For almost 30 years, we have been working on local ecological restoration, community outreach and conservation education.
About Us
Who are we?
In the 1990’s a group of passionate community volunteers came together to start devising a plan to protect and enhance the habitat of the Necanicum Basin. By 1997, when the Oregon legislature passed the Oregon Plan for Salmon and Watersheds, these volunteers had started to ramp up their efforts and had a clear vision for a sustainable ecological future on the north coast. A decade later the Necanicum Watershed Council became an official 501(c)(3) community-based nonprofit organization.
Today, we are one of more than 60 watershed council organizations working on localized ecological restoration, community outreach and conservation education. We work closely with government agencies - local, state and federal - as well as a diverse group of local businesses, individuals and other organizations that share a passion for building both an ecologically and economically fruitful future for our communities.
North Fork of The Necanicum River, photo by Daniel O’Neil.
Where are we?
The Necanicum Watershed Council’s homebase is in the coastal oasis of Seaside, Oregon. The Council works to maintain, enhance and educate about nearly 56,000 acres of land in the Necanicum Basin. This includes the communities of Seaside and Gearhart, as well as more rural communities that rely on the health of the Necanicum River.
The Necanicum River running through the town of Seaside to the Pacific Ocean.
What do we do?
Conservation takes community, collaboration and creativity, and we’re dedicated to each of these values in the work we do. Serving the entire Necanicum Basin, which is approximately 56,000 acres of land and water and around 10,000 permanent residents and up to 3 million overnight visitors per year, we focus on the following:
Ecological Restoration
The majority of our work is based in the watershed ecosystem restoration realm. We seek funding for, collect partners, and manage restoration projects like Large Woody Debris Placements, Culvert Replacements and Tide Gate Removals, Wetlands and Riparian Vegetation Enhancements, Pollinator Habitat Creation and more. We’re focused on restoring our ecosystem to support wildlife and the local industries that rely on functional, healthy rivers.
Conservation Education
The north coast community is diverse, and it’s growing rapidly. As a community-based nonprofit, we believe that we play a unique role in connecting our community members with information about what our watershed is, what wildlife it supports, what parts of our everyday lives it makes possible, and most importantly how we can best take care of it. We’re excited about developing programming to reach all of the different corners of our communities.
Community Collaboration
Last but not least, conservation takes collaboration, and that’s something we invest heavily in nurturing. Through strategic partnerships, with agencies, other nonprofits and private industry, we focus on building foundations that will allow for the collective Necanicum community to pursue shared goals for a sustainable ecological and economic future.
