Marys River Watershed Council

Inspiring and supporting voluntary stewardship of Marys River Watershed

Inspiring and supporting
voluntary stewardship of
Marys River Watershed

Marys River Blog

Spirit of the Marys: Sprint to the Solstice

While our originally scheduled Spirit of the Marys: Silent Auction and Solstice Celebration had to be postponed due to COVID-19, we still celebrated the solstice this year with our first ever 5K foot race and 50K bike race!

From June 1st to June 21st, participants could track their running/walking/rolling or bike distance and welcome the summer by exploring the Marys River watershed (or by exploring the watershed in spirit from another place).

Participants joined to celebrate the Marys River watershed from Oregon, New York, Florida, and even Switzerland, to name a few. Some shared photos of their race on our Facebook event page. In addition, the Council received over $300 in donations!

Those who wanted were able to compete for either fastest time or most distance and win a Marys River Watershed Council shirt!

We were excited to congratulate the following participants as winners in their categories:

5K Awards

  • Fastest 5K Run: Nic P. with time of 20:34
  • Longest Distance Run/Walked/Rolled in One Day: Cody H. with 17 kilometers in one day
  • Most Distance Run/Walked/Rolled over the Month: Bettye C. with 143 kilometers

50K Awards

  • Fastest 50K Bike: Caleb B. with time of 2:33:22
  • Greatest Distance Biked in One Day: Erin H. with 47 kilometers
  • Most Distance Biked over the Month: Dionné M. with 173 kilometers

Thank you to everyone who participated as well as to our terrific sponsors: Running Princess, Peak Sports, Corvallis Cyclery, and Five Star Sports! 

Working From Home

Although the Marys River Watershed Council office has been temporarily closed due to COVID-19, the staff of the Council have been hard at work from home. 

Holly, Executive Director, has been moving forward with recruitment for two positions with the Council and has been continuing the Council’s training and development in diversity, equity, and inclusion with Capacity Building Partnerships and the Confluence group. Juneau, her 3-year old husky mix, has also been hard at work. 

Holly and Juneau’s home office.

Kathleen, Restoration & Education Project Manager, is continuing preparation for the Beaver Creek ash swale project and the permitting process for the Upper Marys project, which will take place in three streams and will include fish passage barriers removal, riparian planting, and placement of beaver dam analogs and large woody debris structures. 

Kathleen has also been out to check on the progress at the Dunawi filtering wetland. You can watch our video about the work that the Council, the City of Corvallis, and the Corvallis Sustainability Coalition Water Action Team have done to rehabilitate this wetland. 

Kathleen’s home office space.

Niki, AmeriCorps VISTA, has been working with the Institute for Applied Ecology to create short educational videos with nature-based activities for third-grade students at Lincoln and Garfield elementary schools. She is also planning virtual engagement events for the Council, such as a trivia night and a fun run/bike event. 

Niki teaches how to use binoculars for bird watching in one of the educational videos.

Despite the transition to remote work and the challenges that have arisen from the current pandemic, we are continuing our mission to inspire and support stewardship of the Marys River watershed and we appreciate your ongoing support! 

COVID-19 Response

A Letter from MRWC Executive Director, Holly Purpura

First and foremost, we hope that you and your loved ones are staying safe and healthy during these uncertain times. 

To keep others healthy, we urge you to Stay Home and Save Lives. Together, if we practice social distancing, we can do our part to protect our fellow Oregonians. Additionally, we urge you to stay close to home for any outdoor activity, as travelling to that camping spot or going to the coast exposes locals in rural communities with already limited access to healthcare. 

The Council has cancelled or postponed all upcoming in-person events until further notice, including all volunteer activities: 

  • April 18 – Earth Day of Service Dunawi/Starker Arts Park wetland invasive weed pull
  • May 16 – Let’s Pull Together invasive weed pull
  • June 20 – Spirit of the Marys Silent Auction (postponed tentatively until September)

We will be conducting our April 15th Board Meeting over a videoconference platform. This meeting will still be open to the public. If you are interested in attending, please contact us by email.

