Whitewater Ranch

08/11/2021

A nice mention about the ranch from our primary buyer The Organically Grown Company. See page 10.

Within the pages of this report, we proudly share the impact of our work. From influencing organic policy to supporting community allies, OGC continues to work on national and local issues. Catch up with us through data, stories and photos.

08/05/2021

4 weeks into blueberry harvest and we are about 50% done. The "heat dome" that brought 112 degree temps and daily highs about 10 degrees above average did not help nor did the smoke from Oregon wildfires. Fortunately 2 mechanical harvesters allowed us to get to work early and beat the heat on most days.
Keep eating those blues and enjoy a few photos from the field.

07/09/2021

305 days since the Holiday Fire September 7, 2020.
It has been a journey for all of us in the McKenzie River Valley. Through the help of friends, family and neighbors we are making progress on rebuilding our ranch and community.

*We are nearly complete with salvage logging.
*Most of the riparian areas along the McKenzie have been re-planted by the partnership of the McKenzie Watershed Council and our local utility company (EWEB) known as the Pure Water Partners program.
*Our burned barn, vehicle storage building and the new shop debris have been cleaned by the recovery agencies working with FEMA.
*Our new irrigation pumps and filters have been running to irrigate the blueberries and surrounding areas.
*New fuel tanks installed.
*We are rebuilding our fences and repairing roads.
*We are actively preparing for the 2021 blueberry harvest.
*A million meetings with different organizations about clean up, re-planting, rebuilding and interviews.
*We were finally able to rebuild the Whitewater Ranch sign. The new posts were milled from cedar trees burnt during the fire, the sign was salvaged from the fire, the new river rock faced bases were built by our ranch manager, the metal hardware was donated by our neighbor who lost everything in the fire except this hardware, consulting and finishing was supplied by another neighbor, a new logo plaque was designed by Jane, and the standards and sign were installed by our friends at Riverridge Excavating and Logging. The entrance sign is bigger and better than ever and represents the efforts of friends and family to the rebuilding of Whitewater Ranch.
We thank all who have helped, asked questions and provided support. We still have much to do but as we move forward it is great to know we have so many friends helping us along the way.

05/04/2021

238 days since the Holiday Farm fire September 7,2020. We have worked through insurance claims, rebuilt our blueberry irrigation system, purchased several tractors and planted well over 130,000 Douglas Fir trees and continue with the seemingly everlasting task of cleaning up the ranch.

We recently had our managers new house delivered (in 5 pieces through the forest roads) and they should be able to move in any day. We continue to salvage log our beloved forest and we are almost ready to begin rebuilding the shop next to our home.

The community around us has reached out in so many ways, from the utility lineman who gave my wife a blanket his mother knitted out of kindness, to our insurance agent who has delivered sandwiches to each of our many meetings to our friends at the Pure Water Partnership, McKenzie Watershed Council and McKenzie River Trust who have planted 10's of thousands of new native trees and plants along our riparian river banks, to our staff who have worked so hard to maintain operations at the ranch while working through this situation. We would also like to thank our blueberry production partner, The Organically Grown Company for the grant they graciously provided us with to help rebuild our damaged irrigation system.

Our loggers have lent us equipment to help clean up the property and have been diligent in leaving many "leave trees" despite the probability of those trees living is slim to none. They understood that we just could not cut every burnt tree down on the property.

Our fence builder, Bob Reno, is about halfway complete with the many thousands of feet of replacement fencing. We have also begun milling lumber on site to continue our rebuilding process. We hope to soon have the timbers to replace the entrance Whitewater Ranch sign.

Whitewater Ranch will never look the same, but there is the beginning of a sense of what the the ranch will be. We will be forever grateful to all those around us who have reached out to help and support us in our rebuilding process. It has been extremely difficult to see some of our most cherished forest areas reduced to dirt but we understand we are now rebuilding not just for ourselves but for future generations.

While we wait for the various agencies to remove the remaining debris from the property we are well underway to replanting, rebuilding and creating a new look and feeling for the ranch we and many others love.

I have attached a variety of photos from the last few months although many of the photos show fire damage, please try to look beyond that at the beauty of the nature.
Enjoy and be well.

01/21/2021

Another new Highland calf has arrived at the ranch. "Elsa" is a few days old. She was abandoned by her mom and has been bottle fed. She is doing great and very active.

12/29/2020

Yesterday's moonrise and today's sunrise.

12/18/2020

Welcome the newest addition to Whitewater Ranch, a baby Highland Cattle calf. Born 12/15/2020 the calf is so protected by mama and this bull we can't get close enough for a good photo yet.

09/11/2020

Update: Our manager was able to visit the ranch yesterday escorted by the fire department.
A large portion of the forest is severely damaged but much of the timber looks like it can be salvaged for sale.
All of our homes are standing!
Our cows are fine and enjoying a bit more freedom as many of the fences are burned.
The blueberries look OK but there were small fires in the grasses between the rows in several blocks.
Unfortunately, there were several buildings and their content lost to the fire, the big white barn, the large vehicle storage building and our newly built garage/shop/apartment. I have provided pictures in memoriam of them and a few items you may recognize that were lost in the fire.
We are especially saddened that the two neighbors who live at the beginning of our driveway lost their homes to the fire.
We are currently formulating a strategy to rebuild once we are allowed back to Whitewater Ranch. Thank you to all that have reached out to us, please remember those who have lost everything in this tragic event.

09/09/2020

High winds pushed the "Holiday Farm" fire line over Whitewater Ranch. We have not been able to visit the ranch yet as the fire is still burning there. We know there is severe damage to the forest but we don't know about our buildings, equipment or homes. As I said before, our Whitewater Ranch family and pets are safe.
I have included 3 photos. Two of the photos are taken from highway 126 looking at the hills above the blueberries. The other photo is of the exit sign at the Leaburg Trout Hatchery. The fire has now consumed over 100,000 acres since Tuesday at 8:30 pm. We hope all our neighbors are safe. As we learn more about the ranch condition we will provide updates.

09/08/2020

Large fire burning down the McKenzie Valley. All employees and pets have been safely evacuated. As far as we know the fire is on the ridge above the ranch.

08/02/2020

Harvest update: We have received several requests from our local friends to come out and harvest blueberries. Because of the Covid virus we must protect our harvest crew. At this time, no visitors are allowed at the ranch, only our harvest crew. Once our harvest is over we will let you know when are where to pick fruit.

Harvest has been going well. The stars this season are Draper and Liberty. All of our fields are now in production. Since we have been running a morning and evening shift on the machine harvester, we needed an additional driver, her name is Jane.