1
Smoke Signals
6 MARCH 1, 2001
Willamette Restoration Initiative Aimed
aft SavSmig the River's Entire Basin
By Chris Mercier
Can too many cooks spoil broth?
That question will be justly answered
in the near future after Governor
John Kitzhaber and Oregon legisla
tors review the Willamette Restora
tion Strategy handed to them last
month.
The broth in this case would be none
other than the Willamette River Ba
sin, and the cooks the Willamette Res
toration Initiative (WRI) a board of
stakeholders from all sections of Or
egon citizenry bent on one unifying
goal: Saving the Willamette Basin.
"Any time a group like that gets
together, there is going to be a tre
mendous amount of compromising,"
said Tribal Environmental Specialist
and Grand Ronde Tribal member
Kathleen Feehan.
The group Feehan re
ferred to, the WRI, was es
tablished through a state
executive order in 1998.
The purpose: as Kitzhaber
advised them at a meeting
last year, develop a "bold and
specific" strategy to protect
and restore wildlife and habi
tat in the Willamette River
Basin, and at the same time
enhance water quality and implement
proper floodplain management.
Given the composition of the WRI
Board of Directors representatives
of environmental groups, Tribes, in
dustry, agriculture and both state and
federal lawmakers anything but a
compromise seems impossible. But
still, Feehan noted, a starting point
must evolve from somewhere.
"My hope is that this strategy is an
opportunity for people who have not
been working together, who clash
over river issues, to cooperate," she
said. "If we aren't willing to do these
things, then we don't have a chance."
That chance she refers to, of course,
is a one-shot. Feehan's concerns are
understandable. As elsewhere on the
planet but especially in the Willamette
Basin, water is life.
And life in the basin is truly unique.
Aside from the infamous "century
floods" that manifest periodically in
the basin, the region experiences few
calamities. Few droughts, few floods,
no terrible winters or parching sum
mers the basin is a veritable ha
ven of and for plant and animal life.
Such a hospitable climate attracted
settlers long before Europeans even
knew of Oregon. Indigenous people
immediately saw the value of the ba
sin and its plethora of natural re
sources. Thus historians are not sur
prised that Native Americans had
flourished in the Willamette Valley for
thousands of years.
Yet like other natural Meccas, the
basin has fallen upon hard times re
cently because the source of life, wa
ter, has been overexploited and pol
luted in numerous areas. During the
last ten years, 1,500 miles of water
ways have violated Federal Clean
Water Act standards.
Hundreds of thousands of Chinook
used to make runs in the basin, and
that number has declined to a few
thousand at best. The Oregon Health
Division has issued repeated warnings
against consuming fish caught in the
Willamette. Likewise, 16 species of
plants and animals that inhabit the
basin are officially Endangered Spe
cies. Add to that the ever-increasing
shortage of rainfall, the appropriation
of nearly all surface water through
the state water rights system, and the
key role of the Wil
lamette River in the
basin's economy and
panic looms on the ho
rizon. Thus the WRI, and
its goal to keep the
Willamette River from
becoming the West's
New Jersey River.
But members are
faced with an enor-
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ests to aid drainage, on the Grand
Ronde Reservation. The Tribe became
aware that many culverts, being too
high or not draining enough, impede
salmon during spawning runs. Re
placing them is not a cheap endeavor.
Yet it's the perfect example of unfore
seen problems, and
expenses in the eyes of
businesses, that can
materialize unexpect
edly. As word gets out on
problem culverts a col
lective groan issues
forth from other
Tribes and some tim
ber companies, par
ticularly in the State
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Photo by Chris Mercier
REPAIR PROJECT
Culverts like this one
on the Grand Ronde
Reservation are
being inventoried
and those that need
to be repaired are
getting attention.
Repairing and
replacing culverts like
these is just part of
an overall strategy
to improve the
health of the
Willamette River
Basin through a
project called the
Willamette Restora
tion Initiative.
CD
WfcH't&ii: ifslcil 'tfttr v$lfi Jif:Jt(tp tmjtJf: AYSk
mous task in trying to sell a plan that
incorporates at the same time finan
cial, ecological and political interests
intermixed with the inherent
unpredictability of Mother Nature.
