April 22, 2026
In the midst of a difficult moment for our nation’s environmental safeguards, this may be the most important and meaningful Earth Day.
With our special connections to rivers, water, fish, wildlife, and the outdoors, Earth Day is an important day for those of us in Oregon. We’d like to wish you an especially Happy Earth Day this year, since 2026 may be remembered as the most important observance of Earth Day since the American public first embraced the idea of a day of environmental awareness.
Sadly, at the federal level, we’re living though an era of reckless and destructive rollbacks to long-standing conservation policies, with bedrock environmental protections under an unprecedented, never-before seen assault. While the circumstances around this Earth Day are troubling, we know it doesn’t have to be this way.
The good news here in Oregon is some of our state’s environmental safeguards are not only holding — but getting stronger. From curbing overpumping of groundwater, removing dams long past their usefulness, advocating for cold water streamflows and native fish, and securing a landmark state wildlife and habitat restoration bill signed into law this month, WaterWatch “shows up” every day. Our leadership and presence consistently results in better water policy for Oregon’s rivers and streams.
Given the poor approach to environmental protection at the federal level, our work in Oregon has become even more critical. Your support makes that possible from one Earth Day to the next, year after year. Here’s proof:
- The landmark Instream Water Rights Act celebrates its 40th anniversary next year! Right now, the Act’s provisions are continuing to establish new instream water rights and providing legal protections and climate resilience on streams and rivers across the state.
- After a decade-long WaterWatch-led effort, Oregon updated its groundwater allocation rules in 2024 to require groundwater levels be “reasonably stable” before a pumping permit is issued, reversing decades of “default to yes” practice that drained aquifers and disconnected them from rivers, streams, and other groundwater-dependent ecosystems that depend on cold, clean groundwater.
- The climate resilience facilitated by these wins and programs, representing a tiny fraction of WaterWatch’s work since its founding in 1985, is critical for the future health of Oregon’s watersheds, fish and wildlife, and communities.
- As reported in Currents last Friday, salmon have returned to habitat restored by WaterWatch’s 2024 removal of Pomeroy Dam on the Illinois River, with 18 fall Chinook redds recorded within the former dam’s reservoir footprint last fall. Rivers and salmon know how to recover if we give them a chance.
- Following WaterWatch’s removal of the Fielder and Wimer dams in 2015 and the Williams-Whalen Dam in 2024, Pacific lamprey — an important food for many Native American tribes — have returned to parts of the Evans Creek watershed in the Rogue Basin where they had previously never been recorded in surveys.
- Chinook salmon are once again reproducing in the Upper Klamath Basin in Oregon after the Klamath Tribes announced the birth of the first Chinook in over 100 years in the Sprague and Williamson river tributaries of Upper Klamath Lake.
These results are hopeful, especially given the attacks on our federal environmental protections, but they are only possible with your participation, involvement, and support. On this Earth Day, we’d like to ask you to make a one-time gift to WaterWatch of Oregon to help us continue our work during these challenging times.
And with our new development director Casey Armstrong on board, perhaps it’s time to connect about long-term or legacy giving options to ensure Oregon’s rivers, streams, wetlands, and fish and wildlife make it through this troubling era — and have a climate resilient future.
We also encourage you to celebrate Earth Day by making time to get out this afternoon, or this week, with friends and family to enjoy our state, safely visit one of Oregon’s world-class rivers (be mindful of flow and cold temperatures!), and celebrate what may indeed be our most important, and needed, Earth Day.
Happy Earth Day. Send us a photo or hashtag us at #RiversNeedWater to share your Earth Day experiences!
Lower Oneonta Falls photo licensed from Adobe Stock, footer photos courtesy of WaterWatch staff and board.
