New Position Focusing on Southwest Oregon

Wild Salmon Center welcomes Tim Elder as our new Southwest Oregon Manager! As a native of southwest Oregon, Tim is excited to bring the stronghold strategy to southern Oregon, “to the places and the rivers I love.”

Tim will work primarily on coho habitat restoration planning and implementation, as we work with local watershed groups to recover these important salmon populations on the Oregon Coast.

Tim is a recent Ph.D. graduate from the Environmental Science and Management Department at Portland State University–where he transitioned from plant ecology to salmon science. Tim’s doctoral work focused on the human impacts to salmon populations in the Columbia River, with a focus on juvenile survival and life history diversity.

Tim grew up in Ashland, where land conservation issues, like the spotted owl controversy, were pervasive. Salmon took a back seat to some of these more highly charged conversations. He had the unique experience of attending an alternative high school that started and ended the year with 2 weeks of backpacking in the wilderness. It was then that Tim discovered the beauty of the pristine, emerald rivers of southwest Oregon, including the Smith and the Illinois. After graduation, he continued to return home to lead those same backpacking trips.

Those wilderness experiences lead to a path studying the ecosystems that he’ll now be working in. 

This new role with Wild Salmon Center is a solid fit for Tim. “It’s a dream to be able to put the skills I’ve developed into action with Wild Salmon Center’s strategy in the place I call home.”

This is an expansion position for the organization and our Southwest Oregon Manager that will play an essential role in working with Mark Trenholm on our Oregon Coast habitat restoration work. Stay tuned as the team also works to define our long term vision in the Klamath-Siskiyou-South Coast ecoregion.