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I hope November is going well for all of you! This past year has been a good one for Willamette Riverkeeper’s work. We’ve made fantastic progress is several areas, and some of this has been due to some great new additions to our staff, adding to the hard work of our stalwarts. This work includes:
- Working to halt the construction of a major industrial chicken facility along the North Santiam River, and with a sweet coalition including local agricultural land owners!
- Conducting two large cleanup events, the Spring for Your River series in May, and our Great Willamette Cleanup in October. Of course, we host additional cleanup events each month up and down the Willamette River.
- Petitioning the Oregon DEQ to regulate trash and debris under the Clean Water Act and continuing advocacy on that front to develop real solutions to the overall issue (we will have more on this soon).
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Acquiring two new properties, one along the Willamette, and one along the South Santiam. Both of them are now part of an assemblage of properties that provide solid habitat, opportunities for additional restoration, and of course low impact recreation as a part of our Willamette Wildlands Initiative.
- Settling a significant Clean Water Act case against the City of Albany. This will result in cleaner water for the long term.
- Bringing back the Paddle Oregon event, and conducting two other large river trips, the Pinot Paddle and Harvest Paddle. These events continue to bring new support to our work on behalf of the river.
- Continuing our long-term advocacy on behalf of the Portland Harbor Superfund Cleanup, with action to remove contaminated sediments starting next year.
- Helping to pass significant State legislation that limits the weight of power boats in the Newberg Pool stretch of the river that conduct towed water sports.
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In all of this, you all have helped to make a difference. Your support of our work truly makes it possible. It is as simple as that! Thanks to all of you who contribute financially at all levels.
This year I was especially blown away by the outpouring of support for our acquisition of the Pearlshell Reserve. The funds were generated in about a week thanks to the Willamette Riverkeeper community. That is a huge show of support, and a clear show of commitment to what we do. I thank you all very much for that! I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible over the coming weeks and months.
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Travis Williams
Riverkeeper & Executive Director
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Friends, we're so excited to be participating in Give!Guide again this year. Starting this week and running through the end of the year, donors who give through Willamette Week's platform will be eligible for special incentives and prizes, including a $10,000 match, courtesy of our friends at Fortis Construction. Double your donation and help make our work possible today!
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This year, our first 100 donors will get a coupon for a free bottle of Brew Dr. Kombucha. Make your gift today to be one of the first 100! Thank you to Brew Dr. for your support. | |
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And thank you to all of our sponsors! We are so proud to be offering incentives and matches by our incredible sponsors: Fortis Construction, Mountain Rose Herbs, Union Wine Company, Brew Dr. Kombucha, and Next Adventure.
And this year, our end-of-year drawing includes a paddle pack full of goodies from Next Adventure, Willamette Riverkeeper swag, and even registration to Pinot Paddle or Harvest Paddle 2023! You can participate by making a gift through Give!Guide (every $5 donated = one entry), or by sharing one of our Give!Guide posts on Facebook or Instagram.
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JOIN US FOR THE ANNUAL WILD & SCENIC FILM FESTIVAL ON NOVEMBER 17!
In just a couple of weeks, we will be at the Hollywood Theatre in NE Portland for our annual Wild & Scenic Film Festival! Join us on November 17 for a night of 12 short films, inspiration, adventure... and of course an incredible raffle! Enter to win prizes from the Independence Hotel, over 4 Willamette Valley wineries, REI, Dr. Bronner, Water Avenue Coffee and many more local businesses!
Tickets are just $16, which include event admission, as well as 1 entry to our Willamette River Lover gift basket. All proceeds from our Wild & Scenic Film Festival event, including raffle sales, will help support Willamette Riverkeeper as we fight for clean water and healthy habitat on your river.
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PICTURING RESTORATION PROGRESS OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS | |
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Much of our habitat restoration work is not glamorous: managing budgets in Google docs, offering direction to contractors, working with partner organizations to schedule field actions, requesting reimbursements from funders; writing grants and contracts, working with landowners, managing photopoints, and writing reports for funders. This said, some of this work allows us to highlight what we are doing well. You may have heard about the 535,000 native trees and shrubs that we have planted at Willamette Mission State Park (WMSP), or the 111,000 natives installed at the Gail Achterman Wildlife Area (GAWA), but the photos shown here will help you visualize the progress. Pictured here is Unit A at WMSP where in 2018 we used a no-till drill to seed native grasses, an auger to install large cottonwood poles, and a contractor team wielding planting shovels to introduce bare root shrubs. The next photo set show Mission Lake Edge where we first installed bare root plants in 2020. Each of these areas are almost unrecognizable in the pictures taken from the same vantage point this past spring and summer of 2022.
