Quamash Prairie’s ‘Chad the Dad’ honored with state award

Presenter: Lane County commissioners congratulate Chad the Dad, who was recently honored by Gov. Tina Kotek. On Nov. 12:

Steve Mokrohisky (Lane County administrator): Chad Hoffman is an environmental engineering specialist in our Waste Management Division and Chad was selected as the Catalyst Award winner by the State Land Board. He was presented this award by Gov. Kotek at an event in October.

Presenter: Here’s Gov. Kotek at the State Land Board event Oct. 15:

Gov. Tina Kotek: The Catalyst Award annually recognizes a person whose individual actions light the way to a better Oregon. In the southern Willamette Valley, there’s an ecologically important wetland known as Quamash Prairie. Once a degraded agricultural floodplain, this restored wetland is fortunate to be under the care of Chad Hoffman of the Lane County Public Works Department who, by the way, loves his job. Not only is Mr. Hoffman doing an amazing job with seed collection and proliferation of desirable natives, he is also extending his care to the wider community.

[00:01:02] Chad bring students student groups to the Quamash Prairie on a weekly basis, fostering community involvement and stewardship starting at a young age. So, I wish you would join me in congratulating the 2024 Land Board Catalyst Award winner: Mr. Chad Hoffman.

[00:01:20] Presenter: With commissioners Nov. 12:

[00:01:23] Steve Mokrohisky (Lane County administrator): We had an opportunity to be out at the Short Mountain area together, and Chad showed me around, and does an incredible job of managing an ecologically important wet prairie emergent and scrub shrub wetland, collectively known as Quamash Prairie…

[00:01:40] Not only is Chad making immediate improvements to an important ecosystem, but he’s giving young people an opportunity to get involved, discover a love for the outdoors, and engage them in work they can be proud of…

[00:01:54] Efforts with local schools, especially, extend his work to the wider community. He hosts student groups at Quamash Prairie weekly, fostering community involvement and stewardship starting at a young age. We have a video—

[00:02:08] Presenter: Here’s a part of that video from 2016.

[00:02:12] Steve Mokrohisky (Quamash Prairie video): Hello, I’m Steve Mokrohisky, Lane County Administrator, and I’m here at the beautiful Quamash Prairie with Chad Hoffman, Environmental Specialist for Public Works Waste Management Division. Thanks for joining us, Chad. (Thank you.) Let’s talk a little bit about Quamash Prairie. What is this facility and how did it come to be?

[00:02:30] Chad Hoffman (Quamash Prairie video): Quamash Prairie is a wetland mitigation complex that mitigates the loss of wetland resources associated with Lane County Waste Management landfill projects. Anytime you impact a wetland resource, you’re required to replace that resource in the landscape. As a part of our mitigation, objectives and success criteria, we need to establish native vegetation and manage non-native vegetation. And that’s where working with student groups has really come in to help. It’s really developed into an outdoor classroom where students can have a hands-on learning experience.

[00:03:02] And that’s what I feel like they really feel is benefiting them the most. Most of the students, when I ask them, ‘Would you rather be in a classroom or out here,’ 100% of the time they say they would rather be out here.

[00:03:11] Presenter: Here are some of the student volunteers featured in the video.

[00:03:15] Julie Sullivan (Student restoration volunteer, 2016 video): I like getting to work outdoors and getting in the sun and getting my hands dirty and the rest of my clothes, evidently. I like being able to, I like being able to get the opportunity to go work on stuff like this.

[00:03:27] Jonathan Carrillo-Enders (Student restoration volunteer, 2016 video): It’s so much better than just like sitting in a classroom and just like learning about it. It’s better because you get hands-on experience and you get to actually like, if you’re learning about a plant or something, you like actually get to see it and feel it and smell it and like work with it. And you get good work experience too.

[00:03:44] Nathaniel Mulholl (Student restoration volunteer, 2016 video): We take care of the wetlands to make a habitat for all the native animals and plants. It’s pretty cool.

[00:03:51] Blaize Shawbuck (Student restoration volunteer, 2016 video): When we work here, we learn to work as a team, and work together. Like quality control: If someone messes up and doesn’t plant something right, or doesn’t pull something on the ground right, then someone walks on behind them and finishes their job. And we’re always there for each other, got each other’s backs.

[00:04:10] Andrew Axberg (Student restoration volunteer, 2016 video): I like working here. It’s better to be hands-on. I like doing something for the community and it’s just, like, it’s better than staying inside all day.

[00:04:19] Ben Bennett Jr. (Student restoration volunteer, 2016 video): And when it’s sunny and bright out, it’s perfect. And it’s all, like, hands-on, so it makes me happy.

[00:04:30] Steve Mokrohisky (Quamash Prairie video): It seems like really a transformational experience for the young people who go through that program. What do they call you? What’s your name?

