Upper Deschutes Designated for Home Rivers Project
Alan Moore, TU National Office

Upper Deschutes Home Rivers - Deschutes Chapter Meeting
Several developments in the Upper Deschutes over recent weeks. As some of you know,
we've been working the ground game in the Bend/Redmond/Sisters/Prineville area for about
a year and a half scoping out the viability of a TU Home Rivers Initiative here coupled with a
rejuvenated Deschutes Chapter. While that amount of groundwork is pretty unprecedented
for us, we feel it has been necessary to communicate with as many of the players here as
possible, to both identify TU's niche and opportunities, as well as to best define ourselves to
others to avoid stepping on toes or crossing wires. In our minds, we cannot have a Home
Rivers project in an area without a strong grassroots presence, so figuring out what's
needed to jumpstart the Deschutes Chapter has been just as important as the work we've
been doing with partner groups like the Deschutes Land Trust, the Deschutes River
Conservancy, the Upper Deschutes and Crooked River Watershed Councils, Trust for Public
Lands, state and federal agencies, and others. As many also know, the Deschutes Chapter
is hanging by a thread consisting of really three "active" members now - Bob Evans, Frank
Kay, and Jeanne Coward, who serves as secretary. Fmr President Rich Burk had to step
down to attend to business matters. We have some 387 paid members in the immediate
area, however. We feel the Home Rivers Initiative for the Upper Deschutes will be a catalyst
to re-energize and re-organize the Deschutes Chapter.

We held a "special chapter meeting" in Bend on November 2, open to all current TU
members, former members, prospective members, or anyone else interested in hearing more
about our plans for a Home Rivers Initiative in the Upper Deschutes. We invited all partner
groups and agencies we've spoken with over the last year-plus as well, with an open
invitation to speak to the group with their ideas of how TU can best fit into the crowded
playing field here and help move the ball forward conservation-wise. Our guest speakers
included reps from Native Fish Society, Deschutes Land Trust, Deschutes River
Conservancy, Upper Deschutes Watershed Council/Oregon Trout, Trust for Public Lands,
ODFW, US Forest Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Crooked R Watershed
Council. Bryan Moore, TU Vice President for Volunteer Operations was here from West
Virginia, his staffer Beverly Lane was here from Jackson, WY, and Grassroots Trustee Paul
Maciejewski from Buffalo, NY was here to talk about chapter development. TU Trustee Sherry
Brainerd also spent the day with us; she has a home near Sisters and was in the area. Kate
Miller and I were there from the Portland office. We sent two electronic invitations to all the
good email TU member addresses we have in the state, and we sent a hard copy
newsletter/invitation to all of the Central Oregon TU members we have addresses for.

Turnout was good. We had over 40 folks show up, representing a broad mix of former
members, current but inactive members, and a lot of partners who are sincerely intrigued by
TU having a major presence in the Upper Deschutes. Central Oregon Flyfishers was very
well represented, as many, if not most, of their members are TU members too. There was
some initial trepidation over turf issues, but we feel like we've worked through those with all
but a few of the COF guys. Bryan Moore attended their board meeting later in the week to
help communicate better and put their fears of Big Bad TU trying to steamroll through the
Deschutes to rest. That's simply not how we operate anywhere, and especially not in the
Deschutes.

TU's investment of time and resources into the Upper Deschutes serves two main purposes:
One is to bring any and all resources we can to bear on the goal shared by all of us working
in the upper basin, (and demonstrated best over the years frankly by Dick and the
Clackamas Chapter) of realizing the full restoration and conservation potential of the Upper
Deschutes; and two: creating a presence in the Deschutes River Basin that will foster the
local and statewide grassroots involvement, investment and pride that a
one-of-a-kind-in-the-world river system like the Deschutes deserves. That's it. We will work
with any and all partners who share our goals, and who want to work with us. There's plenty
to do in the Deschutes; we won't be fighting over turf, and won't have time to do that anyway.

So what does a Home Rivers Initiative look like? It starts with an on-the-ground presence,
someone almost certainly from the area who works for TU and works every day in
partnership with other groups and agencies on habitat projects, grassroots development,
project fundraising and management, and some limited policy work in the basin. Habitat
restoration is the anchor, be it small day-labor type projects, large multi-year projects and
everything in between. Bryan, Keith Curley in DC and I have been actively working to fund
that position, and just received word that the first piece of funding is in place to make that
hire. We should have a staff person on the ground by Spring.
Trout Unlimited Oregon Council
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