Who we are | What we want | What we’re doing

Who we are

The Willamette Partnership is a diverse coalition of conservation, city, business, farm, and science leaders in the Willamette River basin who are working to shift the way people think about, value, manage, and regulate the environment.

The Partnership includes people from Clean Water Services (the wastewater management service for the Tualatin River Basin), the Oregon Business Council, Wildwood, Inc. (an urban design and development firm), Defenders of Wildlife, Willamette Riverkeeper, The Conifer Group (a multifaceted real estate development company), the Oregon Association of Nurseries, Weyerhaeuser, the Oregon Association of Conservation Districts, SOLV (an organization that builds community though volunteer action), the Network of Oregon Watershed Councils, Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services, local law firms, and the state’s universities.

What we want

We want ecological resiliency.  We believe naturally functioning ecosystems form the cornerstone of livable communities and a healthy, sustainable economy. To get this, we need to increase the pace, scope, and effectiveness of conservation in the Willamette Basin—that’s our mission.

To achieve our mission we are focusing our attention in three core areas:

• Integrated and strategic investment in ecosystems
• A fair and transparent system for people to buy and sell environmental restoration benefits
• Business models to move beyond compliance-based projects to stewardship of ecosystems

What we’re doing

We are committed to developing innovative conservation tools—tools that will deliver broader conservation results, at a lower cost, and with less conflict than traditional approaches. Our current goal is to develop an ecosystem services marketplace that:

• Attracts strategic investments in high-value conservation and restoration activities in the Willamette Basin (We want to get the be

  The Willamette Partnership’s executive director is David Primozich. He can be reached at  primozich@willamettepartnership.org

  st results for our dollars.)
• Includes transactions related to the full range of services that the ecosystem provides, from storing carbon and cooling river water to mitigating floods and providing habitat for fish and wildlife (We want an integrated marketplace that improves ecosystem health as a whole.)
• Is active enough that substantial private investment will be directed to conservation in the Willamette Basin (We want enough investment that the ecosystem will be significantly restored.)