XANDER PATTERSON
OCCUPATION: Executive Director, Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility; Financial/Management Consultant
OCCUPATIONAL BACKGROUND: Owner/Pacific Bottle Regeneration; Worker/Owner Sunflower Recycling Co-op; Journalist; Co-chair Pacific Green Party.
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND: Portland State University, Masters Business Administration; Reed College, BA Anthropology.
PRIOR GOVERNMENTAL EXPERIENCE: Director, East Multnomah Soil and Water Conservation District (elected 2000); Portland Harbor Community Advisory Group 2001-2002 (appointed); Life-long political activist (raised that way).
I spent most of my first term improving the District’s financial management and administration, which needed help when I was elected. My greatest hope for my next term is that you will pass Measure 27-61 (the very small tax levy to fund the District). I will then focus on ensuring that these increased resources are used efficiently to help urban and rural residents manage their land in an ecologically sound manner.
I believe passage of this measure is terribly important right now because public expectations to keep our rivers clean and to restore native, especially salmon, habitat, are rising while funding for agencies that do this work is falling. In this current climate of mistrust of government the Conservation District is especially well-suited to satisfy public demand for a healthy environment because we use education and technical assistance rather than regulations and enforcement. Our Conservation Planning and Implementation and Naturescaping for Clean Rivers programs provide small farmers as well as urban residents, businesses and others who want to be responsible stewards of our shared environment with the skills to keep our rivers clean, to fight the onslaught of noxious invasive species, and to create good habitat for fish and wildlife.
I would also like to start a new program to acquire conservation easements in ecologically sensitive areas. Conservation easements purchase from willing landowners the right to set conditions on how the land will be used. They are excellent tools because they produce better results than regulations, they are agreed upon rather than dictated, they compensate landowners, and they are carefully targeted rather then indiscriminately applied.
(This information furnished by Xander Patterson)