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May Riverscape
From The Riverkeeper
photo: Spring wildflowers in bloom- pink Sea Blush and purple Camas.
Hello River People - 

I hope all of you are doing as well as can be in this strange time. Like many, our staff are working from home and occasionally in the field, to continue our work for the Willamette River. Here are a few things we have been up to. 
Michelle , our South Valley Advocate based at home in Oakridge has been making progress on addressing some issues in the floodplain near Eugene and Springfield. Planning for our work there continues in this pandemic, and provides an opportunity to look at new approaches. In this, Michelle has developed a great series of questions for local candidates in relation to actions they would take for the river (see our Trash Talk article below). 
Kate, our Outreach Manager based at home in Washougal continues to form our email communications and has been instigating our Social Media work. She corresponds with volunteers and event participants, fields inquiries from the community, and will soon be diving into implementing our new Water Trail website, currently in development, populating it with the latest data - all while parenting two small boys!
Eli , our Staff Attorney based at home in Eugene recently completed a significant letter to the Oregon Department of State Lands seeking to deny a key permit for the McCall Oil terminal in Portland Harbor. Multiple organizations signed onto this letter, which lays bare some major issues with this facility. 
Marci , our Restoration Manager, based at home in Portland, continues planning for our restoration work and finalizing the regional strategy to address aquatic invasive plants, while also managing two small kiddos!
Amanda , our Special Projects Associate based in Portland, has continued to plan for a Fall event and get acquainted with the Willamette for our River Guardian program. 
Heather , our Deputy Director based in Oregon City, continues to creatively fundraise and has worked hard to support our business partners. She has been a powerhouse in churning out grant proposals for submission, and continues to manage our membership expansion and outreach in this challenging climate.
Richard , our Restoration Associate based in Portland, has continued to move our restoration grants forward, and working with our new VetsWork employee Justin.
Justin continues to work, while also being the new dad for his 6-week old kiddo. He is doing a big lift learning our projects, and entering a bunch of critical restoration data.
Finally, I have been lucky to get out on the river to a couple of our properties while adhering to all of the social distancing guidelines. WR has access to a couple of key river launches that are not public in order to reach our properties. It has provided some opportunity to cut invasive plants, do some trail maintenance, check on game cams and more. Just being able to see the intensive growth of spring plants has been awesome, as well as the arrival of migratory songbirds that are zipping about along the floodplain. 
To all of you, thank you, thank you, thank you for your ongoing support! At this point WR has been able to keep everyone together, with your continued support. We understand this is a very difficult time for a lot of folks on the economic front, so we are very thankful for all of you who continue to make our work possible. 

So, our work continues, and as the weeks unfold, we have a lot of good things to look forward to - even in a new reality. Stay tuned for any changes to our events and programs in the months ahead. 

Hang in there!

Travis Williams
Executive Director & Riverkeeper
Ash Island Acquisition
photo: Paddle Oregon paddlers enjoy a swim break in the Ash Island backchannel
Recently, WR signed a contract to purchase a small 9.5 acre parcel of land on the upstream end of Ash Island. Ash Island is a 150 acre mostly agricultural island near Newberg. 

The parcel in question has some very nice floodplain habitat, and also has the capacity to serve as a Water Trail campsite. Along that stretch of river options are few and far between for Water Trail use, so it can serve as a valuable option for traveling into the Newberg Pool. There are also some restoration opportunities on the property as well. 

Of course, we signed this agreement just before the virus hit, but we plan to continue to seek funds to purchase the parcel. In the coming weeks we will share more about this property and opportunities to support this purchase. 

While WR is not a land trust, we continue to believe that if properties come our way that make sense for our ecological mission, we may consider owning them. In our view over the next 50 years, we need to add considerable acreage of floodplain habitat along the Willamette. That is one of the most glaring needs for this river’s health. 
Trashy Tuesday: Coffee With the Candidates 5/12
WHAT: Trash Talk Tuesday- Coffee With the Candidates
WHEN: Tuesday, May 12th from 9:00am – 10:00am

Join Willamette Riverkeeper, and three upper Willamette community 2020 Primary Candidates, for a virtual coffee klatch highlighting the health of parks and urban waterfront areas along the Willamette River in Lane County. Though candidates will be focused on Eugene-Springfield issues, the urban riverfront health crisis is a relevant consideration in communities across the Willamette Basin. This moderated discussion will explore candidates’ perspectives, suggestions and commitment to addressing issues of:

  • Clean and safe recreational access
  • Adequate protection for water quality
  • Riparian habitat restoration efforts along the Willamette River

This program will be moderated by our Executive Director, Travis Williams, and Southern Willamette Valley program coordinator, Michelle Emmons. Candidates will answer questions prepared by Willamette Riverkeeper. Attendees will be able to ask their own questions at the end of the moderated discussion by submitting them through the chat box on Zoom, on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Participating candidates include:
Restoration Springs Forward
Our restoration efforts continue despite the pandemic, although our energy has temporarily shifted to focus on grant reporting, getting reimbursed for project phases that are now complete, and pursuing additional funding opportunities. We are in communication with our project partners and contractors to devise risk management strategies for work we plan to do this summer. Since Oregon State Parks are currently closed, even to contractors, we have our fingers crossed that the 86,000 native trees and shrubs that we planted at Willamette Mission State Park this past winter are thriving despite the exceptionally beautiful, but very dry weather we have experienced this spring.

