Bonneville Environmental Foundation

Treeline - Resilient PNW Riparian Climate Corridors ($50,000)

Recipient: Bonneville Environmental Foundation

Project Partners: CalTrout, City of Portland, Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, Clean Water Services, EcoTrust, US Forest Service, North Santiam Watershed Council, Northwest Natural Resource Group, One Tree Planted, Oregon Department of Agriculture Water Resources Program, Oregon State University and Extension, Pierce Conservation District, Seattle Parks and Recreation/Green Seattle Partnership, Skagit River System Cooperative, Upper Columbia United Tribes, WSU Extension, Wisdom of the Elders 

This project seeks to build a literal and figurative through-line across human networks and riparian corridors to sustain culturally important species and their ability to support future generations of plants and people in mitigating and adapting to climate change. Thousands of miles of Pacific Northwest (PNW) riparian forests are degraded, and dozens of individual Tribes, watershed groups, nurseries and agencies work to improve riparian conditions, planting millions of trees and shrubs annually for restoration. As assisted migration of native plant materials gains traction as a PNW climate adaptation and mitigation strategy, the absence of a regional network of non-profit, Tribal and agency restoration practitioners and partners, including nurseries and Extension research, hampers collective capacity to scale strategic solutions. This work will integrate numerous existing efforts in a learning and action network that will increase community capacity to care for the riparian forests essential to healthy watersheds, fish, wildlife and people, and create new restoration partnerships and mechanisms to centralize and share information.