OCRF Projects

Monitoring Efforts for Rare Carnivores

Project Lead: Cascadia Wild

Amount: $7,000 

Total project cost: $40,000 

Partners: Defenders of Wildlife, Mt. Hood National Forest, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Cascades Carnivore Project 

Ecoregion: East and West Cascades 

This project is designed to address two critical needs: (1) long-term monitoring of rare carnivores that supports and informs better wildlife conservation and management practices, and (2) connect Oregonians to the wildlife and wild places that make Oregon such a special place to live. Over the years, the project’s success has been significant. The project proponents have started new working relationships with two organizations that help disadvantaged youth develop job skills and collaborate with RISE (Refugee and Immigrant Student Empowerment) program to connect high school students with wilderness areas – for most of them, it is their first experience spending time in nature. 

This project provides critical information about habitat use and biological information of the target species to wildlife decision makers. The project would hire a part-time, outreach coordinator who will help with volunteer recruitment, monitoring and management. Special focus will be to spread the word among underserved communities that have lacked the opportunity to interact and engage with wilderness and wildlife. Funds will also be used to purchase additional gear that will help expand the land area monitored by trail cameras. Additionally, some funds will be directed toward conducting research on gathered biological materials such as hair and scat to make species/subspecies assessments of target species (particularly Sierra Nevada red fox).

Feasibility Study: Restoring Sea Otters to the Oregon Coast

Project Lead: The Elakha Alliance

Amount: $10,000 

Total project cost: $168,000 

Partners: Coquille Indian Tribe, Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians, Oregon Community Foundation, Oregon Chapter of The Wildlife Society, Oregon State University, Department of Fisheries & Wildlife, OSU Port Orford Field Station, Oregon Shores Conservation Coalition, Oregon Wildlife Foundation, Oregon Zoo Foundation, Seattle Aquarium, UC Santa Cruz / USGS Cooperative Research Station, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service 

Ecoregion: Nearshore marine 

The Elakha Alliance is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to investigating, planning, and implementing the translocation of sea otters (Enhydra lutris) to the Oregon Coast. Since time immemorial, sea otters were a key cultural, and material resource for the indigenous tribes of Oregon’s coastal region. Furthermore, decades of research demonstrate conclusively that sea otters maintain and increase kelp habitat, due to their persistent predation of kelp herbivores such as sea urchins. However, some key stakeholders have expressed concerns about the local effects of sea otter restoration on shellfish harvest. Rigorously evaluating and thoughtfully addressing these concerns is a critical step in advancing sea otter and kelp restoration in Oregon. This project will conduct an Economic Impact Assessment and engage in an outreach and public engagement strategy focused on coastal tribal communities and fisheries stakeholders.

Applegate Northwestern Pond Turtle Project

Project Lead: North Douglas Betterment 

Amount: $4,090 

Total project cost: $36,744 

Partners: Susan Applegate, owner of Applegate Pond, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Umpqua Community College 

Ecoregion: Klamath Mountains 

On Applegate Pond, invasive species will be removed and nesting habitat will be improved. Over the course of three years, this project aims to improve habitat for Northwestern pond turtles and other native wildlife by eliminating largemouth bass and nutria, and controlling bullfrogs and bryozoans. Habitat enhancement projects will increase the suitability of the Applegate Wildlife Pond for native turtles through improvements to nesting, foraging, and basking habitat. All habitat improvements will follow standard protocols established in ODFW’s Best Management Practices for native turtles.

Expected outcomes include increased use of pond features by native turtles and other wildlife (beavers, birds, amphibians, etc.). By involving local community organizations and students in implementation, this project will also enhance awareness of natural resource values. OCRF funds will be used to meet nesting habitat improvement objectives for the Applegate Project. This includes excavating and constructing 10 to 12 improved micro-nesting sites, placement of four log basking structures, and foraging and upland plantings for turtles and other native wildlife.

Crooked River National Grasslands Sustainable Trails Project

Project Lead: Ochoco Trails

Amount: $7,500 

Partners: Discover Your Forest, Oregon Hunters Association, Central Oregon Trails Alliance, Back Country Horsemen of Oregon, Oregon Equestrian Trails, Oregon Wild 

Ecoregion: Blue Mountains 

Ochoco Trails seeks to create sustainable trail networks in the Ochoco National Forest and Crooked River National Grassland that make the nearby small towns more attractive places to live and work, allow local residents to reap the health benefits of outdoor recreation, encourage visitors to come to enjoy our beautiful area, connect locals and visitors to public lands and reduce trail conflicts while protecting wildlife habitat and our natural resources for generations to come.

