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Wild Rivers Land Trust Welcomes New Executive Director Amy Knapp Pettit

April 16, 2025

Wild Rivers Land Trust is excited to welcome Amy Knapp Pettit as our new executive director. Pettit stood out as the frontrunner among an impressive pool of candidates who applied for the position. She has worked in agriculture and land conservation for the past twenty years and has strong ties to our service area.

Pettit was raised in Curry County on the Knapp Ranch in Langlois. After graduating from Pacific High School, and receiving an Agricultural Business Management degree from Oregon State University, Pettit has spent the majority of her career in Alaska. She managed the Marketing and Development team for the State of Alaska Division of Agriculture for 10 years. Then, in 2015, Pettit became the Executive Director of the Alaska Farmland Trust.

The Farmland Trust sustained significant growth under her leadership. This includes doubling the amount of protected areas, establishing relationships with major foundations, and becoming well-known for fundraising and community events. In March 2022, Pettit was selected as a Presidential Appointee, serving as the State Executive Director for the USDA Farm Service Agency in Alaska, which she dutifully held until the recent administration change.

Pettit says she is now excited to use her talents, knowledge and unique skills back on the Southern Oregon Coast.

"It feels like a full circle moment to have all of this come into alignment and I am delighted to get to immerse myself back into the community that raised me," Pettit said.

The Wild Rivers Land Trust is confident that Pettit's connection to the area, knowledge of land conservation work, demonstrated fundraising abilities and passionate leadership style make her the ideal candidate to lead our organization.

The Wild Rivers Land Trust staff and board of directors would like to thank former Executive Director Ann Schmierer for stepping back in as Interim Executive Director during the past few months to assist with the hiring process and keep the organization on track during the transition process.

Wild Rivers Land Trust celebrated 25 years on St. Patricks Day 2025

March 17, 2025

Today marks a major milestone for the Wild Rivers Land Trust.

It is our 25th Anniversary!

We are so proud of how far we have come in the past 25 years, and we couldn’t have done it without our hardworking staff, dedicated board members and longtime supporters.

As we look back on the past 25 years, we are so thankful for all of the people who have stood by the organization for decades, donating their time and money to bring our vision to life; where clean water, abundant salmon runs, sustainable working lands, and prospering rural communities define Oregon’s Southern Coast.

We are grateful for our many partners: land owners, foundation funders, regional conservation organizations, and individual donors. This support over the last 25 years has seen us through many achievements, including:

the land trust was originally founded on March 17, 2000 by Jerry Becker and a group of like-minded dedicated citizens,
we made our first land purchase, the 163 acre Keystone Preserve in 2004,
our first conservation easement protecting 160 acres at Camp Myrtlewood in 2014,
becoming an accredited land trust in 2019,
today stewarding 997 acres of land with 12 properties throughout the Southern Oregon Coast.

In an effort to embark on new and innovative projects to protect and conserve our natural resources and the health of our wild rivers, our current portfolio of projects continues to push into new endeavors and challenging conservation objectives. These include:

WRLT’s first agricultural easement preserving a 775 acre family ranch,
an EPA-funded brownfields cleanup of an abandoned mill site and restoration of Bagley Creek to bring salmon back to this tributary of the Elk River,
preserving and restoring coastal prairie habitat which supports regionally endemic rare plants at the Nesika Preserve, in partnership with the US Fish & Wildlife Service and The Understory Initiative.

We couldn’t do this work without the help of our generous supporters. We intend to have a series of celebration events over the summer to give supporters the opportunity to tour project sites around our service area. Stay tuned for event details.

In recognition of our 25th Anniversary, we caught up with a longtime friend of the Wild Rivers Land Trust.

John Jones’ unwavering appreciation for the natural environment led to the creation of our first conservation easement at Camp Myrtlewood near Myrtle Point, Oregon.

Jones said he resonates with a quote from the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, “Hope doesn’t come from words. Hope only comes from actions. Once we start to act, hope is everywhere.’

Jones said he was having feelings of despair witnessing wildlife disappear from the land, when he was visited by the very animal he had been mourning – a pileated woodpecker.

“We can explain such things away. We can say, ‘That’s just a coincidence.’ But, I think, when we see those kinds of things in our lives, it gives us hope. When we have that hope, that gratitude, it gives us the courage to act.”

Jones’ willingness to put his passion into action moved many projects forward throughout his many years with the land trust. His leadership influenced important decisions made by the Wild Rivers Land Trust board of directors, and he and his wife Margaret continue to support the land trust as monthly sustaining donors.

On this day of celebration, please consider renewing your support so that the next 25 years can be as fruitful and productive as our first 25 years. Thank you for your continued dedication to the Wild Rivers Land Trust.

- Happy St. Patrick's Day from all of us at Wild Rivers Land Trust!

Wild Rivers Land Trust breaking new ground

Three Oregon Watersheds Drives Coho Recovery

Nov 15, 2023 Author: Ramona DeNies

Five years and 24 projects later, our first NOAA cooperative agreement is a wrap. It’s just phase one of our grander plan for coho salmon.

Five years. Three watersheds. Twenty-four projects.

In October, the Wild Salmon Center officially wrapped up a five-year cooperative agreement with the NOAA Restoration Center—the first of two, to date, designed to benefit Southern Oregon/Northern California Coast coho salmon and Oregon Coast coho salmon, both listed as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act.

