2022 has been a recovery year for the Upper Deschutes River Communities (UDRC). We have been able to keep our popular Defensible Space Reimbursement Program and our Low-income Senior Program funded due to the continuing support of our private donor foundations, but funds in 2023-2024 may be limited.
Defensible Space Reimbursement Program
Total Reimbursements: 90
Property Owner Expenses: $114,467
UDRC Reimbursement Payments: $44,640
47 reimbursements to UDRC communities
Fall River Estates — 18
Lazy River West — 6
DRRH 1-5 — 5
DRRH 6 — 4
OWW 2 — 4
Other UDRC — 10
43 reimbursements to La Pine Area communities
Low-income Senior Defensible Space Program
Property Assessments: 15
Projects Completed: 12
Contractor Payments: $10,236
The Low-income Senior program is funded by the Maybelle Clark Macdonald Fund. The Reimbursement program is funded by grants from the MCM Fund, BNSF Railway Foundation and First Interstate Bank Foundation.
We held five public meetings on Forest Service and ODF fuels reduction projects, home insurance regulations, state and county roads projects and river flow management. If you have suggestions for future public meeting topics click on Contact UDRC.
Looking forward to 2023
We will be accepting Spring applications for the Defensible Space Reimbursement program beginning January 15. The Low-Income Senior/Disabled Program is open year-round.
We have started recruiting and training volunteers to act as Defensible Space and Home Hardening Assessors. We are closely monitoring the impacts that SB762 will have on our area and will incorporate the new Defensible Space codes into our assessment. We are currently conducting a Pilot program for Reimbursing Home Hardening Expenses. The program will be announced early in 2023. The Pilot program has a limited budget and a tight schedule.
We are exploring new grants (both private and government) as they become available. The UDRC works very hard to keep our administrative costs to a minimum. All our current Board members are volunteers, and we have no paid staff. There are operating costs that are required to keep functioning and we depend on donations to pay them. These include maintaining our website, insurance, government fees and taxes, postage, a cell phone number, meeting expenses, etc.
Every dollar counts towards keeping our programs in place or expanding them. UDRC is a 501c3 organization and donations towards operating expenses are tax deductible.
To donate online via PayPal, go to the website udrc.org and click on Donate.
To donate by check, please make payment to Upper Deschutes River Coalition and mail your check to: UDRC, PO 3042, Sunriver, OR 97707