The Crooked River National Grassland Sustainable Trails Project is seeking funding for Phase 1 of a three phase project aimed at protecting the wildlife habitat provided by the Grassland while creating healthy recreational opportunities for residents of and visitors to the rural communities nearby. Ochoco Trails has a successful track record in planning and developing sustainable trail systems for the Ochoco National Forest and seeks to replicate this success for the Crooked River Grassland, leading to a sustainable and broadly supported trails proposal that avoids impacts to wildlife and wildlife habitat, minimizes user conflict, supports the local economy and communities, and provides educational and recreational opportunities in this unique Oregon landscape.

Portland Audubon Backyard Bioblitz

Project Lead: Audubon Society of Portland

Amount: $6,000 

Total project cost: $10,000 

Partners: Urban Greenspaces Institute 

Ecoregion: Willamette Valley 

The Portland Audubon Backyard BioBlitz is a fun interactive project that engages urban residents in collecting wildlife data in their own yards and neighborhoods and which provides participants with weekly reports and information about local natural history, wildlife stewardship, reducing wildlife hazards and avoiding human-wildlife conflicts. While it is appropriate for all skill levels, it is specifically designed to engage people who are at entry level and just beginning to appreciate the wildlife that surrounds them. 

Portland Audubon has decided to convert this program from a short-term, Covid-19-related necessity to a long-term project and are seeking funding to create more robust scientific, education and outreach platforms suitable for a long-term project. The proponents would like to have this project upgraded by the late summer/ early fall when school begins in the fall for families, school groups, etc. to integrate this program into their post-Covid weekly structure. This program integrates and compliments several other Audubon urban wildlife programs including the Audubon Columbia Land Trust Backyard Habitat Certification Program (6,000+ yards enrolled in the Portland Metro Area), the Audubon Living with Wildlife Program (responding to 10,000-15,000 wildlife calls/year), as well as other new Audubon digital programing such as “Ask a Birder” and “What’s Happening this Week (in Bird Migration).”

Community Science for Conservation: Engaging Oregonians in the Pacific Northwest Bumble Bee Atlas

Project Lead: The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation

Amount: $9,987.00 

Oregon lists both Franklin’s bumble bee and the western bumble bee as Strategy Species in the Oregon Conservation Strategy, and lists several more bumble bees as Data Gap Species.

In order to effectively recover populations of these bees, we need to fill gaps in knowledge of their distributions, habitat associations, and life histories. To address this need, we will enlist Oregonians statewide in the Pacific Northwest Bumble Bee Atlas (www.pnwbumblebeeatlas.org), a community science project aimed at tracking bumble bees and making data available for conservation purposes.

We will recruit volunteers in eight of the nine ecoregions identified in the Oregon Conservation Strategy to participate in the project. In addition, we will provide two workshops for volunteer community scientists in regions that participation is needed to fill survey gaps and where Strategy Species have historically occurred; one in southern Oregon and one in eastern Oregon. We plan to engage at least 150 volunteers who will collect photographic vouchers of at least 2,000 bumble bees, and make the resulting data available for conservation and recovery planning of imperiled bumble bee species.

Wallowa Wolverine and Forest Carnivore Project

Project Lead: Oregon Wildlife Foundation

Amount: $9,996 

Partners: Wallowa Whitman National Forest, OCRF

The Wallowa Wolverine and Forest Carnivore Project is monitoring the persistence of wolverines throughout the Wallowa Range using runpole monitoring and winter tracking to garner new insights on the status and conservation needs of wolverines in Oregon. With additional support from OCRF, the project will pilot monitoring of marten in partnership with Wallowa Whitman National Forest wildlife biologists and gather photo and genetic information on Rocky Mountain red fox to assist ongoing studies of this rare native Oregon subspecies.

Western Pond Turtle Distribution in Yamhill County Using Community Science Volunteers

Project Lead: Northwest Ecological Research Institute

Amount: $10,000

This project seeks to greatly amplify our understanding of the presence and distribution of an OCS Priority Species, A. marmorata, throughout Yamhill County.

Yamhill County has the fewest documented reports of turtles in the Lower Willamette watershed, greatly impeding our conservation of this species in this area of its range. Using a combination of visual encounter surveys and hands on trapping, we will utilize community volunteers to document the turtle species composition at a minimum of 12 sites throughout the county (all sites will be on public property and access will be requested from land managers).

Special focus will be placed on recruiting volunteers from historically underserved communities in order to increase education and stewardship of native turtles. Records for adjacent counties would suggest a relatively robust population of A. marmorata in the county, however, the lack of survey effort prevents our understanding of this species in this important area of its range in the Lower Willamette watershed.

The data collected through this project will be utilized by local land managers to improve habitat and connectivity throughout the watershed. This project is aligned with the ODFW OCAMP project and will be working with that project to incorporate collected data into their occupancy model for this species.

