Willamette Partnership

Deschutes and Klamath Counties
Request: $51,966

For the last two years, Willamette Partnership has been facilitating the La Pine Basin All-Lands Partnership, dedicated to reducing wildfire risk in southern Deschutes and northern Klamath counties. This summer, we were notified that the federal government would not be fulfilling its last two years for our award, meaning our funding will run out by the end of 2026. We are requesting funds for six months of facilitation while we wait to learn if the group was awarded a BLM grant that would cover our next five years' worth of facilitation. This will buy us invaluable time to continue helping partners prepare for large funding applications (e.g., OWEB Restoration Grants  and an NRCS RCPP) during the winter, when there’s more capacity than the summer fire season.

Willamette Partnership’s mission is to help people and nature thrive together. We typically do that by providing facilitation and technical assistance (TA) services to rural communities, low-income communities, communities of color, and Tribes. In the disaster response space, that’s included direct TA to communities rebuilding their infrastructure post-wildfire, as well as facilitating mitigation and preparedness groups working to proactively reduce community wildfire risk through mitigation actions on public and private lands.