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Gorge commission communications committee launches social media push, updates wildfire-recovery outreach
Summary
At a brief communications committee meeting, members outlined a new social media strategy aimed at broader public outreach and described tribal consultation and permitting actions tied to recent fires; Commissioner Alex Johnson will lead initial posting efforts.
At a meeting of the Columbia River Gorge Commission communications committee, Commissioner Alex Johnson and committee members outlined a new social media strategy and gave updates on wildfire-recovery communications and tribal outreach.
The chair opened the meeting with a roll call; Commissioner Alex Johnson identified himself as present while Commissioners Loch Litwer, Roger Nichols and Amy Weisfeld were noted absent. Committee members moved quickly through the agenda given the light attendance.
A committee member reported recent legislative outreach, saying they and Commissioner Nathan Reynolds met with Sen. Harris of District 17 (Clark County) for about 30 minutes. "He was very committed to trying to help us try to regain our budget," the committee member said, and the group said it will continue outreach to try to secure meetings in December before the legislature convenes.
The committee member also provided updates on outreach related to the Verdoyne and Volena fires. "We're hoping to get some additional input from them by December 5," the committee member said, adding that tribal representatives will be invited to provide oral comments at the commission's Dec. 16 meeting. The member said staff have issued two permits so far for rebuilding and that staff are clarifying fencing requirements for vineyard and orchard owners and for wildlife corridors.
On social media, the committee discussed technical and records-management constraints and the plan to use the platforms for timely public information. The committee member thanked Commissioner Alex Johnson for setting up the commission's Facebook page and a LinkedIn profile. Commissioner Alex Johnson said the commission's LinkedIn account has "76 followers on LinkedIn, and there's only 11 on Facebook," and described a posting approach that will draw on existing documents, including "the enabling legislation, the bi-state compact," the commission's management plan and its climate change action plan.
Johnson said posts will be a mix of evergreen material drawn from the commission's documents and rapid-response posts when events occur, and asked staff to email short notices of events so he can post them. He also described admin rights: Christina and Commissioner Amy Weisfeld are additional admins for both LinkedIn and Facebook.
The committee discussed Facebook comment moderation and public-record obligations. "One of the reasons we don't have comments active on our new Facebook page is because there's pretty strict requirements related to public records and tracking that, and we just don't have the capacity to do that," the committee member said. Johnson added that Facebook settings limit comment options and that the commission will restrict follows to avoid broad comment exposure.
The chair opened the public-comment period for items on the communications agenda; no members of the public requested to speak. The committee concluded the short meeting with thanks to Commissioner Johnson for his work and holiday wishes for the week of Thanksgiving.
The committee did not take formal votes or make binding policy changes at the meeting; members described next steps as continuing outreach to legislators and Tribes and regular reporting on social media growth at future committee meetings.
