Development of Regional Collaborative Restoration Programs

Throughout the United States, communities struggle to develop large-scale watershed restoration programs capable of enhancing and preserving ecological needs while ensuring strong urban and agricultural economic growth.  Often watershed restoration is seen as a series of pilot projects that struggle to find the funding and partnerships needed to create large landscape restoration programs capable of supporting long-term watershed health.  In 2004, Clean Water Services (www.cleanwaterservices.org)  embarked on a journey to develop a regional restoration program able to meet the regulatory needs of a public wastewater/stormwater utility and at the same time create an integrated community-based restoration program that serves the entire Tualatin River Watershed.  This program was developed through a partnership with local, regional and federal governments, nonprofits, and agricultural community.  Using existing local, state and federal funding sources in an integrated and focused strategy, over 65 river miles and 15,000 acres have been restored and conserved in the Tualatin River Watershed since 2004.  Over 70 farms and 12 cities are actively participating, and this program is now capable of planting over one million native tress and shrubs in a single year (www.jointreeforall.org). This presentation will chronicle the evolution of this program,  lessons learned,  and the future of large landscape restoration programs in the United States.  As we consider large scale water quality issues throughout the United States (e.g. gulf hypoxia, great lakes and Chesapeake Bay) we have an opportunity to redirect existing funding sources and create meaningful watershed scale restoration programs.