2025 LIVE ANNUAL MEETING SPEAKERS
David Harrelson
Managing for Abundance: Indigenous Knowledge and Practices for Keeping Place In the Willamette Valley Through Time
David Harrelson (Kalapuya) will share tribal stories of place and teachings for creating abundance within his ancestral homelands. Participants will be asked to consider how the knowledge shared can be translated and applied now and into the future to address our shared world of new inputs and new desired outcomes.
About
David Harrelson is an administrator, lecturer, and proponent for the arts and historic preservation. He works as the Cultural Resources Department manager for The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, where he is also an enrolled member. He currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Oregon Arts Commission and Board Emeritus for the Chehalem Cultural Center. David has championed the use of his people’s ancestral art forms for the purpose of public art. He has worked in the field of cultural resources for 14 years. Some of his research and professional interests include ethnobotany, indigenous foods, contact-era Pacific Northwest history, and Western Oregon indigenous art. He is raising a family in Dundee, Oregon and has some slightly more than hobby projects, growing tea and making wine.
DR. ERIN UPTON
Water in Wine Landscapes: Why Water Matters to Your Resilience in a Changing Climate
Fresh water is an essential resource for the future success and survivability of our businesses, communities, and environment. Climate change is significantly impacting water access and availability in the Pacific Northwest. This talk will use ecological, social, and regulatory frameworks to encourage us to think about water in our regions and operations. We will examine the impacts of a changing climate on water quality and quantity, and what we can focus on with regards to water as we strive for greater resilience in uncertain times.
About
Erin is a social scientist currently working at American Farmland Trust to advance collaborative research with farmers/ranchers, landowners, and rural communities to better understand the social drivers of resilience in agriculture. Erin has a doctorate in Earth, Environment and Society from Portland State University. Her research focused on understanding the human dimensions of complex environmental challenges, including how decision making around water resources, in the context of a changing climate, impacts outcomes for agricultural wine regions. She has extensive experience conducting research in agriculture regions in North America, South Africa, and Australia. Previously Erin worked as a landscape architect and in operations and sales in the Oregon wine industry.
DR. Chris CHen
Climate Adaptive Vineyards: How Climate Change is Impacting Pests and Water Use Efficiency in Vineyards
Dr. Chris Chen’s educational seminar will explore the evolving challenges vineyards face due to climate change taking a look specifically at how climate change is impacting vineyard pest and diseases (not just the grape vines), the adaption of fungus to higher temperatures and how to manage a spray program with limited to no sulfur, and water usage efficiency through the lens of frost protection practices.
About
Christopher Chen is the UCCE Integrated Vineyard Systems Advisor for the North Coast region of California. His work through the North Coast Viticulture program focuses on Climate-Adaptive viticulture practices to help address the concerns related to climate change in vineyards and brings actionable research to the grape growing communities of Northern California. Chris received his doctorate from University of California Davis, focusing on climate centric research in grapevines.
DR. Greg Jones
MC & Opening Address
Dr. Greg Jones, a distinguished atmospheric scientist and wine climatologist with over 25 years of research connecting climate change to grapevine growth and wine quality, will provide a 10-minute climate update and serve as MC, guiding the meeting discussions with his expert insights.
About
Greg Jones is a world-renowned atmospheric scientist and wine climatologist, having held research and teaching positions at the University of Virginia, Southern Oregon University, Linfield University, and as an adjunct professor at the University of Adelaide. For over twenty-five years his research has firmly linked weather and climate with grapevine growth, fruit chemistry, and wine characteristics in regions all around the globe. His work was also one of the first to tie climate change to fundamental biological phenomena in vines and the resulting influences on productivity and quality. His groundbreaking work has informed and influenced the wine industry across the globe. Greg also has lifelong ties to the Oregon wine community, most closely with his family winery and vineyards at Abacela where Greg was appointed CEO in 2021.