The agreement detailed an ambitious $2.5 million work plan for the WSC-managed Coast Coho Partnership to enhance coho habitat and improve fish passage in three Oregon watersheds: the Nehalem, Siuslaw, and Elk. Now, the shovels are down, and WSC and our CCP partners are celebrating the moment.

Matt Swanson (photo above) of the Curry Watershed Partnership (a local member of the Coast Coho Partnership), laughs with a contractor (left) at the Cedar Creek project site on the Elk River. (PC: Brian Kelley @brianfilm)

“We chose these 24 projects for their ability to have long-lasting positive effects for the coho and people that call these rivers home,” says Dr. Tim Elder, WSC’s Southwest Oregon Program Manager. “Now our hope is that this targeted work further boosts the already promising signs we’re seeing for coho in these watersheds.”

Coho spotted on the Nehalem River.

Coho are a keystone species, meaning that when they thrive, so do a host of other species that share these ecosystems. In 2022, NOAA reported that when compared with other West Coast salmonid species over the previous five years, Oregon Coast coho returns remained encouragingly strong. In the report, NOAA pointed to habitat restoration as a key part of why we’re seeing this “bright spot for salmon recovery.” To sustain this progress, the agency called for more restoration work across the coastal Pacific Northwest.

We’re already working to make that happen. Since 2019, two more NOAA cooperative agreements are supporting even more high-value CCP projects in the Coos, Rogue, Siletz, Nehalem, and Elk: projects targeted through science-driven, watershed-specific strategic action plans (SAPs). And we’re looking to go even bigger. According to Dr. Elder, WSC and our partners have selected four additional watersheds (the Sixes River, New River/Floras, Nestucca, and South Umpqua) as the focus of new SAPs, and identified an additional 21 target projects in the Rogue, Elk, Coos, Coquille, Siuslaw, Siletz, and Nehalem.

“This first cooperative agreement enabled us to prove the concept—that our restoration strategy really can move the needle for coho recovery,” Dr. Elder says. “With coho populations stabilizing in many of the watersheds where we’re working, now we’re ready to scale our restoration vision up and down the Oregon Coast.”

Below, see three projects that show what the Coast Coho Partnership can accomplish for coho, thanks to support from NOAA Restoration Center, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and our local partners and crews.

BY THE NUMBERS:

Oregon restoration work completed under the 2017 NOAA cooperative agreement:

Reconnected reconnected 5 miles of stream habitat;

Restored 199 acres of instream, wetland or tidal habitat; and

Enhanced 203.6 acres of riparian habitat

CEDAR CREEK ENHANCEMENT PROJECT, Elk River

A bird’s-eye view of Cedar Creek just before culvert removal. Downstream of the road crossing at upper right (with culvert underneath) is a 4,200-foot stretch of newly remeandered creek flowing toward the Elk River. With a bridge replacing the culvert, now-accessible habitat upstream will also be restored for fish. (PC: Brian Kelley @brianfilm)

When coho thrive, so do a host of other species that share these ecosystems, including coastal cutthroat trout.

With the Curry Soil and Water Conservation District, landowner Terry Wahl, and other partners, the Cedar Creek Enhancement project transformed a heavily ditched stream on a South Coast sheep ranch into a fully remeandered creek: cooler and more complex habitat that benefits local populations of Southern Oregon/Northern California coho salmon, steelhead, lamprey, and coastal cutthroat trout.

Crews regraded the streambanks and placed 83 instream log structures, while revegetating 11-plus surrounding acres with native shrubs and trees. A failing culvert was replaced with a 46-foot bridge, restoring unimpeded fish passage and sediment transport, while an adjacent wetland was reconnected and restored to its original hydrological function.

FIVEMILE-BELL RESTORATION PROJECT, Siuslaw River

Some of the more than 200 trees moved into a trio of Siuslaw tributary creeks—along with a stretch of a now-obliterated problematic creekside road.

The Siuslaw Watershed Council was the lead local partner in this complex project to regrade, fill, and reconnect Fivemile, Middle Bell, and Bell Creeks in the Siuslaw watershed, home to local populations of Oregon Coast coho salmon.

More than a mile of abandoned valley-bottom road was obliterated and restored to natural hydrologic function, along with upland cat roads. Meanwhile, helicopter crews moved more than 200 ridgeline trees—many of them with substantial root wads still intact—and engineered them into each creek bed with the aim of promoting complex, high-quality fish habitat.

BEAVER DAM ANALOGUES, Nehalem River

Between 2018 and 2019, 57 beaver dam analogues (BDAs) have been installed on tributaries of the Nehalem River. Follow-up monitoring has shown the success of these woody structures in recruiting beavers back to work, building salmon-friendly pools and channels.

Recruiting beavers back to wild fish streams is now a key part of a salmon recovery.

The Upper Nehalem Watershed Council took the lead on repairing decades of “stream-cleaning” and beaver eradication activities in this key North Coast coho river: activities that depleted critical Oregon Coast coho habitat. Beaver reintroduction is increasingly recognized as a key tool in salmon recovery, particularly for juveniles that find winter refuge in beaver-enhanced ponds, terraces, and off-channel habitat.

Over the course of two years, heavy equipment operators placed 57 beaver dam analogues (BDAs) and five large woody debris structures in 10 Nehalem tributaries. To date, beavers are already using at least 16 of these BDAs, with juvenile coho benefiting from an additional 11.5 acres of newly-created pools.

3 Oregon Watersheds Drive Coho Recovery