Riparian Landowner Outreach and Engagement for Salmon Recovery

In many watersheds private landowners play a critical role in salmon recovery efforts. However, successfully involving watershed residents, particularly those from rural residential and working landscapes is challenging. This presentation offers strategies to build support for watershed restoration and salmon recovery by private landowners. Discussed will be lessons learned from research examining landowner outreach efforts by seven watershed councils in Oregon’s Willamette River. The research was performed through semi-structured interviews with 40 riparian landowners and 21 watershed council staff. There is no “right way” to engage watershed residents. Landowners have unique relationship with their property, and with stream, rivers and fish. Outreach efforts must be diverse, sustained, and tailored for different types of landowners with an awareness of watershed social-ecological conditions. Technical and financial support for restoration projects is important. Ecological monitoring data can be a powerful tool. Site tours of restoration projects on private property, and first-hand accounts from project landowners increases support. Perhaps most vital is building relationships and trust between watershed council staff and private landowners. While landowner outreach is expensive, time consuming, and hard to quantify and measure, it is an integral component of salmon recovery efforts.