Willamette Legacy

Client and Objective:
In Oregon, a task force has been working to restore its most important, and most troubled, river: the Willamette. Appointed by Governor John Kitzhaber, the Willamette Basin Task Force has directed numerous projects designed to help clean up the river, and wanted Oregon residents – especially those living in the basin – to get behind these efforts.

Solution:
Green Fire was chosen to produce a short-format video program that would be shown to key local and regional decision-makers, business owners, schools and community groups. Green Fire combined new and existing footage to profile the basin and document the full range of restoration projects that are returning the watershed to good health.

Results:
The program had its premiere at the September 1998 Confluence conference in Salem, Oregon before an audience of 300 business and community leaders. Watershed organizations, utilities and others have distributed 750 copies of the program to schools across the Willamette Basin to encourage volunteer and school projects to expand restoration work. Town councils in Woodburn and elsewhere are showing the program to their citizens.

"Willamette Legacy takes a very complicated issue and turns it into something even a child can understand. It’s great because it appeals to a wide age range, it’s just the right length, with just the right combination of history, information on what people in the basin are doing to restore and protect the watershed, and outlook for the future to make it a timeless program that we will use for years to come." – Bridget Wilborn, Marketing Director for Wildwood, a partner in the Oregon State Willamette Restoration Initiative.