ABOUT
OFS
Who/What is Oregonians for Food
& Shelter (OFS)?
OFS
is a pro-active, member-funded,
grass roots coalition which
works to protect the rights of
natural resource based
businesses in Oregon. Our
primary focus (as noted on our
masthead) is protecting those
who responsibly use pest
management products, soil
nutrients and biotechnology from
government over-regulation,
however, we also get involved in
a variety of other issues
impacting farmers, foresters and
urban businesses relating to
natural resources.
2005 is our
25th year of service to the
natural resource and business
communities. We are located in
Salem and have a staff of
three: Terry Witt as executive
director; Paulette Pyle,
director of grass roots; and
Sandi Schukar, office manager.
Both Paulette and Terry are
registered lobbyists and spend
full time during Oregon’s
biennial legislative session
watching out for the interests
of OFS members.
As noted
down the side of this page, OFS
is governed by a voluntary Board
of Directors. The 31-member
board is equally split between
three basic categories: (1)
forestry; (2) agriculture; and
(3) pesticide/fertilizer
manufacturers, distributors,
applicators and other
businesses. At all times there
is one corporation officer from
each of these three major
groups. The Board Chair rotates
among the same categories to
maintain balance between all
member types represented. OFS
is supported solely by voluntary
member contribution. Our
financial support is roughly in
the same proportion -- 1/3
agriculture; 1/3 wood products;
and 1/3 professional
applicators, chemical and other
businesses. Currently our
direct grass roots mailing list
tops 12,000 -- with an extended
reach of over a quarter
million.
OFS
was created in 1980. The
founders of OFS had the
immediate goal of organizing a
well-educated, passionate grass
roots force across the state to
do battle with activists seeking
an initiative to ban the aerial
application of forest
herbicides. The two key
components of its mission are
still the primary objectives of
the OFS staff today: (1)
provide technical expertise and
scientifically sound information
to the public and policymakers;
and (2) keep a grass roots
“army” educated and ready to
mobilize when needed. The major
differences between 1980 and
2005, is that now OFS deals with
all pesticide and
fertilizer issues, and our grass
roots web is much broader,
linking natural resource groups
and businesses together with
all agri-chemical user
communities including forestry,
agriculture, commercial and
urban.
While not
wanting to belabor this point,
it is part of what makes OFS
unique and powerful. We have
highly respected representatives
on our Board who are willing to
debate issues and work toward
common-ground solutions and
positions that all members can
enthusiastically support. This
allows OFS staff to go forward
with a unified position that
adversaries cannot defeat
the “divide and conquer”
strategy they so often employ.
Further, we try to find the
links that bridge the gap
between rural and urban
citizens. Members become part
of a unified whole (OFS), whose
actions are governed by a
diverse Board of Directors. To
many members, the opportunity to
be a significant player and have
their position factored into the
big picture without being
highly visible in the public’s
eye is a valuable benefit of
belonging to OFS.
Back to a bit
more of our history… Initially OFS
was run under contract with Dave
Dietz and Associates. Paulette Pyle
was hired by him and dedicated full
time to OFS grass roots
responsibilities. Mr. Dietz was
taken from OFS in 1987 when a
serious car accident left him
severely paralyzed. In the fall of
1987, after reorganizing
OFS as an independent
organization, the OFS Board of
Directors hired Terry Witt, then
with The Dow Chemical Company in
Midland, Michigan, to serve as the
Executive Director. The Board
directly hired Paulette Pyle as an
OFS employee to continue her duties
as Director of Grass Roots. Sandi
Schukar has been our Office Manager
since 1991. Sandi brings years of
experience working with timber
companies and has first hand
knowledge of environmental issues
and regulations from running a
family-owned logging business in
Oregon.
Terry is a
graduate of Purdue University with a
B.S. degree in management. He spent
seventeen years with Dow, including
positions in manufacturing, safety,
government and community relations.
His last four years were spent as
the director of public and media
relations for Dow’s North American
Agricultural
Products Department. This
background provides an exceptional
base of knowledge for the issues OFS
faces every day, as well as how to
communicate with a variety of
audiences.
Paulette moved
to Oregon in 1978 from Lewiston,
Idaho after serving as a staff
assistant to Congressman Steve Symms
in Idaho’s first congressional
district. She also has a medical
records background, giving her an
eye for detail and strong
organizational skills. Her
professional training in campaign
management, coupled with her
excellent background in grass roots
politics, makes her a natural as the
Director of Grass Roots. Paulette
has tremendous knowledge of the
environmentalist’s mindset, the
history of Oregon issues, and
understands how the political
process really works. Because of
her unmatched passion for natural
resource members, honesty and
trustworthiness -- Paulette has
earned a reputation as the “most
effective lobbyist in the Capitol”
by her peers and legislators alike.