Just this week Justin, our VetsWork intern, and Richard, our Restoration Associate, took a break from computer work and number-crunching to enjoy a little physically-distanced field time to work on their plant ID skills. Hopefully you are allowing yourself a little time to enjoy the wonders of nature as well!

Can you identify these Spring beauties?
Oregon Iris
Fawn Lilly
Sword Fern fiddlehead
A WIN For Clean Water
We can celebrate a tremendous national win for clean water in April!
The Supreme Court ruled on Maui County, Hawaii v. Hawaii Wildlife Fund, et al, and it's actually GOOD news for the Clean Water Act !

For years, Maui County had tried skirting the Clean Water Act by pumping 3-5 million gallons of treated sewage into groundwater each day before discharging it into the ocean, wrecking coral reefs and impairing popular recreation areas. The Clean Water Act prohibits the addition of any pollutant from a point source to waters of the U.S. without a permit, but Maui County argued its wastewater treatment plant was not “directly” discharging waste into the ocean and should not be held responsible. The Trump Administration, and Big Industry rallied behind Maui County, stoking the fires of an irrational and dangerous approach to the Clean Water Act. In a 6-3 ruling, the Court held Maui County’s argument “unreasonable” and that allowing such an approach would blow a “massive loophole” in the Clean Water Act. The Court held liability exists where there is a direct discharge, or when there is the “functional equivalent of a direct discharge.” You can access a copy of the opinion HERE.
The Hidden World of River Mussels
Freshwater mussels are near and dear to our soggy hearts, and we are proud of the pioneering research that we have led, and continue to make progress on, in the Willamette system. That’s part of why we are thrilled by this stunning footage captured by our talented friends at Freshwaters Illustrated . “ The Hidden World of River Mussels ” is a short segment from their latest feature film, Hidden Rivers of Southern Appalachia , and it offers an intimate glimpse of some of the most overlooked creatures in river ecosystems, their remarkable behaviors, and the biologists who are working to restore these imperiled animals.
We Are Hopeful
Currently both our June Pinot Paddle and August Paddle Oregon events remain open for registration. We are hopeful that we may be able to run these adventures while following all of the appropriate safety guidelines. We will communicate with you more on this in the weeks ahead.

If these events must be canceled due to on-going COVID-19 restrictions, registrants will be offered a full refund.
#GivingTuesdayNow 5/5
Willamette Riverkeeper will be participating in #GivingTuesdayNow , a global day of giving and unity that will take place on May 5th as an emergency response to the unprecedented need caused by COVID-19.

This new day is organized by GivingTuesday , in partnership with their global network of leaders, partners, communities and generous individuals, this event is set to spark an increase in grassroots generosity, citizen engagement, business and philanthropy activation, and support for communities and nonprofits around the world.

People can show their generosity in a variety of ways to participate in #GivingTuesdayNow – whether it’s helping a neighbor, advocating for an issue, sharing a skill, or giving to causes, every act of generosity counts. The movement is currently focused on opportunities to give back to communities and causes in safe ways that allow for social connection and kindness even while practicing physical distancing.

#GivingTuesdayNow is an opportunity for people around the world to stand together in unity– to use their individual power of generosity to remain connected and heal.
WIN a Canoe, Maybe!
Make a donation between NOW and August 30th and you will be entered to win an amazing Grand Prize package worth $2000, as well as THREE runner up prize packages!
Our GRAND PRIZE winner will take home:

  • Wenonah Northfork Canoe 16ft 9in ($1,199) Green w/ Black Trim
  • Two Made in Oregon Sawyer Paddles ($140)
  • Two PFDs ($160)
  • Canoeing lessons for up to 4 people ($200)
  • Canoe rental for 10 days so your friends can join you ($300) 
THREE runner up prize packages include:

  • A canoe lesson for two ($100)
  • A canoe rental for up to 10 days ($300) 

HOW TO WIN: Donate at one of the levels outlined below to earn raffle entries!

Donate a minimum of $10 a month for a year. For each $10 a month you donate, you will earn an entry (i.e. $10 a month = 1 entry, $20 a month = 2 entries, etc.)!

Increase your monthly donation by $10 or more and earn raffle entries (each $10 increment earns you an entry)! Just send an email to our Deputy Director, heather@willametteriverkeeper.org and she will make the changes.

Make a one-time donation of $120 and earn an entry into the raffle.
For each incremental donation of $120 you earn an additional entry!

Our raffle drawing will take place in early September. THANK YOU for choosing to support Willamette Riverkeeper, and thanks again to our partners, Jeff Catlin and Russ Woodward of Paddle People !
Live Stream Levity
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Here, five year old Canyon, son of WR's Outreach Manager Kate Kuthe, demonstrates what "watching a live stream" may look like in real life!