In early 2024, a small group of advocates planted the seeds to create a new Sandy River Watershed Council. The goal was to intentionally center an equitable approach to watershed restoration and advocacy by giving voice and leadership to communities who have historically been excluded and who are most impacted. 

From 1997 to 2021, the previous Sandy River Watershed Council worked to protect and restore the Sandy River in partnership with the local community and public agencies. While the organization engaged in a number of successful activities and projects, the structure, leadership and goals of the old watershed council were not able to progress in advancing more equitable and inclusive approaches. This, in addition to financial struggles related to the COVID-19 pandemic, forced the organization to close its doors in 2022. 

With an initial vision from volunteer advocates who had served on the board of directors of the former Sandy River Watershed Council, and with support from Multnomah County’s Water Quality Program and the Jubitz Family Foundation, diverse community members were engaged to identify priorities that are outlined as findings and recommendations in the Sandy River Community Needs Assessment Report. These findings and recommendations were then shared with the community through a series of engagement events in May/June 2024 and provided the foundations for creation of the new watershed council. 

Concurrently, the coordinating team identified and recruited a diverse group of leaders to draft the Organizational Charter, launching in June 2024. This Charter Workgroup has been meeting regularly to dream up an inclusive and more equitable governance model for the new watershed council. The intention is to prioritize the voices of communities of color as leaders and decision makers in the organization, especially indigenous, black, latiné, and Asian communities, as well as the voices of youth and communities most impacted by the watershed. The development of the charter has also served as a co-creative process, modeling the kind of culture and ways of operating we hope will set the new council on a more inclusive and equitable pathway.

We hope this charter communicates organizational values and a vision for what we believe is possible: working within the existing systems as a designated watershed council, while pushing towards systemic, institutional, and cultural change in the way this new organization will build community power through community driven activities for restoration of, protection of, advocacy for, and access to the Sandy River watershed.

We envision the Sandy River Watershed as a place of celebration, connection, and spirituality for everyone to engage with and be accountable to. Wildlife, fish, trees, community members are all neighbors, dependent on one another. The watershed is sustainable, cared for, and communities that are most impacted benefit.

The mission of the Sandy River Watershed Council is to be a visionary and inclusive weaver and convener of community collaboration, to build a shared vision and to coordinate action in the Sandy River watershed as a thriving, living place deeply connected to the surrounding communities.

The purpose of the Sandy River Watershed Council is to protect, restore and heal the Sandy River Watershed and the interconnection of all its inhabitants.