Following 24 years of advocating for the preservation of natural resources along the Willamette River, Travis Williams has shifted his focus to land acquisition.
The executive director of Willamette Riverkeeper since 2000 has taken on the role of president of the Willamette River Preservation Trust, a nonprofit organization founded in 2023 that purchases land and conservation easements for permanent protection while also creating access to these ecologically important areas. The news about the organization was first reported by Willamette Week.
“I’m doing something new and on my own at the age of 53. There’s trepidation there but I’m pretty excited,” Williams said.
The Milwaukie native and Silverton resident has worked with Willamette Riverkeeper since 2000 to make sure provisions within the federal Clean Water Act were being followed. Some of his biggest accomplishments, he said, included working to clean up contamination at the Portland Harbor Superfund site, completing floodplain restoration work and helping establish and create maps for the Willamette Water Trail.
“I think Willamette Riverkeeper has a lot of great work to do. The work they do is pretty cool and (has) a lot of good in it and has a great chance to continue and flourish,” Williams said.
During his time with Willamette Riverkeeper, Williams was a big advocate of further regulating towed watersports in sections of the Willamette River near Multnomah and Clackamas counties. He also led acquisition of properties like Norwood Island, the Nicol Sanctuary and Osprey Landing.
“That’s (land acquisition with Willamette Riverkeeper) where I got this taste for that piece of conservation. What entices me about creating this new entity is there is a lot of area out there not currently served by a land trust,” he said.
The Willamette River Preservation Trust will work to acquire and preserve land in river basins including the Pudding River Basin, the Molalla River Basin, the Clackamas River Basin, the Yamhill River Basin and portions of the Santiam River Basin. Williams mentioned other land trusts like the McKenzie River Trust, the Columbia Land Trust and the North Coast Land Conservancy as exemplifying the effectiveness of this model, adding that the region within the Willamette River trust’s purview has been underserved.
Along with the preservation of natural habitats, he said that there will be opportunities to increase public access to the sites that are purchased or donated through the trust. The properties they focus on acquiring could range from rivers to creeksides or uplands with a plentiful tree canopy, for instance.
“We would look at anything that would provide a healthy and stable ecological situation on those properties,” he said.
He said attracting donations, members and relationships with landowners will be key to the success of the trust.
“I’m looking forward to getting going. I’m trying to build community support. There are a lot of people who love land trusts. The more people know about this, the more contacts we might get about prospective relationships with landowners and building up the membership base to support this, (the better),” he said.
For more information, visit www.wrtrust.org.
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