The Port of Morrow is a hub of industry in Boardman, and the SAGE Center at the port showcases the heart of that hub.

SAGE — for Sustainable AGriculture and Energy — is an interactive museum and visitor center that gives visitors a unique opportunity to learn about the region’s technology without visiting each industry. It also provides a setting for various events and functions.

“I love working with local youth and the community at large,” SAGE manger Torrie Philippi Griggs said. She also is executive director of the Boardman Chamber of Commerce, located in the SAGE Center, and the Boardman Community Development Association.

Boardman got the first Amazon Web Services Think Big Space on the West Coast last year. The room for self-directed learning is upstairs at SAGE.

The center hosts 12 SCIence FRIday camps from April to August. It engages students in science, technology, engineering, art and math-based learning, teaches lessons and provides hands-on activities for a variety of topics.

“STEAM camps now augment the SCI FRI sessions,” Griggs said. “They’re held on days other than Friday.”

Space, weather, germination, plate tectonics and bugs and insects are the five main themes for SCI FRI camps this summer. Each camp runs from 8 a.m. to noon, unless otherwise noted. Students receive a lesson based on the topic of the day, create innovative projects and hear from local industry professionals.

The upcoming two SCI FRI camps feature bugs and insects, for grades one to three on

July 29 and for grades four to six on Aug. 5.

“STEAM camps show our youth the whole farm-to-table process,” Griggs said. “The camps teach scientific knowledge from how a commodity gets started until it reaches the consumer.”

And SAGE showcases how much of the industry at the port does the same.

Overview of Port of Morrow

The Port of Morrow is Oregon’s second largest port. Amazon Web Services’ cloud computing centers, hay companies, Lamb Weston, Oregon Potato Company, Boardman Foods and other commodity processing plants are among the port’s industrial park customers.

“The port has been the driving force behind the phenomenal growth of our region,” Griggs said. “It provides good, high-paying jobs. The city does a great job of providing the surrounding infrastructure, housing, services and other amenities for the port’s workforce.”

The Port of Morrow Commission named Lisa Mittelsdorf as its new executive director, following an internal search this year.

Mittelsdorf has been with the port for more than 30 years, always working closely with previous directors. Formerly the economic development director, she began her new role on May 9.

Brief history of Boardman

Boardman is the largest city in Morrow County. Its population grew from 100 in 1930 to 192 in 1970 to 1,281 in 1980 to 4,748 in 2020.

“After the (Columbia River) dams went in and raised the water level, center-pivot irrigation circles turned sandy soil into high-yield farmland,” Griggs said. “Pumped river water augmented the canals and groundwater pressurized systems. Potatoes were a major crop, but the rotation includes other crops, depending upon the market.”

Food processing plants and warehouses grew at the port to take advantage of the abundant commodities, Griggs noted.

Samuel H. Boardman, the first superintendent of the Oregon State Parks System, homesteaded the city in 1903, according to Lewis McArthur’s Oregon Geographic Names. He worked on Union Pacific Railroad projects at Boardman, where it had a station.

The city had to be moved south during construction of the John Day Dam on the Columbia River in the 1960s. Lake Umatilla, behind the dam, covered much of the original town.

Portland General Electric operated Oregon’s last coal-fired power plant south of the city from 1980 to 2020.

Dairy product company Tillamook Creamery moved most of its operations to Morrow County, to be closer to its cows’ hay supply, more than 20 years ago. AWS’ first data center arrived at the port in 2011 and continues to expand in Boardman, Irrigon and Hermiston. It is drawn by cheap hydropower and water for cooling its servers.

“We like diversity,” Griggs said. “Amazon has been a great partner, but our agricultural companies and other industries keep our economy thriving.”

The SAGE Center, 101 Olson Road. N.E., Boardman, celebrates 10 years of operation in 2023, Griggs concluded.