Who we are | What we want | What we’re doing

For the package of protocols, tools & resources for Ecosystem Credit Accounting
click here

Who we are

The Willamette Partnership is a coalition of diverse leaders working to shift the way people value, manage, and regulate our environment. Read more...

What we want

We want ecological resiliency.  We believe naturally functioning ecosystems form the cornerstone of livable communities and a healthy, sustainable economy. To get this, we need to increase the pace, scope, and effectiveness of conservation—that’s our mission.

To achieve our mission we are focusing our attention in three core areas:

• Integrated and strategic investment in ecosystems
• A fair and transparent system for people to buy and sell environmental restoration benefits
• Business models to move beyond compliance-based projects to stewardship of ecosystems

What we’re doing

News:

Request for Informal Proposals (RFIP) to develop a stream functions assessment methodology was released on Jan 23rd. 

Dates have been set for the Willamette Partnership's training program for 2012

Register for a free webinar over viewing the training program and/or a demonstration of the Ecosystem Crediting Platform

Read our Annual Report for 2010.

The Willamette Partnership initiated its Counting on the Environment Program, with the help of essential public and non-profit stakeholders, in November of 2008. This two-year program, funded by a grant from the Natural Resource and Conservation Service, includes an aggressive effort to:

 1)     Obtain Oregon’s first multi-stakeholder agreement to use a shared accounting system for quantifying impacts and benefits to ecosystems for application to ecosystem markets and beyond.

 2)     Lead pilot projects in the Willamette Basin to demonstrate the real environmental benefits of this functions-based accounting system, and compare its results with those from other approaches

 3)      Develop the tools farmers, foresters, and other land managers need to:

• evaluate and participate in emerging ecosystem service markets
• prioritize restoration actions when making land management decisions
• access payments for doing the right kind of restoration actions in the best places

Great progress has been made to date, as demonstrated by: development and agency approval of calculators for 4 ecosystem currencies targeted in version 1 of the Ecosystem Credit Accounting System; approval of integrated policy assurances for crediting multiple credits through one system; development of technology for project planning, verification, and tracking; and the application of the system to pilot projects with real credits and debits.

For more information see: Counting on the Environment