About the Tualatin River Watershed Council

The Tualatin River Watershed Council is a watershed-stewardship organization that promotes and encourages sustainability and watershed-wise practices in Tualatin River watershed.  The Council was formed in 1993 and is comprised of 20 stakeholder representatives.

The Council promotes sustainability and watershed-wise practices by connecting volunteers, friends groups, and landowners with resources to restore and protect the land; providing watershed stewardship education; sharing information on watershed conditions; and improving watershed health by implementing the Council’s 10-point Action Plan.

The Tualatin River Watershed Council is a locally organized, voluntary group, whose purpose is to:

• foster better stewardship and understanding of the Tualatin River watershed resources,
• address natural resource issues, and
• ensure watershed health, function, and uses.

What is a Watershed Council?

The 1995 Oregon Legislature unanimously passed House Bill 3441 that provides guidance in establishing watershed councils, and clarifies that formation of a council is a local government decision, with no state approval required. Watershed councils are locally organized, voluntary, non-regulatory groups established to improve the conditions of watersheds in their local area. Councils are required to represent the interests in the basin and be balanced in their makeup. Bringing together local stakeholders from private, local, state, and federal interests in a partnership, councils plan watershed protection and restoration strategies in a holistic way--from ridge top to ridge top, and from headwaters to mouth. Through this watershed partnership, council members collaborate to identify issues, promote cooperative solutions, focus resources, agree on goals for watershed protection and enhancement, and foster communication among all watershed interests. 

What is the benefit to local communities forming a watershed council?

Watershed councils are comprised of people from the local communities. They represent local knowledge with ties to the existing community and its complexity. Watershed councils work across jurisdictional boundaries and across agency mandates to look at the watershed more holistically. The council can be a forum to bring local, state, and federal land management agencies and plans together with local property owners and private land managers. The council forum provides local people with a voice in natural resource management that can significantly influence watershed management decisions.

What does a watershed council do?

Local watershed councils are highly effective in planning, development, and implementation of projects to maintain and restore the biological and physical process in watersheds for the sustainability of their communities. Councils bring varied interests together in a non-regulatory setting to form a common vision for the ecological and economic sustainability and livability of their watershed. Councils often identify landowner participants for important projects, develop priorities for local projects, and establish goals and standards for future conditions in the watershed. On-site projects are implemented in an effort to enhance the watershed's ability to capture, store, and beneficially release water. Education projects are undertaken to inform people about watershed processes and functions. Watershed councils provide coordinated, broad-based review of land management plans to local, state, and federal decision-makers.

Learn more about watershed councils at the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) website: www.oweb.state.or.us and at the Network of Oregon Watershed Councils site: www.oregonwatersheds.org