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The Council's mission is "to facilitate community-supported maintenance and restoration of the streams, rivers, and lakes within our watersheds".
WHO WE ARE
MEET THE STAFF
Tim Bailey
Executive Director
pbwced@qwestoffice.net
Tim is the recently appointed Executive Director of the Powder Basin Watershed Council. However, he is not new to the area. A native Oregonian, he moved with his family to La Grande in 1975 where he completed Jr. High, High School, and two years of study at Eastern Oregon State College. Then he completed his studies at Oregon State University, and in 1986, received a Bachelor of Science degree in Fisheries Science. His father instilled a love for the natural world, taking him hunting and fishing at a very young age. Later on, many an evening was spent discussing/debating the natural resource issues of the time. Finally, with college degree in-hand, his father instructed that it was time to go out and make a difference. After college, he returned “home” to northeast Oregon where he worked at his dream career as a fisheries biologist with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Tim served as the District Fish Biologist in the Umatilla and La Grande Districts, Northeast Oregon Fish Habitat Program Leader, and as Fish Habitat Biologist in both La Grande and Pendleton. He retired from ODFW this past September after 34 years with the agency. He looks forward to his new “adventure” with the watershed council hoping to be a part of implementing good stewardship of the area’s natural resources for the benefits of the people, fish and wildlife. Tim and his family (wife Amanda and two sons Christopher and Collin) enjoy spending their time “choring” on their small farm outside of Cove, cutting “too much” firewood, hunting, fishing, camping, and generally enjoying the natural beauty of northeast Oregon and the friendly people.
Emmy Tyrrell
Sage-grouse CCAA Coordinator
pbwcsc@qwestoffice.net
Emmy joined the Powder Basin Watershed Council as the new Sage-grouse Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances (CCAA) Coordinator for Baker and Union counties in February 2021. Emmy has over ten years of experience working in the wildlife field. While her passion for biology started at a young age, her professional experience began when she attended Boise State University and worked various field technician jobs while earning her B.S. in Biology. Upon her graduation, she traveled to Spain where she worked to count, capture, and mark many species of birds during the impressive fall migration across the Strait of Gibraltar. After returning to the States, she obtained a technician position with the United States Geological Survey Western Ecological Research Center collecting sage-grouse demographic data across Nevada. She spent the next six years chasing and researching sage-grouse, eventually earning a M.S. in Avian Sciences from UC Davis and a Biologist position with the USGS. As the Sage-grouse CCAA Coordinator, she looks forward to building and maintaining the relationships between the many local and regional stakeholders needed to make the CCAA program a success. Emmy, her partner, Brian, and their dog, Icky, enjoy climbing, hiking, hunting and fishing, and backpacking and look forward to exploring all that beautiful northeastern Oregon has to offer.
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Please feel free to stop by if you have any questions or would like to say hello. We are still following COVID guidelines and our office is intermittently staffed. If you would like to make sure someone is in, please call our office (541) 523-7288.
Madison O'Bryant
Watershed Restoration Coordinator
pbwcwrc@qwestoffice.net
In January of 2023, Madison moved across the state of Oregon to begin an exciting journey with the Powder Basin Watershed Council as the new Watershed Restoration Coordinator. Born in Utah, Madison spent her early years exploring red-rock slot canyons, immense aspen stands, and earned her Junior Park Ranger badge at age of five from Timpanogos Cave National Monument. Her love of adventure and passion for the natural world only deepened when her family moved to the Willamette Valley in the early 2000’s. Exploring the misty slopes of the Cascade Mountains and Coast Range became a favorite family pastime regularly enjoyed with a generous helping of torrential winter rain. In 2020, Madison earned her Bachelor of Science from Oregon State University where she studied environmental science and specialized in environmental water resources. Upon graduating, she set off on the adventure of a lifetime working as a watershed restoration intern for the North Fork John Day Watershed Council in Long Creek, Oregon, where she became enamored with Eastern Oregon. Her adventures continued working as an e-DNA sampling technician for the Calapooia Watershed Council and as a biological science technician for the Willamette National Forest conducting diverse types of survey work. Madison is enthusiastic about community engagement, watershed health, and finding collaborative solutions to local natural resources issues which benefit people and the environment. In her free time, Madison enjoys shredding the slopes at Anthony Lakes and spending time kayaking, fishing, camping, hiking, rockhounding, and foraging with her beloved fiancé, Jake.
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