Former Gov. Kate Brown Hired to Lead Willamette Falls Trust

The nonprofit is pushing one vision for public access to a West Linn site considered sacred by Northwest tribes.

Former Gov. Kate Brown. (Willamette Falls Trust)
By Lucas Manfield

Former Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has been hired to lead the Willamette Falls Trust, a nonprofit that’s been trying for years to build a public walkway up to the state’s largest waterfall.

“After conducting a nationwide search, we’re convinced we’ve found the right leader to continue our work to restore the Falls for all,” said the chair of the organization’s board of directors, Davis “Yellowash” Washines.

Underscore News first reported Brown’s hiring this morning.

Brown, Oregon’s governor from 2015 to 2023, replaces Andrew Mason, who for six years led the trust’s efforts to secure public access to the Oregon City falls, which are considered sacred by Northwest tribes.

It has not gone smoothly. The trust’s mission has been complicated by the fact that Indigenous peoples have presented multiple visions of what public access to the nation’s second-largest waterfall by volume should look like.

In 2019, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde purchased a former paper mill on the Willamette River’s south bank and subsequently announced plans to build a shopping district and hotel there. Four other tribes are represented on the board of the Willamette Falls Trust, which still envisions creating “public walkways, viewing structures, spaces for interpretation, cultural events, community programming and other public amenities” along the falls.

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