Willamette Falls Trust

Willamette Falls Trust represents an authentic and effective collaboration between Native and non-Native communities. The Trust's mission is to champion and sustain an exceptional Willamette Falls experience by elevating Tribal voices at the Falls and its waterway, offer year-round connection to the grandeur of the Falls through historic and cultural interpretation, restoring healthy habitat, and provide public open spaces. Willamette Falls, the nation’s second largest waterfall, is a place where multiple histories and cultures converge. For millennia, Native peoples have fished for salmon and lamprey from the river and gathered foods and materials from its shores. However, for most of the 20th century, wool and paper mills dominated the shoreline. The riverbank now bears the scars of Western industry, along with decades of ecological damage. Willamette Falls Trust works to restore power and decision making to Tribes with connection to this sacred place. Currently our board holds representatives of The Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, and The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs which work through our Tribal Leadership Committee to heal this place of power.