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Dear River Friends,
Traveling the Willamette, you can read thirty years of Willamette Riverkeeper’s work in the landscape: native trees returning to a floodplain, wapato emerging in a backchannel, a protected island welcoming paddlers, and neighbors gathering to care for the water that connects us.
Our 187 Miles of Wonder campaign brings these stories together. From the upper river through agricultural valleys and growing cities to Portland Harbor and the Columbia, each reach reveals something worth protecting and a responsibility we share. This anniversary invites us to recognize the people who have carried that responsibility for thirty years, and to consider what the next thirty will require.
WRK began in February 1996 as Friends of the Willamette River, with founder Don Francis, founding board members Joe Coffman and Mary Lou Soscia, and early Executive Director, Rita Haberman helping lay the foundation for river advocacy, community engagement, and clean-water protection. Their efforts gave the Willamette a dedicated voice and helped build the organization’s capacity during its formative years. Travis Williams became Riverkeeper and Executive Director in 2000 and guided twenty-four years of advocacy, restoration, and river connection.
When Bob Sallinger stepped into leadership in 2024, he helped usher WRK into its next chapter, emphasizing deeper collaboration within our team and stronger partnerships throughout the watershed. Although his time with us was cut tragically short, we continue to carry that commitment forward. Today, our Co-Executive Director structure builds on that collaborative approach, sharing leadership across the Upper and Lower Willamette while bringing complementary strengths to our work. Together with our staff, board, volunteers, and partners, we are strengthening WRK’s relationships, regional presence, and capacity to serve communities and protect the river throughout the Willamette watershed.
One enduring achievement is the Willamette Water Trail. As a leading advocate and partner with Oregon State Parks, local communities, and other organizations, WRK helped develop a connected paddling experience that earned National Water Trail designation in 2012. That work carries forward the Willamette Greenway vision: protecting river landscapes while creating opportunities for people to experience and care for them.
We have put that vision into practice through land purchases and long-term stewardship. The 2017 acquisition of Norwood Island, our first conservation property, helped protect floodplain habitat and preserve a public Water Trail campsite. Across our river properties, invasive plant removal, native habitat restoration, and thoughtful recreational amenities support places where paddlers can rest, explore, and deepen their connection to the Willamette.
Farther downstream, our partnership with Oregon State Parks at Willamette Mission State Park has grown into a multi-million-dollar floodplain restoration effort. The project encompasses 752 acres and includes years of invasive plant removal, native planting, and sustained care for floodplain forests and aquatic habitats. At Gail Achterman Wildlife Area, our work with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and other partners has helped native wapato return remarkably after we removed invasive aquatic weeds. Its recovery restores valuable habitat and a culturally significant Indigenous food plant.
These projects also demonstrate why collaboration across the basin matters. WRK’s pioneering coordination and leadership within the Willamette Aquatic Invasives Network, alongside agencies, Tribes, watershed councils, conservation districts, researchers, and other partners, has helped advance surveys, information sharing, and treatment of aquatic invasive weeds. Protecting one backchannel takes local care; protecting a connected river system takes a connected community.
Accountability has always been central to our work. We defend the Clean Water Act, challenge inadequate pollution protections, and work with coalitions to press for policies that serve people and the river ahead of private profit. Our legal advocacy also extends to threatened fish and the tributaries they depend upon, including efforts to protect native winter steelhead in the Santiam system.
In the lower river, that commitment means pressing federal agencies and responsible parties for a protective Portland Harbor Superfund cleanup, while working with community partners to reconnect people to these waters. It means advocating for restoration and solutions for recurring harmful algal blooms at Ross Island. And it means confronting the fuel-storage risks at the Critical Energy Infrastructure Hub, supporting stronger safeguards, public accountability, and policies that reduce the danger to neighboring communities and the river. These remain urgent responsibilities.
Equally meaningful are the moments when someone discovers the river for the first time. Through Paddle Oregon, River Discovery, paddling instruction, and volunteer stewardship, we create opportunities for people to build confidence and a lasting relationship with the Willamette. Providing boats, proper gear, safety instruction, and welcoming experiences helps make that relationship possible for more people.
Our responsibility includes learning with Tribal partners and recognizing Indigenous Peoples as contemporary leaders and enduring stewards of this landscape. Cultural and historical knowledge deepens river education, reminding us that the places we paddle through hold living relationships, histories, and responsibilities that long precede our organization.
We also celebrate the volunteers who turn care into action through River Guardians and the Great Willamette Cleanup, and the community science that helps us better understand the river, including our work with native freshwater mussels and more recently, salmon habitat mapping. So much stewardship happens quietly: recording observations, hauling trash, tending young trees, or helping a nervous paddler feel welcome. Together, those efforts sustain our mission.
That is what 187 Miles of Wonder brings into focus. A restored wetland, a safe place to launch, a stronger pollution safeguard, and a person’s first paddle all contribute to the same future. Our accomplishments belong to the many people and partnerships that made them possible, including you.
Thank you for helping carry this work forward. There is wonder in every mile, and a place for each of us in protecting it.
With gratitude and determination,
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