Happy Holidays from the Long Tom!
Please consider giving a generous tax-deductible gift to LTWC this holiday season.
Earlier this fall, I stumbled into a spider web in my garden and paused to study it. While I examined its dew dappled threads, I saw the core structure remained intact, despite the impact from a bumbling human. Several leaders anchored it to other stems, allowing it to maintain its shape.
The Long Tom Watershed Council, and the broader watershed community, is a lot like that web — strong and resilient from all of the connections anchoring it in place. It’s each and every one of you who comprise our “watershed web” — whether as community collaborators, project landowners, volunteers, or the many, many people who read our newsletter, attend public events, or help facilitate learning about our work and why it matters.
The very core of the Council is its interconnected web of relationships. Before we can restore oak savanna, plant trees, replace culverts, or install stormwater facilities, or any of the accomplishments highlighted in our 2022 annual report, there are many, many hours of listening, learning, planning, and trust-building
involved. This is vital to all of our work. It’s also the most difficult part of our work to fund. While the majority of our work is grant funded, grants primarily pay for the on-the-ground work itself — such as contractors and heavy equipment, plants, culverts, and project oversight. Your dollars have a tremendous impact on all the important conversations and ideation that happen beforehand, which sets the table for the voluntary action that grantors can put their support behind.
There are so many cool current and historical examples. In the early days of the Council, the dedicated efforts of a few individual Ferguson Creek neighbors to enhance habitat on their own properties has expanded to include participation from many other neighbors, eventually leading to connected, continuous improvements at an ecosystem-scale. In recent years, a passionate network of municipal, utility, and funding partners have united to scale-up capacity to improve water quality across the entire Eugene-Springfield metro area. And just this year, Tribal, agency, and nonprofit regional partners have successfully launched a collaborative prescribed fire program to serve the entire Willamette basin. These connections are among many that strengthen the Long Tom Watershed Council and are helping us work toward our mission and build resilience in our watershed.
In 25 years, the donor community has contributed an incredible $840,000 to LTWC! Whether $1, $1,000, or anywhere in between, your gifts have added up and every donation really does matter in sustaining the success of this organization.
As 2022 comes to a close, we’re asking you to help us meet (or exceed!) our goal to raise $25,000 for our 25th anniversary. We’re already about 77% of the way there! If you can, please give a generous tax-deductible gift to the Watershed Council this holiday season. We would be thrilled to put it to work on your behalf in building a healthier future for the Long Tom Watershed in 2023 and for years to come.
Thank you for being an important connector in this incredible watershed community’s “web”. Best wishes to you and everyone you hold dear this holiday season.
Sincerely,
Rob Hoshaw
Interim Executive Director
operations@longtom.org
541-654-8965