Donation boosts conservation effort

Sisters artist Dan Rickards has put money where his heart is, contributing $1,930.80 to the conservation group Friends of the Metolius.

The money came from proceeds of a year-long project. Rickards, owner of Clearwater Gallery, painted "Heart of the Metolius" as part of a series of depictions of Oregon's Wild & Scenic Rivers. He set aside proceeds from each print sale of the painting to Friends of the Metolius. Those funds were combined with proceeds from an arts reception last year that kicked off the project to tally up a donation that Rickards presented to FOM President Doug Hancock last Saturday.

Wild & Scenic is a federal designation for streams. Rickards is painting the rivers and partnering with different associated conservation organizations to boost their efforts to conserve and enhance those resources. The 2014 effort centers around the McKenzie River. Rickards is finishing up "Fall Banks of the McKenzie," and is partnering in fundraising with The McKenzie River Trust.

Rickards noted that, "Oregon has, I've been told, the largest amount of Wild & Scenic Rivers at least in the continental United States."

"So you've got years of work ahead of you," Hancock quipped.

Hancock said the allocation of the funds will be determined by the FOM board, but he hopes they'll be used for the next phase of the organization's water quality analysis project on the Metolius River. The organization has been monitoring water quality for many years; the next phase is to fund analysis of the data collected in order to identify trends and areas for further sampling and study, Hancock said.

"It's been a priority of Friends of the Metolius for 20 years," he said of the project. "It's an indication of what's going on in the river. For instance, there were a lot of changes ... after the B&B Fire. The phosphate levels spiked."

Data analysis will help determine whether there are any long-term effects from such events.

Rickards, a nationally acclaimed landscape and wildlife artist, said that wherever he travels, he finds that people are passionate about their local waterways. The artist is also at work on a series of paintings of American National Parks.

"Wild & Scenic Rivers and the National Parks are my real focus," he said.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

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