Home to 70% of Oregon’s population and the source of 75% of the state’s economic output, the Willamette River Basin is one of the defining features of the state’s geography and its economic livelihood. It is located entirely in the state of Oregon, with its destiny largely in the hands of Oregonians.
The Willamette River Basin currently faces a disastrous future if nothing is done to restore its health. The river is too warm for salmon, too polluted for swimming, with high mercury levels resulting in fish consumption advisories. Even greater population growth and development is expected to put pressure on the basin’s limited environmental resources. The population living in the Willamette River Basin will nearly double by 2050, from 2.3 million to 4 million. 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 asserts, “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. We see an opportunity for leadership that the Trust might be 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. Leveraging its ability to bring people together, and learning from the process it underwent with Chalkboard, the Trust will look for the opportunity to help catalyze a coordinated restoration effort, attracting new resources, and making sure there are organizations in place that can get the work done. MMT views this as an area where we can make a significant impact in improving the lives of Oregonians, and focus group discussions further bolstered the notion that the Trust can play a valuable role in addressing this issue.
The Willamette River Basin Restoration Initiative will focus first on evaluating opportunities to catalyze the development and implementation of a coordinated restoration effort for the entire river basin. It will begin with identifying and working with interested funders that can leverage funding and convene policy advisers and stakeholders to assist with this analysis. This group will mobilize to develop a common set of goals and a well-coordinated, prioritized action plan. These funders will ask individual groups to align their activities by taking responsibility for implementation of specific pieces of the plan, and then fund efforts accordingly.
Once the coalition is launched, MMT can focus on specific aspects of the plan where its resources can be appropriately used, such as monitoring and evaluation work, or expanded community outreach. The Trust will work to accelerate the pace of restoration by funding additional projects like efforts to inspire residents to become stewards of the basin, connecting landowners to practical restoration tools by enhancing Oregon's database, and supporting field-based education. MMT will also consider supporting the development of what could become a national model of market-based ecosystems restoration by funding the ecosystems marketplace.
Until this initiative is fully developed, nonprofit organizations that work toward this goal should continue to apply for funding through the Responsive Grants program.
