Hood River County Commissioner Les Perkins opened the three-day event on Wednesday morning.

He said during his seven years as a county commissioner he has seen firsthand the unique attributes of the watershed councils in making decisions.

“Their collaborative nature allows voices from all perspectives to contribute,” Perkins said.

He drew upon his own local upbringing to explain how the economy here went from timber to tourism and how he believes watershed councils are situated to help move the county forward.

“Watershed groups are in a great position to push for change in water and energy,” Perkins said.

He serves on the county’s renewable energy committee and believes the watershed council is a model to follow. One example is the county’s proposed biomass project, which would utilize wood waste to generate energy. Perkins said with the high percentage of federal forest land in the county laden with high fuel loads that those management practices would directly affect watershed health.

Perkins said to make decisions such as moving forward with biomass or any other renewable energy project that there will need to be broad support from all facets of the community.

Watershed councils began formally in 1997 after the state adopted the Oregon Plan for salmon and watersheds. The plan’s purpose is to restore native fish populations and aquatic systems that support them. Its creation was a response to the listing of coho and other salmon species under the federal Endangered Species Act.

“It first began in the Snake and Imnaha rivers of northeastern Oregon — basically an outgrowth of efforts based on frustration of only regulatory solutions,” said Ken Bierly.

He directs the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board. Bierly recalled how in 1993 the concept was first created as a vision to connect communities and watershed health.

Former Gov. John Kitzhaber referred to those beginnings when he addressed the councils Thursday afternoon.

“If our watershed isn’t healthy, then our ecosystem is not healthy,” Kitzhaber said.

He explained how many structures to protect fisheries have not evolved with the complex nature of problems facing the environment today. That includes the Clean Water Act and other regulatory functions that were created more than 30 years ago.

He referred to those as outdated tools as well as the antiquated structure of the Western water rights system and bureaucratic boundaries between different agencies in Oregon.

Kitzhaber said that while in Oregon all the trees look fairly identical; management plans vary widely between the U.S. Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Oregon Department of Forestry.

What complicates federal direction is that the Forest Service operates under the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is a different agency than the U.S. Department of the Interior that administers the BLM.

He said that creates red tape and agencies at cross purposes with each other and also competition for funding at the federal level.

“Then all the trees abut private and tribal lands, which also have different plans,” he said.

Kitzhaber urged the participants, as effective watershed councils, to be proactive in coming up with ways to continue recovery of ecosystems.

“Don’t ever doubt the importance of what you are doing, through commitment and perseverance you are planting the seeds for tomorrow,” he said.