Tamara Schroeder serves as Park Manager for the Willamette Valley Project in the Portland District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. She has worked tirelessly and productively to build a cohesive recreation program across the Willamette Valley, a system of 13 multi-purpose dams and reservoirs and 63 parks spread over a wide geographic area in western Oregon.

During her 25-year career with the Corps, she has made improving visitor experiences, community involvement and partnerships her primary goals. She consistently works to achieve facility improvements, collaborative partnering, public safety and awareness, and resource stewardship. She also shares her knowledge by serving as a national Visitor Assistance instructor for the Corps. Tamis leadership has been transformational to the Willamette Valley Project. Despite facing increasing fiscal constraints and challenging management dilemmas, she has found ways to provide significant improvements benefitting the public through partnerships and innovative management tools. A particularly significant partnership with Linn County Parks resulted in a Federal Land Access Program grant worth more than $6 million that will be used to improve roadways, add parking areas, and enhance other visitor facilities. Other enhancements that have been undertaken include installing a campground amphitheater, replacing failing restrooms, providing full-service volunteer camp sites, and improving accessibility for visitors.

Tami engages in community partnerships to improve recreation opportunities and address recreation trends, tourism and marketing, volunteer recruitment, regional law enforcement and stewardship issues. For example, she initiated and serves on the Willamette Valley Inter-Agency Recreation Providers Team, which meets annually to improve communication and relationships with other recreation providers and law enforcement agencies. This excellent forum, a team-building model for networking, brainstorming solutions and sharing lessons learned, has been emulated by other Corps projects. Tamara Schroeder has proven herself to be a well-respected, strong and influential advocate of recreation within the Natural Resources Management program for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.