Each year the watershed council undergoes an extensive work-planning process wherein the staff and board develop a detailed report of the work underway, and what to expect in the coming year.
We have three temporal views of the council’s work that guide us:
- Our 30-year Conservation Strategy guides our restoration and enhancement activities on the ground over the “Long Term in the Long Tom”
- Our strategic plan provides a 3-5 year view of how key priorities within that conservation strategy should be expressed in the medium term
- Our annual 1-year work-plans are the tactics and activities on a 12 month view in direct service to our mission, as guided by the strategic plan and conservation strategy.
We’re proud to share our LTWC FY2023 Annual Work Plan as a way to give our watershed community a window into all the amazing work underway, and as an act of transparency so you can see exactly what kind of activities your generous gifts of time, energy, and dollars support.
As you review the plan, we hope you’ll get a sense of how diverse the Council’s work truly is as we conduct projects in rural and urban spaces, in streams and on ridge tops, working with Indigenous partners on cultural fire, and everything in between. Importantly, we hope you’ll get a sense of how sincerely we value and prioritize working with folks from all walks of life and connections to the lands and waters we share. We put a lot of energy and care into listening, learning, and asking questions to ensure that the collective wisdom that influences our work includes a diversity of lived experiences. Increasingly, that energy and care is concretely reflected in our annual work plan as the awareness we cultivate through relationships we build find their way into action on the ground. We still have a lot of work to do, but are buoyed by the progress we see.
This year’s annual work-plan is 22 pages! We have twelve staff working in service to this watershed and our 25-year mission for a healthier Long Tom. Each year this hard working and creative team accomplishes a lot. And, none of it happens without a community ready to engage, give, and act. As you look through the tables and boxes of this year’s plan – we hope you’ll reflect upon the people in your community behind those boxes, and the important contributions you and folks just like you are making all across this watershed to make this work happen.
And, we hope you’ll keep the words of our mission, and our commitment to marginalized communities in mind when reviewing this plan. Ask us questions, keep us accountable, and most importantly keep us grounded in what matters most to you and the health of your communities.
Mission (since 1998): “The Long Tom Watershed Council serves to improve water quality and watershed condition in the Long Tom River Basin and surrounding drainages through education and collaboration among all interests, using the collective wisdom and voluntary action of our community members.”
Commitment to Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (Since 2019): “The health of the watershed is dependent upon the contributions of all people. LTWC recognizes the disproportionate impacts systems of oppression on People of Color and Indigenous People. We believe the organization’s strength depends on breaking down implicit, systemic inequities. We strive to create an inclusive and welcoming environment that grows our collective wisdom.”
Please reach out if you have any questions or would like to learn more about our work this coming year. And, stay tuned for later this fall when we publish our 2021 Annual Report to reflect on the work completed last year on behalf of you and the finned and four, and six legged watershed neighbors we all share it with.