Helping Oregon watersheds  

October 29, 2009

   Moriarty, the network’s executive director, says those informal but informational exchanges are a reason the gatherings are held every two years.

   “It’s a chance to have everybody together for a few days and get a feeling for the magnitude of things that are happening,” he said of the 2009 Watershed Council Gather ing under way at the Running Y Ranch Resort through Friday.  

   More than 200 people from watershed councils throughout the state are attending workshops, field trips and panel discussions. Moriarty also believes informal exchanges between attendees help provide people with new thoughts and ideas to take back to their respective communities.

   “A watershed council in the Portland area is going to have a lot different set of interests than a watershed from the coast or a watershed council from the Klamath Basin,” he said. “ That’s our strength.”

   The network, Moriarty said, helps watershed councils statewide by providing information and technical support that allows them   to be more effective. Workshops at the gathering, for example, provide information on everything from recruiting and retaining volunteers to technical matters such as culvert design.

   Moriarty said the network’s goals include building relationships and promoting the work of councils and watershed restoration projects.

   A key to all projects, he emphasizes, is that efforts are “driven by the desire to work with ecological out comes that support local economics.”

   Klamath Basin

   In the Klamath Basin, the Klamath Watershed Partnership includes local representatives from various watershed working groups. Nathan Jackson, the group’s director, said the watershed includes the Klamath, Sprague, Williamson, Sycan and Lost rivers.

   Jackson stresses the group’s mission is to “protect and enhance the natural resources of the Klamath Basin while assuring the viability of regional economics.” A goal of the partnership is to “find ways to do restoration work and allow people to live on the land.”

   The partnership’s major project, one that began 15 years ago, involves rehabilitating Barkley Springs, near Hagelstein Park north of Klamath Falls, to a more natural environment. Highway 97, the railroad line and other work done over several decades has changed the natural water flows   at the area, which used to provide spawning habitat for Lost River and shortnose suckers.

   “It’s a huge project,” Jackson said.

   While the Barkley Springs project is taking years to accomplish, Moriarty said that it exhibits the strength of the watershed council process.

   “It’s about building relationships with the landowners, the land managers and not pushing it any faster than it needs to be done,” Moriarty said. “It’s not simply coming in and telling people what needs to be done.”