The foundation had received a detailed prospectus on the goals of the project, defined in collaboration with foundation leadership, and then worked to raise the $17,500 called for in the OS budget, including a $500 contribution from its own tiny budget. Contributions came from the cities of West Linn, Oregon City and Lake Oswego, combined with sizable amounts from PGE and the aggregate industry. With a 'topping off' by the West Linn Chamber of Commerce, West Linn Paper Company, and the Tourism Development Council of Clackamas County, the project was a 'go.'

The stakeholders' group received an extension of Oregon Solutions' involvement, and is now deeply engaged in the final phase of locks preservation and planning--a process that will address financing for the locks' major capital improvements, possible designation of the locks as a National Historic Landmark / development of the locks area as an historic/scenic tourist destination, and the creation of an operations plan/identification of the most appropriate entity to actually run the locks in the future. (We hope to have the longer-term solution/agreements in place and ready for another "Declaration of Cooperation" by the end of 2007. We'll be thanking some of our major partners, who've kept the locks going, September 22 at Lock Fest 2007.)

Willamette Falls Heritage Foundation Executive Director Sandy Carter was asked by Convener Verne Duncan to chair the heritage promotion subcommittee during this second phase, and task force member Dwayne Foley is spearheading the development of a new entity to fund routine Operations and Maintenance for the next seven years. George Kramer, a well-known Ashland preservation consultant, has completed a thorough renomination of the locks, to position them for future National Landmark and "Save America's Treasures" applications, and a Seattle engineering firm has completed a study determining future capital repairs/restoration costs for the historic facility for the next 20 years.