Clackamas River Basin Council Capacity Support 25-27

The Clackamas River Basin Council (CRBC) encompasses 941 square miles with headwaters in the western Cascades west of Mt Hood & drains to the lower eastside of the Willamette River at river mile 25.1. The watershed covers more than 600,000 acres in Clackamas County, with ten major tributaries & several smaller ones. It is the source of drinking water for approximately 400,000 people. CRBC will collaborate with organizational partners, volunteers & basin landowners to coordinate & implement projects to monitor, improve & protect water quality; inform & engage residents & businesses in stewardship activities; plan, coordinate & implement habitat restoration projects that increase habitat complexity, connectivity & access; and continue working with basin landowners to restore degraded riparian areas & remove invasives. Public partners include Clackamas County agencies: Agriculture & Forestry, Office of Sustainability, Parks, Transportation & Water Environment Services. Local and regional government entities include Clackamas River Water Providers, Clackamas Soil and Water Conservation District and Metro. USFS-Mt Hood Clackamas Ranger District and BLM are federal partners. Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs is a landowner and project partner on the Austin Hot Springs project.

The Clackamas River watershed provides critical habitat for ESA listed wild winter steelhead, wild spring Chinook & one of the last remaining wild late-fall Coho runs in the Lower Columbia basin. This run was federally listed as threatened in 2005. Lower Columbia River Steelhead & Chinook were listed as threatened under the Federal ESA in 1998 & 1999. The Federal Caucus listed the Clackamas as a high priority for Salmon Recovery in their “All H” Report. CRBC will work with partners to plan and implement restoration projects that increase habitat complexity, connectivity & access for steelhead, Chinook and Coho in the Clackamas River watershed.