DROP - Deschutes Restoration Outreach Program

Restoring the Deschutes River Basin One DROP and One PERSON at a time

The Deschutes Restoration Outreach Program brings conservation of the Deschutes River Basin into our community to facilitate a growing movement of stewardship for our shared natural resources. A single drop of water in a pool creates ripples that are far reaching and a metaphor for our daily interactions with our ecosystem.  We all know that water drops add up to be streams, rivers, and oceans, which create and provide the habitat for our fisheries and for our community.  It is the purpose of this program to teach methods that anyone can take into their daily lives to cause the same ripple effect throughout their community through stewardship and active engagement.

Spring 2011 - Program Elements

All adults are welcome to our programs: students, teachers, community members, and families. Our goal is to provide at least 30 hours of field opportunities each season.

• Riparian plantings on streams and rivers throughout the basin
• Crooked River riparian restoration project with students from Prineville
• Deep Creek stream restoration and monitoring work days
• Bull trout and Redband redd surveys in the Upper Deschutes Basin
• Metolius River riparian restoration and outreach education
• Clean-ups on Deschutes and Crooked Rivers
• Restoration project protection with fence and irrigation work throughout the basin
• Habitat monitoring in streams for a variety of aquatic species

2. Workshops, Trainings and Lessons on Restoration and Monitoring
(Goal of 10 training hours offered per season – spring, summer and fall)

• Introductory Training to share upcoming projects and focus areas (April 2, 2011)
• Water School – 2 Day workshop with OSU Extension (Aug. 2011, dates tba)
• Field trainings on a diversity of skills which are built into stewardship days in the field

3. Watershed Education Presentations and Educational Field Trips

• Presentations on regional watershed and fisheries ecology
• Field trips to restoration sites to support stewardship at these sites

4. Written and Online Materials

• Project briefs shared for field days available on our website
• Seasonal field schedules posted on our website with educational and stewardship opportunities

The DROP program integrates volunteers from various partner agencies and organizations in the Deschutes watershed. The DROP program provides the framework for these volunteers to receive professional training which prepares them for involvement in a diversity of conservation projects. Many of our state, federal, and local conservation organizations have teamed up to offer both the training and field work opportunities for those volunteers participating in the DROP program.

For those volunteers who are interested in committing significant time and energy to their involvement in conservation work in the Deschutes basin, DROP offers the Deschutes Basin Stewardship Program.

• How to Become a Deschutes Basin Steward [1]

Keep an eye on our yearly calendar as different projects are added monthly as the year progresses. If you are interested in participating in the DROP program please do not hesitate to contact Trout Unlimited's Home Rivers Initiative here in Bend: Project Manager, Darek Staab @ dstaab@tu.org [2] or Program Assistant, Andrew Dutterer @ adutterer@tu.org [3].

• Current Field Opportunities [4] – a showcase of upcoming volunteer projects
• Calendar of Field Projects and Other Events [5]
• Field Journal [6] – take a look at different projects in which we've been involved in the recent past

DROP Partner Agencies and Organizations:

Whychus Creek, Camp Polk