Photo of Rimrock Ranch, courtesy Deschutes Basin Land Trust

Back to Home Waters' Strategic Success

OREGON - When we last covered the Deschutes Basin Land Trust in 2003, they had recently completed a purchase of the Metolius Preserve, a 1,240-acre tract of critically important forest habitat. More recently, they protected the stunning 1,120-acre Rimrock Ranch. All of this is part of their successful Back to Home Waters campaign that originated in 2000.

Back to Home Waters is a strategic conservation plan that aims to protect much of the remaining habitat for salmon and steelhead in the upper Deschutes River Basin. With that protection in place, these fish can be restored to the basin for the first time in forty years. The project’s success depends on protecting important fish habitat in private ownership, including working farms and ranches in the Whychus Creek and Crooked River watersheds, as well as in undeveloped private lands in the Metolius River watershed.

In August 2006, the land trust took another important step in the project by finalizing the land protection agreement with landowners Bob and Gayle Baker of Rimrock Ranch. The Ranch contains productive rangeland, pine forests and more than 1.6 miles of Wychus Creek that steelhead will use for spawning. It is also home to golden eagles, redband trout, wintering mule deer, and sensitive bat species, including the spotted bat.

The Back to Home Waters project demonstrates several important of aspects of strategic conservation by:

• being regional in scope,
• using the best available science to choose conservation priorities,
• involving several partners, and
• maintaining strong stewardship.

Photo of Rimrock Ranch, courtesy Deschutes Basin Land Trust

Regional Scope
The Back to Home Waters project covers three rivers in the upper Deschutes River Basin – the Deschutes, the Metolius, and the Crooked River. The plan covers areas with diverse habitat spread over 118 river miles. The project area is ecologically diverse, transitioning from the mixed conifer forests of the Cascade Mountains, to the open ponderosa pine woodlands of the Sisters area, to the sagebrush steppe and western juniper habitats of eastern Oregon’s high desert. Land uses are also diverse, with tourism, vacation homes, and recreation dominant in the Metolius and Whychus watersheds and farming and ranching dominant along the Crooked River and its tributaries.

Conservation Priorities
Brad Nye, project manager of Deschutes Basin Land Trust, explained that the lands within the project area are under particular pressure because of tremendous growth. For the past decade, Deschutes County has been Oregon’s fastest growing county, with a population increase of 54%. The campaign “takes the best available science on habitat and applies several filters to arrive at conservation priorities.”

The priorities are chosen by using a database the land trust created. It incorporates typical GIS data (parcels, roads, zoning, soils, etc.) along with somewhat less typical data (qualitative and quantitative habitat assessments) and data they developed themselves. “We’re basically looking at parcel size, adjacent parcel size, stream habitat quality, soils, migratory corridors, development potential, and growth pressure,” Nye said.

Partnerships
The land trust works with partners to identify shared strategies and develop cornerstone projects in priority stream reaches. Their partners include the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation, Portland General Electric, Bonneville Environmental Foundation, National Forest Foundation, Upper Deschutes Watershed Council, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Crooked River Watershed Council, and Deschutes River Conservancy.

When working with the various upper basin conservation organizations, the groups prioritize projects and raise money to support the programs.  Nye explained that, “while we all compete for funding, we seem to be having success at applying funding to the highest priorities within the program, irrespective of which group actually raises or receives the money.”

Photo of Rimrock Ranch fish walk with Brad Nye, courtesy Deschutes Basin Land Trust

Stewardship
Acquiring the properties is only the first step. Maintaining a property can be time consuming and expensive. Fortunately, the land trust takes all these things into consideration when negotiating for the land. With the Metolius Preserve, for example, the land trust was able to raise enough during the acquisition campaign, when the momentum for the project was at its strongest, to fund an endowment for the basic management requirements of the property.

Amanda Egertson, land steward for the land trust, recommends another method of raising funds for stewardship – writing grants for individual projects. “I wanted to build two pedestrian bridges and viewing platforms along our nature trail in order to channel recreation use and reduce soil compaction in the riparian area.” By submitting a request to the National Forest Foundation, the land trust was awarded the funds.

She also explained that along with the organizational partnerships “our volunteers are an absolutely critical part of our organization and our success.” Whether it is helping plant native vegetation, constructing or maintaining trails, assisting with forestry work, or pulling up weeds, “they really make the stewardship of each Preserve possible.”  

Conclusion
Nye revealed that one of the greatest benefits of the project has been the establishment of a strategic conservation framework that will benefit the area for years to come. Of course just as important is realizing the vision of salmon and steelhead returning to the Upper Basin, and if the past six years are any indication of the project’s potential, it won’t be long until the fish are thriving in the area once again.

(posted 12/1/06)