[00:04:37] Chad Hoffman (Quamash Prairie video): When elementary students are out here—I have a daughter in elementary school, and when I go to her classroom, she introduces me as ‘Chad the Dad.’ (Chad the Dad.) Chad the Dad, it rhymes. (Yeah, that’s great.) So, that really resonates with elementary students. (Yeah, yeah.)

[00:04:51] Presenter: With the commissioners Nov. 12:

[00:04:57] Jeff Orlandini (Lane County Waste Management, manager): I could talk about Chad all day, but I wanted to highlight, so we have this prairie and it’s really kind of, also serves our mitigation site for the wetlands that are disturbed by the landfill, major resource in the county. So there are required elements to that, right?

[00:05:13] It does not require that you bring hundreds of school children in. It does not require that you bring high school students in, who then mentor grade schoolers to show them through experiential education activities, you know, about the outdoors and connect that classroom learning to the outdoors.

[00:05:27] So, you know, Chad really took something that when he was hired to do, said, you know, make sure that we’re adhering to our regulations and said, we can do that in a much better way. He doesn’t like to talk about it a lot. He does not like recognition. This is really uncomfortable for him, so I won’t go on forever.

[00:05:43] But having worked in alternative schools, seeing alternative high school students and charter school students go out there and connect that learning, and oftentimes stay in school because they get that type of experience where they get hands-on learning, is so amazing to see. He gets some pizza, and they start a campfire, and they’re sitting around there and learning while being out there. It’s pretty impactful.

[00:06:07] So I would recommend if you ever have a chance to see it, it is kind of one of our favorite little secrets in the county, and we couldn’t do it without the years of experience that Chad has, and for him ensuring that not only do we get to do those really great things, but that we’re really doing the right thing for the community and for the climate by being out there. So just wanted to thank you, Chad, for everything you’ve done. This is very well deserved and excited to be able to share some of the accomplishments with you all.

[00:06:38] Commissioner Ryan Ceniga: Yeah, thanks Jeff, always great to see you. Chad, this is work that is near and dear to my heart. So I used to do wetland mitigation and rebuilds and rehabs, and it’s really fulfilling to go back and look at these wetlands years later and to see what they’ve progressed into and what they look like. And, you know, it’s not always the most glorious work, but it truly is when you see what it’s doing for our environment. So I greatly appreciate it and what a cool award. Thanks.

[00:07:13] Commissioner David Loveall: Yeah, Chad, I’ve never met you, but as I’m reading about this award and the video that I’ve kind of run through just a little bit too, is this is a great investment in the future. And I think that’s really where you’re going to stand out and where I appreciate more of what you’re doing now is you’re investing not only in kids for the future but the environment of the future. And for us to have an education system like what you’re trying to foster about fostering creativity and responsibility and legacy, I think is a really important aspect that maybe our education system has forgotten about, and I appreciate you bringing it back to the table. Good job.

[00:07:46] Commissioner Heather Buch: Thank you for working at Lane County and doing such wonderful things. I have never seen the prairie. So sign me up for your next tour because I would love to go and see what you’ve been doing there and I know that my kiddo would love to see it too. I don’t know how many student groups you get to come through and how that’s all organized And I would love to know more.

[00:08:16] Commissioner Pat Farr: You know, I admire your work tremendously. You know, the—just the fields of blue, you know, when the camas is blooming, is just a remarkable thing. And of course, Quamash Prairie is not the only place that it blooms around here. I’m really curious about the seeds that you gather, the native seeds. We don’t need to talk about that today, but I’d love to come and visit you and just show me. And maybe I could bring some grandchildren with me to see, you know, what this turns into. And, you know, the quamash, that is camas, isn’t it? Yeah, so that’s a, you know, it’s pretty cool, the work you do. I mean, everybody should admire it. Everybody should look at it. Everybody should look at the photographs of it and just really revel in the things that you are able to accomplish. Right underneath our very nose. It’s what, two miles south of here, something like that? Three miles maybe? Yeah, that’s right here. So good job, good job for generations, thank you.

[00:09:04] Commissioner Laurie Trieger: I’ll just add my words of appreciation, echoing what my colleagues said and particularly, I know for me, something to focus on that’s about a vibrant and bright and positive future is especially important right now. So thank you for that work. And also anyone who lets us talk about ‘scrub shrub’ should be extra-appreciated. That is a very fun thing to say.

[00:09:26] Thank you so much for your work and congratulations on the award that you received and having the governor come and deliver that to you. That is a real honor, I’m sure, for you individually, but also for us as a county to have your work recognized here with our organization. So thank you for that.

[00:09:45] Presenter: Lane County commissioners recognize ‘Chad the Dad’ Hoffman, honored by Gov. Kotek and the Oregon State Land Board for his work at Quamash Prairie.