The Upper Deschutes Watershed Council (UDWC) has worked to protect and restore the 2,000,000-acre upper Deschutes River watershed through collaborative projects in watershed restoration, monitoring, and community awareness. Since becoming a 501(c)3 non-profit organization in 1997, our organization has brought more than $20 million to watershed restoration and education projects in the upper Deschutes River watershed and has led or helped support the completion of over 50 habitat restoration projects. Healthy rivers and streams provide the clean water to support local economies, ecological diversity, recreational opportunities, and unparalleled natural beauty throughout the region, and the UDWC is committed to leading collaborative efforts that protect and restore the rivers and streams that make Central Oregon so unique.

At the UDWC, we believe that community education is at the core of long-term conservation and watershed protection, and with our education program, The Upstream Project, we provide stewardship experiences that are designed to educate and inspire students of all ages to participate in streamside science, creative writing, music, art, and hands-on projects. Through our educational programming, we guide local students of all ages to forge a lifelong, caretaking bond with our home watershed. By helping students develop a sense of place while they also foster an informed sense of environmental stewardship, we seek to ensure the health of Central Oregon’s rivers and streams for generations. We also work with community groups, local businesses, recreation companies, and municipalities throughout the year to educate and engage them in hands-on stream stewardship and watershed education. Through activities such as riparian planting projects, river cleanup activities, and informational presentations about river health, we engage all of our community members in the protection and conservation of our watershed.