In 2007, in conjunction with the adoption of its new strategic plan, Meyer Memorial Trust announced its Willamette Basin Restoration Initiative. MMT identified the Willamette River as a key focus area for many reasons. The Willamette River Basin, the large watershed drained by the river, is home to 70% of Oregon’s population and the source of 75% of its economic output. The Willamette River itself, by volume the 13th largest in the nation, is one of the defining features of the state’s geography. The river and all its tributaries are located entirely within Oregon’s boundaries, so its destiny is largely in the hands of Oregonians.
The Willamette faces an uncertain future. Too warm for salmon, too polluted for swimming, and with mercury levels high enough to provoke fish consumption advisories, the Willamette has been identified as one of the country’s ten most endangered rivers. The population of the Willamette Valley is expected to nearly double by 2050, placing additional pressure on the river and surrounding lands. Taking action now to protect and restore the health of the Willamette is an urgent issue that is critical to the state of Oregon. And while Governor Kulongoski has named Willamette restoration as his top environmental priority, he has also asserted that, “No one group can accomplish this critical goal alone -- it's going to take all of us working together to restore the health of the Willamette.”
MMT views this issue as timely and ripe for intervention and an opportunity for leadership that MMT is well suited to fill. Not many local private funders currently contribute substantially to river restoration, and restoration efforts are largely uncoordinated across many types of organizations, from grassroots groups to government agencies. MMT views this as an area where we can make a significant difference in improving the lives of Oregonians.
The year since we announced the initiative has been a period of intense learning about the people, organizations and issues involved in restoring the health of the Willamette. We have read about, paddled, hiked along and flown over the river. We have held or attended dozens of meetings and worked closely with public agencies, local watershed groups, nonprofit representatives and scientists to ensure that the initiative addresses critical needs and priorities.
Last spring, our board of trustees approved two ambitious goals:
-- to achieve meaningful, measurable improvements in the health of the Willamette River and selected tributaries by 2015, and
-- to create a national model for effective approaches to restoration of large, complex ecological systems.
In July, the trustees approved the first two funding strategies in support of that goal. One is focused on the main channel of the river, and the other on tributary systems. Both are targeted to the middle and upper sections of the basin (for our purposes, areas above Willamette Falls).
The first strategy, an innovative partnership with the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB), will leverage MMT funds with state lottery proceeds to support projects aimed at restoring channel complexity and reconnecting the mainstem Willamette to its floodplain, two ecological objectives widely recognized as key to improving the health and resiliency of the river. OWEB and MMT will co-fund these projects through OWEB’s Willamette “Special Investment Partnership” program. The SIP is a relatively new funding tool at OWEB used to achieve a specific ecological outcome –- like restoring channel complexity –- through a large project or group of related projects.
Generally speaking, OWEB funding will be concentrated primarily on capital components of SIP projects, whereas MMT’s funds will focus largely on non-capital components. MMT will also support the earliest stages of project development, including scientific assessments, preliminary site designs, outreach and other activities aimed at identifying and building support for potential SIP projects. MMT’s trustees have authorized the expenditure of up to $1.8 million over the next two years to support this strategy.
MMT’s second Willamette strategy is focused on supporting multi-year, integrated approaches to improving watershed conditions at the sub-watershed scale in selected Willamette tributary systems. This strategy recognizes the contribution tributary systems make to the health of the Willamette as a whole, as well as their importance for recreation, fish and wildlife habitat, and as a source of public drinking water. The tributary strategy was developed in close consultation with an advisory group of Willamette stakeholders. Through this strategy, MMT will support restoration efforts undertaken by local watershed groups in accordance with a rigorous, long-term planning and evaluation framework designed to achieve specific outcomes, such as improved water quality and flows, riparian conditions, and fish and wildlife habitat.
Our tributary strategy is based in part on the Bonneville Environmental Foundation’s Model Watershed Program, and we will work closely with BEF to implement the strategy. As a first step, BEF and MMT are seeking letters of interest from community-based organizations in the Willamette basin that have an interest in partnering with us to develop and implement a 10-year watershed restoration and monitoring strategy. MMT’s trustees have authorized investing up to $1 million in the Willamette model watershed program over the next two years, a portion of which will be granted to BEF to provide program management support.
MMT, along with all those involved in the important work to restore this great river system, understands that this is a complicated, expensive, and long-term undertaking. At the same time, we are not starting from scratch. Thanks to years of research, we know more than ever about the condition of the river and what needs to be done to achieve better water quality, improved hydrologic conditions, and healthier fish and wildlife populations. Much work already has been done to better the health of the Willamette system, and in some areas we have made clear progress. State and federal agencies, local watershed groups, soil and water conservation districts, local and regional land trusts, municipalities and the non-profit community have all played, and will continue to play, important roles in this work. Over the next six months, as we begin implementing our first two Willamette funding strategies, MMT will also be exploring what additional roles we, as a private funder, might play in expanding and accelerating this work and catalyzing a new level of commitment to the river.
A slide presentation provides more detail about the Willamette Initiative and its first two funding strategies. For more information, please email Pam Wiley or call her at 503/228.5512.
