've never even heard of that.

Hannah Satein: Yeah, so I mean, I think manure is a very valuable resource, but we, it's also a hard thing to manage if you have a lot of animals, that's a lot of manure. And so it's thinking about where is that [00:22:00] manure being deposited and where can you collect it and store it so that it's not having a negative impact on your land or on your, on everyone's water resources as well as your animals. You know, no one wants their animals standing around in mud and manure too. So it's just thinking about the proper collection, or I shouldn't say proper, but the collection and storage of manure too. Reduce potential negative impacts and reap the benefits of it.

Alice Lema: And, and what are some ideas in that direction? I'm sorry, I just you know, like it's, of course it's a thing I didn't even think of actually, but if you have a huge herd of something, anything, you're gonna have to deal with this for sure.

Hannah Satein: And I just, I'll just disclaimer again, this is not my area of expertise and I would direct you to cultural resource conservation is if. If, if someone was like, tell me what to do. But, you know, one thing I do know is building facilities for storage that have concrete on them and they're sheltered. So you're, you're not having that leeching out. You're not having your animals standing in it. [00:23:00] You know, you're just thinking about ways to collect it and store it to, to reduce those impacts.

Okay. And then they might use it for their Yeah. Crops. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. It could sell it, you know? They could, you can sell it. Yeah. Manure is very valuable depending on, you know, what it is. And the format then for sure.

Alice Lema: I wonder if there are tax breaks for selling your own, your own manure. I dunno. Different, different different agency. Yeah.

Hannah Satein: Our staff might be able to speak to that. I'm not sure myself. Yeah.

Alice Lema: Sorry. It's, oh no, it's my wild brain. No, it's great. Okay. So going back to the agricultural part it's sounding like if, if you're not managing the manure and the animal access to the stream waterways, then like what if there was a big rainstorm, then all of that is going into the waterway. Is that definitely part of what we're trying to [00:24:00] work with here?

Hannah Satein: Definitely, definitely. So nutrients can have you know, Aquatic environment streams they, they need nutrients. Of course, they need sediment. I mean, our, our rivers and our streams are huge movers of sediment. That's one of their core functions, but they're adapted to a certain amount of it. And so if they get a big impact, ah, that's beyond what's typical, that, that has significant impacts.

And we certainly have streams that are having problems with, with nutrients, with bacteria, e coli, phosphorus is another one. So particularly with manure, those would be things we're thinking about. And as that manure is getting washed out, it's getting washed out with sediment. So erosion prevention and management of leaching of nutrients.

It could also be from fertilizers, things like that. We're trying to reduce the washing off and, and reducing that erosion. And again, you can go all the way back to the history of where we come from. Erosion is [00:25:00] still a big issue that we need to be concerned about in dealing with proactively.

Alice Lema: But some, some of this was as you said, considered normal. So how, how do we decide if it's an excessive, like a, a year where there's excessive pollutants in the,

Hannah Satein: I guess when I say, when I say normally, I thinking sort of Of an ecosystem that isn't isn't super developed, having large human impacts, I think.

Alice Lema: Oh, okay. Gotcha.

Hannah Satein: The way that we use land is more intensive. You know, so developing large amounts of it. With machines and equipment, leaving soil open and bare large construction sites, forestry operations, if like a bunch of land is getting cleared, a clear cut for example, things like that, that would be where those potentials for large impacts are and where we need to start thinking about how can we manage that.

Alice Lema: Well, that makes sense. So it, what about people? We've been talking a lot about people who live in the country for people in town. [00:26:00] Are there any services for them?

Hannah Satein: Yeah, that's what our storm water management, I would say is our, our predominant focus for urban areas. And that's the predominant natural resource concern. Of course you know, water quantity is always something, water quantity issues affect all of us. But really where the largest efficiencies and savings can be found is in agricultural water use. And that's not because farmers and ranchers are doing something wrong, but it's because that is the largest amount of water get used. So municipal use is, Is lessoned, but we can also think about water conservation in the home, outside of the home on our landscaping and things like that. So I shouldn't say just water quality and stormwater management, but also water quantity, of course, again, our forest health that has benefits to urban residents as well.

And. Certainly folks that are on that wildland urban interface where they, you know, maybe semi-rural, [00:27:00] semi not semi residential thinking about protecting from wildfire impacts.

Alice Lema: Well, you know one of the fun things that I'm, I'm guessing you get to address are the relocaters, what we call in real estate, relocated people that come from other areas. And they've not lived in our, a rural district at all before. So if someone might like that were to call or maybe they've lived in town their whole life here in southern Oregon and you, you'd get a phone call from them. How would you help them prepare to be an owner of some rural property?