With precautions, much of MRWC’s work is moving forward as planned or with slightly elongated timelines, and we have plenty to do to keep busy in the weeks and months to come. Out of an abundance of caution, staff will have limited office hours and will be teleworking where possible. If you need to reach out, please contact us via email or call us at our office line 541-758-7597.

Stay safe friends, and let’s all do our parts to help others stay well. 

Sincerely,
Holly Purpura, Executive Director

Educational Resources

A longer list of educational resources can be found under the Educational Resources tab.

Know of some great educational resources that have been a huge help? Let us know by email at MarysRiver@mrwc.org!

Additional Resources

Here are some of the local grocery stores that have hours dedicated to vulnerable shoppers:

This list of grocery stores above is not all-inclusive and is in no particular order. These times could be subject to change.

A Night of Trivia Pursuits

Board director, Pete, got in on the action at the MRWC Trivia Night!

In the 1800s, John Snow, credited as the father of epidemiology, argued that contaminated water was responsible for the spread of what bacterial epidemic in London?

In 1920, OSU christened its football field, Bell Field after John Bell, a minister and OSU alum that, after victories, would lead a parade down to the Marys River to ceremoniously drop what into the water as a token of celebration?

These and many more quizzical queries were put to the audience at McMenamins on Monroe on the evening of Monday, March 2nd for the first Marys River Watershed Council Trivia Night!  

Turnout was strong with about 35 people participating in 10 teams.

There were eight rounds of 10 questions, with themes including history, books, movies, potpourri, and even a special Marys River/Corvallis round. AmeriCorps VISTA, Niki, was MC for the evening as Executive Director, Holly, totaled scores from each round, and board member and Hydrophile, Tessa, collected answer sheets and watched out for people trying to look at answers on their cellphone (thankfully, no one had to wear the bag of shame!) 

We want to offer a huge thank you to our sponsors, OSU Hydrophiles and McMenamins on Monroe, for all their help and support! 

The top three teams — Intensely Aggressive Ecologists, Patience Zero, and DJ Metaschist — took home prizes generously donated by Sky High Brewing, Murphy’s, and TreeBeerd’s. 

We hope to see folks again for another Marys River Watershed Council Trivia Night in the future! 

  • MC, Niki, reads aloud the questions.
  • Teams compete at trivia night.
  • Teams compete at trivia night.
  • Teams compete at trivia night.
  • IAE staff came out to compete at trivia night.

A Fair to Remember

The Council hosted a booth at both the annual HP Share the Love Fair on February 19th and the Oregon State University Nonprofit Opportunities Fair on February 20th.

Both fairs featured a range of local nonprofits and organizations that provide services to the Benton County area. It was a great opportunity to meet students and community members interested in giving back to their communities through volunteering and donating!

Thank you to all those who stopped by the booth at the fairs to learn about the work of the Council and get involved, and a thank you to HP and Oregon State University for hosting!

Executive Director, Holly, tells folks about the work of the Council at the HP Share the Love Fair.
Over 20 organizations had booths at the OSU Nonprofit Opportunities Fair.

Merriment with the Marys

With cups of hot spiced cider in hand, friends and colleagues shared news from the past year and looked ahead to 2020 at the annual Holiday Open House of MRWC, Greenbelt Land Trust, and Benton Soil and Water Conservation District on December 13th.

Guests enjoyed potluck style fare as well as a performance by Corvallis High School’s a cappella group, Spartacappella. The event was high in attendance; the Mater Building filled with friendly faces and good cheer.

Thank you to all who came out to celebrate the end of 2019 with us. The Council looks forward to another terrific year of environmental education, restoration, and community engagement! Cheers to 2020!

  • Guests enjoyed an assortment of tasty treats provided by board members and staff.
  • Thanks to all who came to celebrate with us!
  • Spartacappella performed holiday carols as well as a few pop hits.