She is truly one of a kind at her
job.
OFS has enjoyed many years of
success. The anti-pesticide faction
has spent over twenty years
attempting to curtail pesticide use
in every way possible. Whether it
has been at the local level, in the
courts, or the legislature -- their
onslaught has been thwarted each and
every time by OFS. OFS also has
grown in grass roots power, with a
total Oregon reach estimated at over
150,000.
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While OFS
staff has spent much of its time and
effort on defense, they have also
had many proactive successes that
the organization is equally proud
of. Here are a few examples:
· 1985
= A leader in the passage of the
Oregon Community-Right-to Know Act,
the first state in the country.
· 1987-8
= Negotiated the USFS Mediated
Agreement regarding the use of
herbicides on federal land, ending a
legal battle and a four-year court
injunction against spraying.
· 1989
= Helped write and pass Oregon
Organic Food Labeling Law.
· 1989
= A leader in the writing and
passage of the Oregon Groundwater
Protection Act.
· 1991
= Author of and leader in passage
of Oregon’s Integrated Pest
Management Policy Act.
· 1993
= Amended the State’s
Right-to-Farm statutes to include
Right-to-Forest.
· 1995
= The leader in writing and passage
of a local pesticide regulation
preemption bill.
· 1995
= Amended the Right-to-Farm and
Forest Act passed in 1993 to protect
pesticide use.
· 1996
= A grass roots leader in the “No
on Ballot Measure 38” Campaign which
defeated mandatory fencing of
grazing lands by a 65% to 35%
citizen vote.
· 1996
= A leader in developing Oregon’s
Voluntary Wellhead-Protection
Program that won acclaim from the
U.S. EPA as a national model.
· 1998
= Headed the grass roots
coordination for the “No on Ballot
Measure 64” Campaign which defeated
an attempted ban on clear-cutting
and the use of all forest pesticides
by a 81% to 19% citizen vote.
· 1999
= A leader in the drafting and
passage of an amended version of the
Oregon Pesticide Use Reporting Act.
· 1999
= Coordinated the industry and
successfully lobbied a $12.8 million
research package for OSU
Agricultural Experiment Station,
Extension and Forest Research Lab.
· 2000
= A grass roots leader in the “No
on Ballot Measure 97” Campaign which
defeated a ban on animal trapping,
including mountain beaver and
rodenticides for predator control.
· 2001
= The industry leader in developing
and passage of a package of forestry
and agriculture eco-terrorism bills
to increase criminal penalties, and
increase victim’s recovery by
providing treble damages for all
property losses awarded in civil
suits.
· 2001
= The leader in amending and
passage of Oregon’s new fertilizer
law to regulate, monitor and
guarantee contents of fertilizers
and soil amendments, including heavy
metals and waste derived
components.
·
2001 = Participated, by
invitation of the Bush
administration, in the interview and
recommendation process for the
selection of regional and national
agency directors.
· 2002
= Coordinated all state-wide grass
roots activities for the highly
successful campaign against Ballot
Measure 27, the Co$tly Labeling Law.
· 2002-5:
A key member of a team (including
the White House staff, Oregon’s
Congressional delegation, federal
agencies and state/national
associations) to resolve a multitude
of draconian environmental lawsuits
impacting Oregon farmers, foresters
and landowners.
· 2002
= Coordinated state-wide grass
roots activities for the highly
successful campaign against Ballot
Measure 34. Because it failed, our
state forests are still harvesting.
The OFS staff
is also heavily involved in task
force and committee efforts
throughout the year at both the
state and national levels. For
example, at the state level Terry
has been appointed by the Governor
to the Oregon Healthy Streams
Partnership for implementation of
The Oregon Plan, the Environmental
Justice Advisory Board, and the
Pesticide Use Reporting Work Group.
OFS,
primarily through Paulette, has
developed very strong ties to and a
close working relationship with many
in Oregon’s Congressional delegation
in Washington, DC. She has also
cultivated numerous personal
relationships with key cabinet
officials in the Bush
administration. The staff believes
part of the OFS mission is to
directly represent our Oregon
members at the federal level when an
appropriate issue so
warrants.
Having one
director concentrate on
technical/administrative
responsibilities, and another
director concentrate on grass
roots/political activities, has been
our recipe for success with a very
limited staff and modest budget.
OFS is a hardworking, pro-active
organization that is proud of the
accomplishments and the unblemished
record it has put together over the
past twenty-four years of faithful
service to its members. The staff
does their best to do what is right
while accurately reflecting the
needs, desires and passions of the
great natural resource people OFS
represents.
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