Hannah Satein: Yeah, I think, I mean, contacting us for a site visit for someone to come out and

Alice Lema: Oh, that's a great idea. You do that?

Hannah Satein: Yeah, we do. Yeah, folks. So our staff will come out depending on what their land is and what the natural resources available are the relevant staff person would come out and talk to them and walk property and see what those concerns are, how we can help connecting folks. You know, a lot of [00:28:00] that information is available in various forms. You know, depending, if you wanna watch a video, if you wanna read an article, you wanna listen to a podcast. I think there is a responsibility in owning property and owning land. And you know, self-education is, is an important role. There are so many events and classes put on in this county around natural resource management.

Southern Oregon Research and Extension Center SORA. It's a wonderful, wonderful resource. They also have technical assistance. They have tons of events and classes land, their land Stewards class is our staff come and present at it. That is an excellent, excellent resource for someone who is a new property owner particularly with natural resource or land access.

So Yeah. So we would, you know, we try to help connect them and to our services and also to other resources to help continue that education.

Alice Lema: Well, and even some longtime owners, I think could benefit. Cause you know, just, just because you're Pappy taught you, doesn't [00:29:00] mean it's you know, the latest and greatest, right. So, right. Yeah, sure. We're talking to Hannah Satein, Jackson County Soil and Water Conservation District. She's the education and outreach coordinator and very smart. Are you the person that goes out or do you have staff that does that?

Hannah Satein: Yeah, our staff do that. So I, I'm the person, I, I kind of think of myself in terms of outreach as like our cheerleader and share of opportunity. So I helped share what we've got and connect folks. That's my role.

Alice Lema: Well, we're gonna have to dig another break, but please stay tuned. We've got more great information from Hannah. Do not touch that dial. We'll be right back.

Welcome back to the Real Estate Show folks. Alice Lema, here, broker John L. Scott and beautiful Southern Oregon. We're talking to Hannah Satein today. She's the education and outreach coordinator for Jackson County Soil and Water Conservation District and wow, we have just learned so much. Hannah, thank you for coming on.

Hannah Satein: Yes. Thank you for having me.

Alice Lema: So one of the things we [00:30:00] wanted to make sure we talked about was streamside management. Is that what you call it?

Hannah Satein: Yeah. So the word that we, we say a lot is riparian, which means riparian areas are streamside areas. So, There are the the spaces that are essentially transitions from land environments and aquatic environments, rivers, creek, streams. Okay. Yeah. So our riparian areas, we focus on restoring them. And I just wanna highlight some of the, the benefits of riparian restoration. So there's definitely environmental benefits and they're also human benefits. So riparian areas are really important filtration areas, you know, they receive runoff entering our rivers and, and creeks and streams. And they also receive the water that's flowing by it.

So, you know, we talked about impacts of erosion, impacts of sediment. Healthy riparian areas collect sediment. They store it, they filter those, those nutrients [00:31:00] and other pollutants. Also, you know, it has felt maybe a little bit less relevant in recent years, but they're really important for slowing flood waters and flooding impacts.

And so a healthy riparian area has typically where we live, has a mix of tall deciduous trees and then native understory bushes. So they're diverse. They're not run o like overcrowded with blackberry or other invasive species. They're not having a stream that's running six feet below the banks, you know, they're gently graded areas, so you can imagine where that water can, as it rises, it gets kind of held and then sinks back down.

And so we can, this can be in an urban area, this can be in a rural area. If you have Streamside property or Creekside property and you think, oh my gosh, it, it's not looking super like it has super diverse vegetation or. Oh yeah, it definitely is overrun with Himalaya and Blackberry. You know, reach out and see if we have an [00:32:00] opportunity to be able to help support you in doing some restoration of those really important areas.

Alice Lema: So the homeowner themselves, whether they be in town or or out in the country, they would do with the advice and assistance education.

Hannah Satein: Yeah, it depends. I mean, I, I can't say particularly like in cities, you know, there might be some of those areas that are owned by the city or under city management.

Alice Lema: Right. Well, that makes sense. Yeah. Yeah.

Hannah Satein: But in some cases not, and so it, that would depend. But yeah, definitely, you know, there are applicable laws that we need, need to be aware of. Mm-hmm. And so we would help support folks in, in following those and doing restoration to benefit themselves and benefit the environment.

Alice Lema: Mm-hmm. So if somebody acquired a property and it had a waterway on it which is so common. Yes. In southern Oregon. That's why we even have 'em in town. Mm-hmm. And they wanted to put in some [00:33:00] kind of sitting area, clear some spots so that they could actually go down and enjoy the water. What. How does that work and, and is that really something you wanna do to the side of a stream or a river?

