Long Tom Watershed Council (LTWC)

10/29/2026

We ❤️ Lamprey!!!

10/22/2026

🌲Our staff, and colleagues from the Upper Willamette Soil and Water Conservation District, visited Bauman tree farm this week to learn about working forests

🍂It’s been a busy field season, and it was great to spend time learning together in our beautiful watershed

💚Thank you to Lindsay Reaves (former LTWC board member!) for hosting us!

09/30/2026

🏃The Village School's Community Service Walk-a-Thon is Thursday, October 8 @ South Eugene High School Track.

🏃Long Tom Watershed Council's 4th grade team will be walking, jogging, and skipping along to raise funding, support, and awareness for both the watershed and The Village Kitchen!

🏃In this event, students grades 1-8 set realistic lap goals based on age and development. Our goal is to raise at least $16,000. Half of this will help The Village Kitchen. The other half will support the following eight organizations, which were chosen for co-sponsorship due to their commitment to community values and ecological awareness:

🏃Sponsored organizations include:
1st Grade: Nearby Nature
2nd Grade: Cascades Raptors Center
3rd Grade: Food for Lane County Gardens
4th Grade: Long Tom Watershed Council
5th Grade: Walama Restoration
6th Grade: Cascade Mycological Society
7th Grade: Whole Earth Nature School
8th Grade: Middle Fork Willamette Watershed Council
🏃Pledge today via https://villageschool.raiselysite.com/ !

09/24/2026

Our marvelous river scientist ✨Amanda Reinholtz✨ led this year's Long Tom Watershed Council's Pull & Paddle! Joining us were community members and partners, excited to get out on the water despite the cooler air and ambiguous cloud cover.

🌿 After two hours out-and-back from Monroe, Oregon, we may have made a slight dent in the invasive Parrot Feather creeping and carpeting itself along the Long Tom River's bank...

🌿 What we did NOT see was any sign of Ludwigia (or Water Primrose) - a former invasive flourisher in this area! A huge win for the Long Tom River habitat!

❤️ A heartfelt thank you to our wonderful paddlers - we enjoyed getting to know you and learning about what draws you to the Long Tom River, habitat restoration, and watershed community engagement. Thank you for making this event a success!

Join us next year - we're already looking forward to another great trip along the Long Tom! 🛶

09/22/2026

Join us this fall in Elmira, Oregon for Living on the Land 2026: a workshop series for landowners new to managing small-acreage farms or properties, brought to you by OSU Extension, the Working Lands Program, and the Upper Willamette Soil and Water Conservation District. Full event details below:

📍ELMIRA GRANGE, 88764 Sprague St, Elmira, OR 97437
📅Wednesdays in October (10/7, 10/14, 10/21, 10/28)
⏰6 - 8 PM
🪙 $20 per person -OR- $30 for a couple from the same property (scholarships available)

Every Wednesday in October, we’ll be delving into different topics and resources to help you plan for your land, including:
🌱 Oct 7 Plan for Your Land: Local Soils and Ecosystems (includes free soil testing!)
💧Oct 14 Rural Water Management (includes free water testing!)
🐐Oct 21 Pasture and Grazing Systems
🌲Oct 28 Woodlands and Weeds

The cost for the full series is $20/person or $30 for a couple from the same property, with scholarships available. Register/learn more: beav.es/YUY

08/31/2026

Long Tom Watershed Council in partnership with the Calapooia Watershed Council
Completes Major Restoration Project at Snag Boat Bend Unit of William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge, bringing benefits to wildlife and water quality.

✨A special thanks goes out to CWC Executive Director Collin McCandless, Haley Construction, SWCA Environmental Consultants, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service!✨

Peoria, Oregon – The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) will reopen the Snag Boat Bend unit of William L. Finley National Wildlife Refuge at the end of August following completion of a major habitat restoration project. The project has reconnected a 1.1-mile-long historical channel of the Willamette River at Snag Boat Bend, a 341-acre wildlife refuge located just south of the town of Peoria in Linn County. Channel reconnection is an important step in restoring floodplain connectivity, water quality, and natural river processes to improve habitat for native fish and other wildlife species. The site was closed to the public in July and August to allow crews to safely access the area and conduct their work.

USFWS has been working with the Long Tom Watershed Council (LTWC) to restore habitat at Snag Boat Bend since 2015.

“This work is the result of over a decade of collaborative efforts between non-profits, agency partners, and private landowners.” said Jed Kaul, Director of Programs at the Long Tom Watershed Council, “It’s a really monumental effort on behalf of so many different partners working with the river to improve habitat for native species in this area – to make sure that salmon will return here for generations to come.”

08/27/2026

Coming up this Tuesday! Join Amanda Reinholtz, LTWC’s River Scientist & GIS Specialist, at Monroe City Park for a free and fun summer outing on the water. Lend a helping hand to the watershed while also learning about invasive water primrose-willow (ludwigia) and parrot feather and how to control it.

Ludwigia has an extremely aggressive growth pattern. In just a couple of years, it can take over slower-moving bodies of water, forming dense mats that may span the entire water body and form a thick fringe of vegetation at the water’s edge. It can alter flow, impair aquatic habitat, reduce available oxygen in the water, interfere with navigation, recreation, and water withdrawal, and pose threats to water delivery and flood conveyance. Ludwigia populations in and around Eugene and the Long Tom Watershed are the oldest and furthest upstream populations of the plant in the Willamette system. This makes them source populations that lead to the spread of ludwigia to downstream areas. LTWC and partners have been highly successful in managing the spread of ludwigia and parrot feather over the years and have seen significant decreases in their populations. Sustained success depends on engagement from volunteers and property owners, so you’re help is extremely valuable!

RSVP is required, so click below to sign up and join in on the fun! ⬇️

https://www.longtom.org/long-tom-paddle-pull/

Snacks and training provided. Bring your own canoe or kayak, or use one of ours.

08/12/2026

07/30/2026

Exciting things are happening at Snag Boat Bend, a 341-acre wildlife refuge located just south of the town of Peoria in Linn County.

🐟 Habitat restoration is underway, where crews are working to remove a revetment to restore floodplain connectivity and natural river processes to a 1.1 mile channel of the Willamette River to improve habitat for native fish.

🚧 The site will remain closed from July 6th to August 28th to ensure visitor safety and to provide contractors with full access to complete the restoration.

🤝 This project wouldn’t be possible without the following organizations, funders and partners: US Fish & Wildlife Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB), Bonneville Power Association (BPA), Pacific Power Blue Sky Habitat Fund, River Design Group/SWCA Environmental Consultants and Haley Construction Co.

Thank you so much to these partners for making our work possible at landscape scale!

07/28/2026

🌱 LTWC and partners have been highly successful in managing the spread of ludwigia and parrot feather over the years and have seen significant decreases in their populations. Sustained success depends on engagement from volunteers and property owners, so your help is extremely valuable! 🛶 Join us for the Long Tom Paddle & Pull September 1st, 3pm-6pm, at The Monroe City Park! RSVP is required. Visit https://www.longtom.org/long-tom-paddle-pull/ (link in bio) to sign up. Spots are limited, so don’t delay if this sounds like fun to you!

🥨 Snacks and training provided. Bring your own canoe or kayak, or use one of ours.