Beaver Survey and Restoration: Central Coast Estuaries

Project Lead: The Wetlands Conservancy

Amount: $10,000

Partners: Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, OR Department of Fish & Wildlife, MidCoast Watershed Council, USFS

This is a pilot project that refines and tests a process developed by The Wetlands Conservancy to identify and survey beaver habitats in key coastal estuaries with local partners and volunteer teams of community scientists. Indirectly, the project will impact the health of significant estuaries on the central coast, home to over 400 members of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, and 14,500 residents of Newport/Walport and thousands of visitors/year. The Wetlands Conservancy will work collaboratively with key regional partners to review, discuss protocols, and develop a survey process for local implementation in three targeted estuaries: Siletz and Salmon Rivers, and Yaquina Bay.

The Wetlands Conservancy will convene partners, train crew leaders and Oregon Conservation and Recreation Fund 2021 3 volunteers and will summarize and share results. Surveys are done during low-flow seasons, but planning and training will happen year-round. The Wetlands Conservancy will present results and next steps to community and partners, and discuss potential restoration projects.

Exploring Nature in Lents

Project Lead: ROSE Community Development

Amount: $5,000 

This project aims to increase the exposure and awareness of natural areas in and around Lents for young people and teach them about sustainability, conservation and potential environmental field careers. It will connect youth from the Lents Youth Initiative, a program of ROSE Community Development that live in Lents and surrounding neighborhoods.

The program focuses on youth of color and low-income youth. The Lents Youth Initiative has been providing an annual training of about 40 hours to 30 youth each spring. With this project we plan to change the way we teach young people about environmental justice and social justice. The different partner organizations will come together and choose a section to teach the students. The group of students will be split up and training done outside so that we can maintain social distancing guidelines. After completing the training, the youth will have an opportunity to apply for a paid summer internship with one of the partner organizations that led the trainings. During the internships, the youth will be able to further their knowledge and experience about natural areas and caring for them.

People of Color Outdoor and iUrban Teen Connect in Nature

Project Lead: People of Color Outdoors

Amount: $10,000

People of Color Outdoors (POCO) is a Meetup group that has been connecting Black, Indigenous and People of Color with nature in a variety of ways for the past three years. POCO has hosted approximately 125 outings since 2017. POCO's fiscal sponsor is the Columbia Slough Watershed Council. POCO has approximately 1800 individual members between Meetup and Facebook.

POCO's mission is to make outdoor activities accessible in a safe manner, to Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC). iUrban Teen is a non-profit STEM organization that brings together underrepresented teens and young adults for career exploration and mentoring. iUrban Teen has thousands of members, and has chapters in Oregon, Washington, Texas and California. POCO and iUrban Teen propose hosting an overnight camp on the coast for first time campers. The camp will be a three day, two night camp.

BIPOC Conservation Strategy

Project Lead: Wild Diversity

Amount: $10,000

Our project will create a platform for current & future conservationists of color from our community to learn, explore and thrive. Wild Diversity seeks to move away from the single-day, laborcentered model for people of color in conservation and instead build our community up as thought leaders who have the autonomy to create conservation initiatives that better support and retain people of color within the field.

Our conservation program is three parts: 1. Support current BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, people of color) conservation leaders to collaborate on a new vision for BIPOC conservation for Wild Diversity. 2. Teach our culturally relevant conservation curriculum to students within our Wild X and Youth Ecology programs. 3. Create a foundation Oregon Conservation and Recreation Fund 2021 4 for conservation by facilitating access for our community to experience wild spaces, building those relationships with the outdoors, and helping them find their personal 'love language' within conservation.

Harney Soil and Water Conservation District Fence Markers and Escape Ramps for Wildlife

Project Lead: Harney Soil and Watershed Conservation District

Amount: $8,850

The Harney Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) intends to contract with locally based Crane High School and a local welding shop to manufacture fence markers and trough escape ramps. If funded SWCD will have inventory available to sell to landowners as restoration projects are being developed and will reduce the overall time to complete the projects. The SWCD will then cost share with the landowners a portion of the current manufactured value as an incentive-based program to ensure the success of the wildlife programs in Harney County. The cost share funds will be reinvested in the inventory of fencing markers and escape ramps, to maintain the program over time.

Club Aves: Multilingual Birding and Nature Club

Project Lead: Verde

Amount: $10,000

Club Aves inspires low-income youth and youth of color to explore the outdoors and learn about birds, nature, and conservation in their own neighborhood and in greenspaces around the Portland Metro area.  Part of Verde’s environmental education programming, Club Aves works with elementary and middle school age youth from Hacienda’s Expresiones after-school program, helping break down barriers to accessing the outdoors.

We are currently adapting all of our environmental education programs to meet the health and safety requirements of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Through this proposal Club Aves will provide youth with opportunities for safe outdoor recreation. Verde staff will guide walking neighborhood nature field trips. To encourage independent family activities, we will provide multilingual (English, Spanish, and Somali) outdoor access kits including curriculum and activities that families can adapt for their neighborhood park or greenspace. Finally, we will organize a paddle trip and community nature day.