The strategy presents four focus ar
eas: Clean Water, Water Quantity,
Habitats and Hydrological Processes,
and Institutions. The four areas are
further broken up into 27 actions;
suggestions for what lawmakers can
do to ensure the preservation of the
Willamette Basin. To Feehan, some
of the actions are indeed specific, and
others alarmingly vague, giving rise
to certain questions.
Many of Feehan's concerns stem
from the fact that as environmental
legislation, many laws potentially put
forth from the strategy run the risk
of constant fluctuation, which for
many businesses wanting to comply,
can be extremely frustrating.
"There's a lot of people making a lot
of money doing what they're doing,"
she said. "And they're not going to
want to change."
To use a recent example, Feehan
points to the problem culverts, those
metal tubes found in ditches or in for-
of Washington, who claim not to have
the money to replace them.
Thus another contentious issue of
the Willamette Restoration Strategy:
Enforcement. To Feehan, enforce
ment can be "a dirty word," not only
because it may involve money, but
also conflict.
"If you want to live here, to work
here, then you're going to have to find
a way to do it that protects the river,"
she said.
It's not a pleasant scenario for
Feehan, because while the strategy
allows for water pollution permits,
businesses that have already polluted
waterways get away scott-free.
"People who allowed themselves to
pollute a public resource broke the
law," she said. "They're the ones who
should be cleaning it up."
Ironically, although Feehan still
has more misgivings about the strat
egy, she adamantly endorses it. Why?
Because it's better than nothing.
"The last thing the Willamette needs
is more rhetoric," she said, adding that
strategy marks the start of an impor
tant dialogue.
WRI representative Rick BastascK
agrees whole-heartedly.
"We've put up a platform for dis
cussion," he said. "And yeah, it's im
perfect but it's better than what we
had before nothing."
Bastasch has been at the forefront
of the development process for the
strategy most of the last two years.
He reluctantly admitted that when
the WRI was first formed, it took a
few meetings before the group really
started to click (Feehan, for the record,
said the same thing). And he has also
been pleasantly surprised by the co
operative efforts, particularly from the
industry section that includes repre
sentatives from Weyerhauser and the
Oregon Business Council.
"These businesses want to maintain
Oregon's high quality of
life," he said. "They live
here, and they know how
unique Oregon is."
But at the same time,
Bastasch understands why
some people may be cynical
I of business in ecological is
ly I sues, as stereotypically it is
irresponsible industry that
ultimately begets environ
mentalism example: the
spotted owl controversy of the late
'80s. Bastasch however doesn't buy
the oversimplified "business vs. ecol
ogy" viewpoint, adding that a clean
Willamette River Basin affects every
one.' " " ' '
"We depend on the environment,
and the environment depends on us,"
he said. "We've a common interest,
believe it or not."
Bastasch admires the WRI board;
mainly because it is composed entirely
of "real" citizens, not exclusively com
pany fat cats, politicians or heads of
environmental groups. And what's
more, he appreciates the strategy.
"I'm confident in this strategy," he
said. "Because it's very holistic and
solid."
He estimates the cost of the strat
egy to weigh in around $10 million
for the first two to three years. And
that cost is liable to change, for rea
sons mentioned before. Is it worth it?
Bastasch doesn't doubt it is.
"This could change the course of his
tory in the Willamette Basin," he said.
"This could change people's lives."
Gov. John Kitzhaber himself ap
peared equally optimistic when the
strategy was finally handed to him
in late February.
"I can't tell you how fortunate I feel
to be here and see this come down the
pipe," he said before a crowded room
in Willamette's University Center.
"This board recognizes the interde
pendence of the environment and the
community," he later added.
If anything, Kitzhaber's vote of con
fidence was a relief, as previous speak
ers, some of them WRI board mem
bers, fondly recounted the bickering
and disagreements that seemed an
early hallmark of sessions. But there
was a new confidence in the room and
few would dare to think dark days for
the Willamette basin lay ahead.
And nobody would dispute, that for
all its imperfections, the Willamette
Restoration Strategy is a much
needed step in the right direction.