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The last photo is for those of you who were not able to join us for a tour of the GAWA Wapato (Sagittaria latifolia) fields during Paddle Oregon this past summer, where abatement of aggressive non-native Ludwigia has supported the resurgence of what is probably the largest patch of native Wapato anywhere in the Willamette Valley. Just look at the stature of those beautiful plants!
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A SUCCESSFUL
GREAT WILLAMETTE CLEANUP
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Our 14th Annual Great Willamette Cleanup was a huge success! Although we did have to make some adjustments around some extra smokey days and high water levels, we were still able to work with 375 of you across our 21 cleanup events this month! Thank you volunteers, countless community partners and financial sponsors who all contributed to the removal of 83.5 yards of trash (that's 167+ curbside garbage cans), 122 needles, and a whole lot of English ivy!
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Our cleanups from Portland to Salem will be put on pause over the winter months, but our Upper Willamette River Guardian program will continue in Corvallis and Eugene! Visit our events calendar for additional details and to get registered!
| The Great Willamette Cleanup 2022 was sponsored by Backyard Bird Shop, Cafeto Coffee Company, Fortis Construction Company, Mountain Rose Herbs, Next Adventure, Oregon State Parks, Organically Grown, REI, Swire Coca-Cola, Wyld CBD, and numerous private individuals. | Looking for a volunteer activity in Portland? One of our regular volunteers, Jeff, is hosting a planing event in West Linn on Sunday, November 13. More details are available here. | |
NEW MUSSEL eDNA INITIATIVE - SURVEYING THE WHOLE RIVER BASIN | |
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As most of you know, WR has devoted significant time and resources in conducting freshwater mussel research along the mainstem Willamette and its tributaries over the past 7 years. We’ve published 3 studies with our lead Scientist, Zee (Celeste) Searles Mazacanno, and Travis leading the fieldwork.
Travis and Zee have a recently published peer-reviewed paper in Northwest Science as well(Status of Three Large Populations of Western Pearlshell (Bivalvia: Margaritiferidae: Margaritifera falcata) in the Willamette River Basin, Oregon, Travis Williams, Celeste A. Searles Mazzacano, Northwest Science 95 (3-4), 276-291 (28 September, 2022). This paper describes their three studies, and some of the take aways from them that may apply to future research and analysis.
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Based ontheir work to date, and the relative lack of comprehensive data in regard to the presence of freshwater mussels basin wide, WR sought funding for a comprehensive survey utilizing eDNA for the whole basin. That’s right, WR and its partner, ICF, are going to collect water samples for the whole river basin in the next four years, and screen them for the DNA markers for Western Pearlshell Mussels, and Western Ridged Mussels!
While we have made great progress to date, this new technology holds the promise of identifying stream and river reaches that are positive for the DNA markers of these species. When identified, WR will go out and physically survey these areas. Utilizing this relatively new technology will cut our time in the field searching for mussels, and will provide a much more detailed map of mussel locations throughout the nearly 12,000 square mile river basin.
Funding from the Oregon Conservation and Recreation Fund is getting this going, as well as funding from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board. A private foundation will also likely help to support this work in 2023 and 2024.
In their experience there have not been any such efforts to utilize eDNA for freshwater mussels at such a scale. Zee, Travis and the WR team hope to provide very useful, and valuable, data from which to aid mussel, and river conservation, for the long term.
Thank you again for your support of this work!
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Cold and rainy days ahead call for a hot cup of coffee! Local small batch roaster, Pastor John's Blessed Beans, from Oregon City, continues to brew up the best! The perfect blend, named Roast #187 for the 187 miles of the Willamette River, can be purchased for just $35. You'll receive 2 bags and $5 will be donated to Willamette Riverkeeper!
Visit our store to shop other great items such as patches, posters and more.
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