JULY RIVERSCAPE

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A Message from Willamette Riverkeeper's New Executive Director

Dear Friends,

First and foremost, I want to thank you for being part of the Willamette Riverkeeper Community. I have partnered with Willamette Riverkeeper for more than two decades and served as its Conservation Director for the last 18 months. I am now incredibly honored and excited to step into the role of Executive Director. I have spent my career in grassroots conservation and Willamette Riverkeeper represents an incredible grassroots community of people who care about our river. I have seen over the course of decades, on the ground and in the water, how much difference Willamette Riverkeeper can make and together we will build that legacy forward. 

From my perspective, working for Willamette Riverkeeper is one of the most rewarding conservation jobs in Oregon: It is a privilege to work to protect and restore this amazing river that runs through wilderness, public lands, working forests, farmlands and cities with approximately 70% of Oregon’s population living within its watershed and endangered salmon swimming in its waters. It brings together some of the most challenging and complex conservation issues that we face as a society today, from climate resilience to the biodiversity crisis to diversity equity and inclusion. The health of our river is a mirror for how we take care of the landscape, the fish and wildlife that share the Willamette Valley with us, and ultimately ourselves. 

Thanks to the work of Willamette Riverkeeper and others we have made remarkable progress on the Willamette, but we still have a long way to go to ensure that the Willamette is clean and healthy for people and wildlife. Willamette Riverkeeper and its members are critical to achieving that vision.

I look forward to working with Willamette Riverkeeper’s amazing staff, board, volunteers, activists and members to move this work forward. Thank you to Michelle Emmons for stepping into the Deputy Director role and Cathy Tortorici for stepping into the role of Board President. Michelle has been a critical part of the Riverkeeper team for more than a decade and brings so much energy, experience and community connection to Riverkeeper’s leadership. Cathy brings decades of experience working in leadership at the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Environmental Protection Agency. She was also on the board of Riverkeeper in our early years and I am incredibly grateful for her experience and leadership now. 

Our core focus will remain on ensuring clean water and holding polluters accountable, protecting and restoring fish and wildlife habitat, and engaging communities with the river. We are committed to building a broader, more diverse Riverkeeper community to inform, advance and benefit from this work.

I also want to honor the work of the past 27 years since Willamette Riverkeeper was founded, in particular outgoing Executive Director, Travis Williams. I appreciate the tremendous legacy that Travis built over his 24 years of service. Thank you Travis!

Each day I am learning more about the work of Willamette Riverkeeper, its programs and its people. I love the multidimensional approach that Willamette Riverkeeper takes to its work, from cutting edge collaboration to groundbreaking litigation, from complex public policy advocacy to highly impactful on the ground cleanup, restoration, and river recreation programs, from scientific research to understanding the challenges facing the river’s wild inhabitants to land acquisition to protect the habitats on which they depend. Most of all, I love the fact that this work is grounded in community. Willamette Riverkeeper was founded to give the community a real voice in the stewardship of our river, sometimes against some of the most powerful entities in the state and on the planet. It is that collective voice that continues to inform and power our work today.  

In the coming weeks and months, we will be providing a variety of opportunities for the Riverkeeper community to help us develop our vision and priorities as we move forward. We will definitely be reaching out to you and please do not hesitate to reach out to me.    

Read Board President Cathy Tortorici’s Announcement here

Read more about Bob here Michelle here

Read more about Cathy here

We are so excited! This month, Willamette Riverkeeper is kicking off its annual187 Miles of Wonder Fundraising Campaign with a $20,000 Challenge Donation! From now until September, ALL donations up to $20,000 will be matched 1:1 thanks to a generous long-term supporter of Willamette Riverkeeper who has pledged a $20,000 matching donation!

Between now and the end of August, our goal is to raise $75,000. This funding is essential to support our advocacy on behalf of the river, our on the ground work to restore the river and our amazing field trips, paddles and events to engage the community with the river. 

In the coming weeks you will be hearing more about this campaign. Thank you for all your past support and please consider a contribution now. Below, you will find a list of all the ways you can make an investment in Willamette Riverkeeper - we need your support and the river needs all of us - please DONATE TODAY.

