January 26, 2026 2:50 a.m.
On Friday, Oregon’s Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden announced they have secured over $100 million in federal investments for essential community-initiated projects in nearly every Oregon county in both Fiscal Year 2026 packages that have recently cleared Congress.
Both senators hold a town hall in each Oregon county every year and say they work hard to ensure that local feedback informs every aspect of their work in Washington D.C. A joint release from the lawmakers said this local feedback is directly reflected in the projects that were chosen for federal funding in the first two packages of this year’s spending bills to help meet what they believe are critical needs in Oregon communities.
Merkley said, “Community initiated projects are rooted in the fact that no one knows the unique needs of communities across Oregon like the folks living and working in them. The communities identified the top projects and we fought for them”.
Wyden said, “No-one knows what a local community needs more than the local community itself. That’s why I hold town hall meetings in every nook and cranny of the state: to hear directly from Oregonians about their needs and bring that back to D.C. to fight for these critical projects”.
The 54 Oregon community-initiated projects, combined totaling $102,692,000 secured by Merkley and Wyden, include two in Douglas County:
*$1.554 million for the South Umpqua Rural Community Partnership for their Wild Fish Habitat Restoration. Funds will be used to complete habitat and water quality restoration projects that aim to restore Chinook and Coho salmon populations in the Umpqua watershed. The restoration of these important fish species will also benefit the economies of nearby undeserved communities by opening up tourism and recreation opportunities.
*$800,000 for Glide Revitalization Community Resource Center to renovate the facility, with a focused priority on completing the daycare half of the facility. With a high demand for daycare services in the region, this center will help fill resource gaps identified through Glide Revitalization’s work since the Archie Creek Fire in 2020 to help rebuild the community.