The Council

Recent Past Board Pres­i­dent
Low­er North San­ti­am Sub-basin Rep­re­sen­ta­tive

Jan Irene is pas­sion­ate about lead­er­ship respon­si­bil­i­ty and how it con­tributes to a beau­ti­ful and healthy community—including all aspects of envi­ron­men­tal, social, and eco­nom­ic health. As an avid
out­door­swoman, she thrives in the beau­ty and pow­er of nature. She is a lead­er­ship con­sul­tant and coach with 20 years of man­age­ment expe­ri­ence in the com­put­er soft­ware tech­nol­o­gy and dis­crete
man­u­fac­tur­ing indus­try. Jan Irene and her hus­band Jim Bayuk restored a 217-acre wood­land on the North San­ti­am Riv­er in part­ner­ship with many con­ser­va­tion orga­ni­za­tions and fine craftsmen.

Their three adult chil­dren and large extend­ed fam­i­ly, friends, neigh­bors and local stu­dents enjoy fre­quent vis­its to their home.

Board Pres­i­dent
Lit­tle North Fork Sub-basin Rep­re­sen­ta­tive

Suzette lives on the banks of the North Fork (Lit­tle North San­ti­am Riv­er) and makes her liv­ing as a Real­tor with Berk­shire Hath­away, Stay­ton Branch.

Board Vice-Pres­i­dent
Irri­ga­tion Dis­trict Rep­re­sen­ta­tive

Brent Steven­son is Dis­trict Man­ag­er of the San­ti­am Water Con­trol Dis­trict. The Dis­trict encom­pass­es 31,000 acres and deliv­ers North San­ti­am Riv­er irri­ga­tion water to 17,000 acres.  The Dis­trict is diverse in its oper­a­tions includ­ing flood and ero­sion con­trol, hydropow­er, indus­tri­al, domes­tic, fish, fire, aes­thet­ic and recre­ation­al deliveries

Board Trea­sur­er
Mar­i­on Coun­ty Rep­re­sen­ta­tive

John is retired from the Cas­cades Dis­trict Bureau of Land Management.

Board Sec­re­tary
Rep­re­sen­ta­tive for the City of Salem

Brad Nanke start­ed his ser­vice on water­shed coun­cils in 1995 as a mem­ber, then pres­i­dent, of the Pringle Creek Water­shed Coun­cil. Brad joined the North San­ti­am Water­shed Coun­cil in 2013 and served as Chair/President through 2019, which includ­ed the peri­od of the council’s tran­si­tion to a 501(c)(3). He is an Envi­ron­men­tal, Safe­ty, and Health pro­fes­sion­al with over 35 of expe­ri­ence in the high-tech man­u­fac­tur­ing field and now pro­vides these ser­vices to home­builders in Ore­gon. Brad served as a Salem City Coun­cilor from 2001–2020 and was the city’s rep­re­sen­ta­tive on the coun­cil. Brad enjoys fish­ing, hik­ing, and mush­room-hunt­ing in the watershed.

Bre­it­en­bush Sub­basin Rep­re­sen­ta­tive

Woody Jack­son lives on the North San­ti­am down­riv­er from Big Cliff Dam, and has a recre­ation­al cab­in in the Bre­it­en­bush Hot Springs area. Woody has been involved with con­ser­va­tion and recre­ation­al activ­i­ties for thir­ty years in the Bre­it­en­bush water­shed, and is active in the cab­in own­ers asso­ci­a­tion and serves as Pres­i­dent to the Friends of the Bre­it­en­bush Cascades.

At-Large Rep­re­sen­ta­tive

Kathy Bridges owns San­ti­am Val­ley Ranch in Turn­er, Ore­gon.  The farm includes 100 acres being restored to wet­land prairie through the NRCS Wet­land Reserve Pro­gram.  Oth­er farm prod­ucts include aqua­cul­ture and sheep. Kathy brings to the Coun­cil exper­tise in land-use plan­ning and man­age­ment of non-prof­it organizations.

Hon­orary Coun­cil Mem­ber

Bill Sander­son is a North San­ti­am Riv­er Guide. He served on the North San­ti­am Water­shed Coun­cil for over 25 years.

Exec­u­tive Direc­tor

Rebec­ca joined the North San­ti­am Water­shed Coun­cil in June of 2013. Rebec­ca grew up in Port­land, Ore­gon and grad­u­at­ed from Port­land State Uni­ver­si­ty with a bachelor’s in Envi­ron­men­tal Sci­ence with a minor in biol­o­gy.  Rebec­ca has worked as Nat­ur­al Resource Spe­cial­ist for the Ore­gon Depart­ment of Envi­ron­men­tal Qual­i­ty (ODEQ), a Forestry Tech­ni­cian for US For­est Ser­vice Sand­point Ranger Dis­trict, a Hydrol­o­gy Tech­ni­cian for Wash­ing­ton Coun­ty  and pri­or to com­ing to the coun­cil Rebec­ca worked as a staff  biol­o­gist for the  Con­fed­er­at­ed Tribes of Grand Ronde.