Middle Fork Willamette Watershed Council

     The council exists to serve "...as a volunteer-based partnership of diverse watershed stakeholders that focuses on promoting sustainability and making the Middle Fork Willamette Watershed a better place to live, work, and visit; for now and future generations." We work together as a community to restore and sustain the ecological integrity and economic viability of the Middle Fork Willamette Watershed and to promote local control of our future by providing effective voluntary solutions to watershed issues. 

     We worked with Cristina Watson, who is the coordinator of the Watershed Education Program.  The mission of the Watershed Education Program is to foster better understanding of local natural resources and environments and to create and improve long-term stewardship among residents within the Middle Fork Willamette Watershed.  Cristina helped us link our lessons to schools in the Middle Fork Willamette Watershed and gave us advice about how we could develop adaptable and localized material.  She also came out to the classroom with us and gave us useful feedback about our facilitation skills.  Her dedication and support was an important part of the growth and development of our team.

To learn more about the MFWWC click below:

http://www.mfwwc.org/

United States Forest Service

     Established in 1905, the Forest Service is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The Forest Service manages public lands in national forests and grasslands. Gifford Pinchot, the first Chief of the Forest Service, summed up the mission of the Forest Service— "to provide the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people in the longrun.

     We worked with Ernie Ledbetter with the Middle Fork Ranger District of the USFS.  Ernie handbuilt the stream simulator, which is the focal point of each lesson.  Ernie and his wife Marcia came to the University of Oregon to teach the X-Stream Team how to operate the simulator.  They also provided the team with ideas about how to develop educational material using the simulator. Their help and commitment to the X-Stream team was vital to the success of our project.