Hannah Satein: I mean, typically I would say no, you wouldn't want to clear the side of the streamer river, cuz again, that is that important riparian area, of vegetation, it's not going to serve that function.

Alice Lema: Yeah. It can't do its job.

Hannah Satein: Right. But that said, if, if you have a healthy, robust riparian area and you have a small patch that is clear 10 by 10 or something for sitting and having a nice time, that, you know, that's, that's a negligible impact. And again, we're trying to work with people, so it's important that we create solutions that that work for the environment and for people.

And so, It would really be putting that in context, you know, if that, you know, sometimes folks need to farm a ranch up to the edge of the, the creek or stream. And so perhaps there's one area that's better for that and another that we can focus on restorations. Or our goal is to work with [00:34:00] folks and find solutions that are sustainable for them.

Alice Lema: Because it doesn't have to be all or nothing.

Hannah Satein: It doesn't have to be, and doing something's better than doing nothing.

Alice Lema: Yeah. Yeah. And I think you know, this is, this is such a good conversation because I don't believe that people understand the job of the stream and the job of the soil around the stream and the plants, that they all have something to do. They have a job.

Hannah Satein: They do. They certainly do. And they're, they're, they're helping us and they're helping the rest of the environment, so, yeah. Yeah.

Alice Lema: Well it's all very interesting. So what kind of If somebody wanted to be involved in this kind of science, like what kind of classes would they take if they wanted to be in your agency? What kind of education do people get?

Hannah Satein: Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, definitely focusing I would say in natural resources, there's a lot of different ways. That can look. Some folks who have worked here have, you know, specialists in wildlife. My background is in water resources [00:35:00] management and policy as well as collaboration.

So getting diverse folks to work together towards a common purpose comes in handy. It certainly does. I think the people side of it is probably more difficult than the science. So just, you know, know anyway, so definitely studying natural resources. There's so much to be said for hands-on experience, internships, you know, practical courses, getting field season jobs, things like that. Like just folks getting their hands dirty and getting experience outside. And so, you know, there's that, that technical knowledge. And then there's of course just the skills of working collaboratively, like I said, with, with residents, with partners, things like that.

Alice Lema: Mm-hmm. Yeah. You've got a lot of other agencies to collaborate with as well. Mm-hmm. So for going back to our youth in the couple minutes we have left are, are they able to come and take some of your classes to try to move forward [00:36:00] in this direction?

Hannah Satein: Yeah. So really a lot of the classes that we teach were invited to come in, but it we do, you know, on occasion do internships or volunteer opportunities or help, you know, if we don't have an internship available, help connect folks. For example, I know Medford Water Commission is at least was in looking for two interns, I think. I believe they yeah, for sure. And so That would be an opportunity if someone, you know, if a student hears this and they're like, oh my gosh, I want my class to learn more about it, reach out and we'll see if we can create that opportunity.

Yeah. And in, in terms of the Southern Oregon Regional and Envirathon that is for any high schoolers in our area you need a team advisor, which is typically a teacher. It doesn't have to be, it could be a club person or another person that's, you know, excited about training up a team. But that's an option too.

Alice Lema: Oh, that's so exciting. And when is that Envir Envirothon [00:37:00] held?

Hannah Satein: So it is always held for us in the beginning of April. It's about a month in advance of the state envirothon, which is held in May. Okay.

Alice Lema: And how is, how is our area doing in that?

Hannah Satein: I mean, we're doing great. I, I was, I was up at the state envirathon this May. Like I said, one of our teams took first, another took second. Another took fourth. So we cleaned up, up there. I was so proud.

Alice Lema: That is so exciting. Well, we only have a minute left, Hannah. How about you give us your website again and are there any phone numbers that we can pass out?

Hannah Satein: Sure. So our website is www.jswcb.org. You can also find us on Instagram and Facebook. It's Jackson. Yeah. Jackson and Water Conservation District. And then our main office line. Is on our website. I can share it too. It's 541-423-6159.

Alice Lema: Oh, that's awesome. Hannah Satein, Jackson County Soil and Water Conservation [00:38:00] District Education and Outreach Coordinator. What a great. Great episode of The Real Estate Show. Thank you so much for coming on.

Hannah Satein: Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.

Alice Lema: This broadcast is gonna be repeated again tomorrow, Sunday at 6:00 PM on K C M X 99.5. Special thanks to John L. Scott, Ashland, and Medford, Guy Giles Mutual Mortgage and the local Rogue Valley Association of Realtors.

We appreciate your sponsorship. Have a beautiful Southern Oregon weekend, folks. Hug those you love. Bye now.