YOU MAKE THE DIFFERENCE!

Why support Willamette Riverkeeper? Because we ADVOCATE, EDUCATE, AND TAKE ACTION to protect OUR Willamette River water quality and habitat! You can make positive change today by supporting our work in a variety of ways:

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• Mail a donation to WRK at 1210 Center St., Oregon City, OR 97045.

• Make an online donation at www.willametteriverkeeper.org 
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• Make an IRA distribution, and direct it to the same address above 
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• Donate stock to WRK. Contract Bob Sallinger directly for our account information. bob@willametteriverkeeper.org
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• You can donate property of different types in support of our work.

• You can also place WRK in your will as part of our legacy planning program.

Please contact us for more information. Thank you for your consideration and continued support!

In mid-June, the Linn County Commissioners exercised the authority given to them by SB 85 and voted to put in place a one mile setback for poultry CAFOs from neighboring property lines. This is a bold step, protecting communities from industrial poultry operations, and safeguarding the groundwater and air quality these communities rely on. Willamette Riverkeeper is a proud partner of Farmers Against Foster Farms and is extremely grateful for the efforts these small family farmers have taken to make Linn County a healthy home. 

RESTORATION UPDATES

As the seasons change so does the focus of our restoration work. Vanessa has been working hard to organize and schedule our six aquatic invasive species (AIS) projects this summer. These focus on 130 miles of river for two A-listed AIS, garden yellow loosestrife and yellow floating heart, and the B-listed aquatic weed, Ludwigia. We are so grateful for our partnerships with the City of Salem, Oregon Parks & Recreation Department, Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife, Benton SWCD, Yamhill SWCD and many more for this work. Collaboration is key!

In preparation of moving to our on-water work, last month we held an on-water safety training with our contractor Intefgrated Resources Management and our partner Oregon Parks & Recreation Department. While we love the time and energy we get to spend protecting, restoring and conserving the Willamette, we also value the importance of safety and the required skills necessary to be out on the water. It was a fun day on the river filled with education about river preparation, paddle strokes and maneuvers, safety and rescue techniques and fun swimming in the river. 

If you haven’t signed up already, we have four Paddle & Pull events coming up in July & August. Come join us on the river to hand pull aquatic weeds, learn how these invasive species are degrading our watershed, identification tips, how to report and dispose of aquatic weeds properly, and enjoy our incredible river! REGISTER BELOW \/\/

RIVER STEWARDSHIP EVENTS

Come PADDLE & PULL invasive aquatic weeds with WRK's Restoration Team. We'll be reviving back channel habitats to help restore cooler temperatures and oxygenated habitats for native flora, fauna, and wildlife! We'll have two opportunities this year... these outings are free of charge and include all the boating gear needed; canoes, PFDs, and paddles. Space is very limited; please register early to ensure a seat in one of our canoes, or bring your own boat (please be experienced paddling in moving water if you are bringing your own boat).

July 10: Salem Willamette Slough REGISTER HERE

July 19: Corvallis Willamette Mainstem REGISTER HERE

August 3: Corvallis/Albany Willamette REGISTER HERE

RIVER GUARDIANS programs will continue throughout 2024, with planned efforts in Eugene, Corvallis, Albany, Keizer, and Salem. If you are interested in learning how to sponsor getting a program started in your community, please contact Michelle Emmons. WRK also welcomes employee groups at any of our regularly scheduled cleanups. To see what we've got coming up soon, please check our event calendar, or register for one of our upcoming events below.

July 16: Trashy Tuesday Eugene: ON-WATER REGISTRATION

July 25: Trashy Thursday Corvallis: ON-WATER REGISTRATION

JULY 1 LAST CHANCE TO REGISTER FOR PINOT PADDLE!

Seriously... Need we say more? Come paddle with us, revel in Willamette Valley wines and feast on gourmet local foods on Grand Island along the beautiful Willamette Water Trail! Click the button below and REGISTER FOR PINOT PADDLE TODAY!