The Directors of the Coos Soil & Water Conservation District have chosen Bob Nelson and Jim Boyd of Bandon as the Outstanding Cooperator for 2006. This award is presented annually to recognize cooperators who exemplify the principles of natural resource management promoted by the district.

Once upon a time, thirty years ago, two teachers had a bon fire discussion that would change their lives forever. Bob Nelson and Jim Boyd met while teaching school in Arizona. Bob was a special needs teacher; Jim often received Bob’s rowdier students. Bob enlisted Jim’s help one year during his planning for the Special Olympics. It was after the Special Olympics that the “bonfire” discussion occurred.

Having no ranching or farming experience in Oregon, Bob and Jim decided that they would buy a property together where they could raise their families and work the land. From that point on these men forged ahead like pioneers of the old west. Jim, Bob, and their wives, Jill and Dee, all teachers in Arizona, packed up their belongings, left their jobs and homes, and headed out west, or northwest anyway, to a 210 acre ranch they purchased together in Bandon, Oregon, temporarily named Timber Ridge.

The name stuck, and so did the families. The Nelsons raised three children on the ranch. Josh, the oldest, is a crop and soil scientist for Western Farm Services, in Tangent, OR. Jeremy, the next in line, is assistant superintendent at Semiahmoo Golf Course in Blaine, WA. He has also started a landscaping business. Krista is a second year vet student at OSU. All three have undergraduate degrees from OSU.      Ramie is the oldest of the Boyd children. She graduated from George Fox and is teaching fourth grade in Stayton. Her brother Morgan graduated from Linfield and is budget manager for the gift accounting department at Mount Sinai Medical School in New York.

     The five grew up as family, participating in 4-H, scouts, athletics, school activities and a full slate of daily ranch chores.

Their first year The Timber Ridge partners hayed, raised sheep, and made an off-farm wage picking sticks for $3.25 an hour. That year they lost 22 sheep in one day to neighborhood dogs. Roaming dogs remain an important consideration in fencing today.