What We Do

The Work, Our Service Territory, and First Peoples

The Willamette River Preservation Trust is an independent 501c3 non profit land trust, led by folks with significant experience conserving the lands and waters of the Willamette River Basin. The trust operates on its own, and represents an area of the Willamette Basin that until now, did not have coverage by a local land trust.

The conservation need in this area is significant, with myriad streams, rivers, oak woodlands, wet prairies, upland prairies and more in need of protection. Our work covers the mid Willamette Valley, to the Portland metropolitan suburbs south to north, and from the Coast Range to the Cascade Mountains east to west.

Over the past 150 years, the Willamette Basin has been drastically altered, with massive reductions in natural habitat. Our goal is to move the needle in the other direction, holding lands for conservation indefinitely. Conserving lands and waters in perpetuity, “forever and forever,” is the goal. To do so we:

  • Purchase or receive donated ecologically healthy lands for permanent protection.

  • Purchase or receive donated land in need of habitat restoration where we can then take restoration action.

  • Enable people to learn about these places via educational trips by land and water (walking tours, canoe and kayak trips and more).

  • Create access to these places, when it makes sense, for low-impact recreation. This includes public access for hiking, bird watching, and just enjoying the peace and quiet of nature. This has to make sense for individual sites and their constraints.

In time our approach will also include conservation easements, enabling private landowners to conserve their lands even as ownership changes.

Support our work today!

The Trust works in a good portion of the Willamette River Basin, roughly from the Mid Valley north to the Portland suburbs. In general it is about “wildflowers and water.” Of course, we have a more refined focus than that.

Like other land trusts in Oregon, our work focuses on Conservation Opportunity Areas and Wildlife Corridor habitat as defined by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

We focus on Oak Woodlands, wet prairies, the floodplain of much of the mainstem Willamette River, (including points south of Salem) as well as some of its larger tributaries. We also focus on creek habitat in the open valley, and foothills. Butte Creek, Abiqua Creek, Silver Creek, Rock Creek, the Pudding River are all a focus as well. We will publish a map of this area shortly!

Our Service Territory

First Peoples

The Willamette River Basin has been home to people for thousands of years prior to the arrival of white folks. The amazing creeks, rivers, meadows, oak woodlands, wetlands and deep forest were known intimately by the Kalapuyan people who populated much of the Willamette Valley.

After the treaty of 1855, the remaining Kalapuyan people were forcibly removed to reservations at Siletz, or Grand Ronde. The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde today include many Kalapuya, and their culture is alive and well at the soverign nation at Grand Ronde.

Our organization has strong ties with the Confederated Tribest of Grand Ronde, as well as other local tribal nations. We value their insight, and support the land back movement, as well as access by tribal members to lands owned by the Willamette River Preservation Trust. Near our home office in Scotts Mills, there is ample evidence of Kalapuya and Molalla culture all around us, and for that we are grateful, and protective of such places.