For the Sake of the Salmon has developed this toolkit to help watershed organizations build relationships with elected officials at the local, state, and federal levels. Elected officials make important decisions on funding, permitting, zoning, and regulation, all of which are an integral part of watershed restoration work. We hope the following checklists, tools, and resources help you create relationships that enhance your ability to repair and protect your local watershed.

• Meeting with your elected officials
• Building ongoing effective relationships with elected officials
• Creating a packet of information for your elected officials
• A worksheet to fill in with the names of your elected officials
• "Watersheds and Watershed Organizations" -- an information sheet for you to use (or adapt for use) in your information packet
• Internet resources for groups in California, Oregon, and Washington
• Thomas - U.S. Legislative Information on the Internet -- This site contains information on the U.S. Congress including directories of all Senators and Representatives
• Project Vote Smart -- If you don't know which legislative district you're in or who represents you in Congress or the state legislature, start here. By keying in your zip code, you can get that information. You can also get contact information on elected officials as well as biographical information.
• California -- Internet resources
• The California State Senate -- Includes information on members of the Senate and legislation. The FAQs/Links part of the website contains a short, but extremely useful list of links to state agencies and homepages that provide legislative information.
• The California Legislative Assembly -- The assembly's website contains information on members and legislation. It also includes a place where you can key in your address and find out who represents you in the Assembly.
• California State Association of Counties -- You can use this website to get in touch with county governments. The counties close-up button will send you to links for all the counties that have homepages.
• Cities On-line -- Start here if you're researching local governments in your area. By keying in the name of the community, you can be linked to its website.
• Association of Bay Area Governments -- Use this site to get to websites for Bay Area cities and counties.
• Oregon -- Internet resources
• The Oregon Legislature's website -- You can find information here on how to contact your state legislators. The site also includes a searchable database of state laws and bills.
• Oregon On-line's local government page -- Includes links to nearly every community in the state.
• Washington -- Internet resources
• The Washington State Legislature -- This page will take you to homepages for the Washington State House and the State Senate.
• Government section of the "Access Washington" homepage -- Use this page to be connected to websites for counties, cities, and service districts governments.