Portland, OR — The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) America the Beautiful Challenge Fund recently announced their 2024 awardees, which included a partner-led, region-wide project focused on restoring oak and prairie habitats in the Willamette River Basin. Oregon Wildlife Foundation (OWF), Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture (Pacific Birds), and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) will jointly administer this funding to partners. The award represents a substantial investment of $4.5 million, leveraged with matching partner funds totaling half a million. This investment speaks to the commitment of the NFWF to creating a more sustainable and resilient future.
Led by the Willamette Valley Oak and Prairie Cooperative (WVOPC), a coalition of state and federal agencies, Tribes, conservation districts, land trusts, private landowners, NGOs, watershed councils, city governments, and Pacific Birds, the project will restore upwards of 2,000 acres of oak and prairie habitats across multiple sites in the Willamette River Basin on public, private and Tribal lands. Of the total acres, 798 will be restored by Tribes on Tribal land. While the project sites are unique, each has high conservation and cultural significance and supports federal and state-listed species.
“The work of the Cooperative is a critical investment in the conservation of Oregon’s oak and prairie habitat and the Foundation is pleased to support them in any way that we can,” said Tim Greseth, Executive Director of the Oregon Wildlife Foundation.
The WVOPC aims to protect, restore, and maintain a functional, resilient network of oak and prairie habitats in the Willamette Valley. In addition to restoration, the project goals include increasing ecocultural burning opportunities, using Traditional Indigenous Ecological Knowledge to guide restoration, increasing Tribal access to culturally important resources, and developing a stronger, collaborative conservation workforce and restoration supply chain.
“This partnership is advancing work across public, private, and Tribal boundaries through a strategic ground-up shared approach to conservation. This kind of collaboration benefits all kinds of Oregonians including Tribal communities, recreationists, and private landowners while providing critical habitat for so many species,” said Monica Iglecia, U.S. Coordinator for Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture.
Building on work already completed through the ODFW’s Willamette Wildlife Mitigation Program (WWMP), the project will add critical restoration capacity to the land protection program. Oak and prairie systems are some of the most biologically diverse, culturally important, and climate-resilient habitats in the Pacific Northwest. Forty-six species that rely on these systems are so imperiled that they are legally regulated. Eleven species native to the Willamette Valley have been listed under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA).
In addition, the loss and degradation of this habitat threatens culturally important first foods, plant materials, and medicines foundational to Indigenous people’s lifeways. This project will help strengthen ecosystem and community resilience and support threatened oak and prairie habitats. A short video about the project is available here.
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Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture
Pacific Birds is one of 25 migratory bird joint ventures, which are regional partnerships that conserve habitats for the benefit of birds, biodiversity, and people. Pacific Birds works from Alaska to Northern California and across the Pacific Islands. Our mission is to create the ideal environment for bird habitat conservation through promoting collaboration, advancing knowledge and planning, building capacity, and informing and inspiring. For more information visit pacificbirds.org.
Oregon Wildlife Foundation
Oregon Wildlife Foundation is an apolitical operating charitable foundation dedicated to increasing private and public funding support for wildlife conservation projects in Oregon. Since 1981, OWF has directed tens of millions of dollars in private and public support to a broad range of projects throughout Oregon. For more information visit myowf.org.