The success of LTWC in working toward its mission depends on the passion and voluntary action of our community members, and hundreds of volunteers contribute to improving the watershed each year. While the image of a volunteer might most likely bring to mind outdoor stewardship events like tree planting and weed pulls, these activities actually make up a small percentage of our volunteer engagement. The vast majority of our volunteers are people in our extensive network of community partners — technical and scientific professionals, guest presenters at public meetings, and numerous other partners who are working to help us build and steward community relationships. We also consider as volunteers the 100 families and businesses who in over two decades have voluntarily participated in restoration projects and engaging in ongoing stewardship. These project landowners form the very foundation of our definition of watershed volunteer!
If you’re someone who’s interested in getting outside to volunteer, that’s great! We have a handful of volunteer work parties each year and will advertise them in our newsletter and here on our website. We encourage you to keep an eye out for these opportunities, or let us know if you’re interested in being added to a list of folks to reach out to when these events are being planned. However, if you’re looking for a steady volunteer role where you can help with stewardship or monitoring activities on a regular basis, we might not be the best fit. In that case, we would encourage you to reach out to McKenzie River Trust, who coordinates outdoor volunteer events for all six organizations within a regional collaborative called Upper Willamette Stewardship Network, and several of these events each year include projects in the Long Tom Watershed! McKenzie River Trust organizes regular “Watershed Wednesday” volunteer events, and this is a great way to meet other civic-minded folks and learn about organizations working to improve the entire Upper Willamette River Basin.
We still want to hear from you! If you think you have a skill that would help the watershed, or if you want to learn more about past or upcoming volunteer activities — or would just like to learn more about the watershed or council in general, feel free to reach out anytime to info@longtom.org or 541-654-8965 ext 101.