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| The Governor's Blueprint for Restoring and Enjoying a Healthy Willamette Basin |
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The Vision
The Willamette River Basin is of vital environmental, economic and social importance to the state  of Oregon. Ensuring that it is healthy for current and future generations is paramount to the state’s future. The water must be clean and in sufficient quantities to support both human and wildlife needs. Fish and wildlife populations must be viable and enjoy the variety of habitats needed to sustain them into the future. Willamette Valley communities and citizens will thrive due to the health of the river, and derive many benefits from the recreational opportunities that the river provides.
The Background
On March 5, 2004 Governor Kulongoski announced that his “top environmental priority over the next three years is to clean up the crown jewel of Oregon’s river system - the Willamette River. I don’t just mean parts of the river - I mean the entire river – from the headwaters east of Eugene all the way to the Columbia.”
The Willamette River Basin (WRB) comprises almost 12,000 square miles, is home to almost 70% of Oregon’s population, and generates approximately 75% of the economic activity of the state. It is the 13th largest river, based on stream flow, in the contiguous United States. Thirteen major tributaries feed into the mainstem Willamette including: Calapooia, Clackamas, Coast Fork Willamette, Long Tom, Luckiamute, McKenzie, Marys, Middle Fork Willamette, Molalla, Pudding, Santiam, Tualatin, and Yamhill rivers. The river has been designated an American Heritage River since 1998.
The WRB supports a variety of plant and wildlife species, some of which are listed as threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act. At least 1400 miles of the basin’s 16,000 miles of streams do not meet water quality standards. While less than 10%, many of the 1400 miles lie adjacent to our most populated areas.
Because historic use of rivers by communities was as a place to carry away waste, most developed with their backs to the river.
Important habitats were lost as the Willamette Valley developed to support its growing population and economy. 97-99% of the prairie habitat has been lost, 80% of the riparian forests have been lost and over half the original wetlands have been lost. Many non-native invasive plant and animal species have taken hold in the basin, to the detriment of native species.
In the late 1960s and early 1970s a major initiative was launched to clean up the river that focused on addressing water pollution coming from industrial and municipal activities in the basin. These efforts addressed pollution from point sources (end of pipe discharges). The effort was highly successful as industrial and municipal dischargers were required to treat waste before discharging effluent into the river.
The population in the Willamette Valley is expected to grow to 4 million by 2050. This creates a significant challenge as we try to balance the needs of an increasing population and expanding economy with the need to sustain healthy watersheds to support viable fish and wildlife populations and highly desired recreational activities over the long term.
In recent years several major planning efforts have been completed that assess current conditions and concerns in the WRB and propose actions that should be taken to improve the health of the basin. These include the:
- Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds, developed by the state in 1997 and amended in 1998 to include the Willamette River Basin;
- Willamette Restoration Strategy, developed by the Willamette Restoration Initiative (WRI, now the Willamette Partnership) in 2001;
- Willamette River Basin Planning Atlas, developed by the Pacific Northwest Ecosystem Research Consortium in 2002;
- Willamette Subbasin Plan, developed by the WRI and adopted by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council (NPCC) in 2004, and
- Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL), developed by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) in 2004 and expected to be adopted by DEQ in 2005.
In addition to these basin-scale efforts, watershed councils have completed watershed assessments and action plans for all the major tributaries to the Willamette. Soil and water conservation districts, working with local landowners and others have completed agricultural water quality area management plans (SB1010 plans) throughout the basin to address water quality concerns associated with agricultural lands in the basin.
These efforts have identified common areas of concern that need to be addressed. This includes on-going water quality problems, loss of fish and wildlife habitat (including wetlands, off channel habitat, riparian areas, and woodland forests), lack of water supply to address current and future needs to support both ecological and economic values, and loss of floodplain function.
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