Wasco County
Wasco County has an area of 2,392 square miles, or 1.5 million acres of which 902,669 acres or 59% of the county is privately owned and 387,113 acres are Tribal lands or 25% of the county. Public land makes up 13% with the USDA Forest Service managing 177,888 acres of land or 12% of the county. The rest of the public land is managed by USDI Bureau of Land Management, United States Corps of Engineers, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and Bonneville Power Administration. There are about 236,435 ac of crop land with about 24,311 acres irrigated. The dryland cropland is mostly devoted to small grains. Much of the irrigated land is used to produce high value crops including cherries, apples, peaches, blueberries and grapes. Private forestland makes up about 20,000 acres and the remainder of the private acres are dryland cropland and rangeland. Wasco County ranks 13th for gross farm and ranch sales in Oregon at 89.7 million dollars. Wasco county ranks 5th for wheat production in Oregon.
Current Financial Assistance Opportunities for Farmers, Ranchers and Forest Owners in Wasco County
The following Conservation Implementation Strategies are available to help Wasco County agricultural producers address targeted resource concerns identified in the Long Range Plan. Click the project names below for more information:
- Barlow Area Forestland Enhancement
- Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Forest Stewardship
- Food Security Initiative
- Joint Chiefs - North Wasco - All Lands
- Pollinator and Beneficial Insects in the Deschutes and High Desert Basin
- Fifteenmile Basin Fish Screen Replacement and Recruitment
- South Wasco Range Enhancement
- Climate-Focused Sustainable Livestock Production in Oregon
Additional Funding Opportunities...
In addition to the local projects above, producers may also apply for statewide programs such as the Conservation Stewardship Program, the Organic Initiative, Seasonal High Tunnel Initiative, On Farm Energy Initiative, and conservation easement programs. Visit with your local District Conservationist for more information on these and other programs, or visit the NRCS Programs webpage.
Local Work Group Meetings
Every year, NRCS hosts a Local Work Group meeting where farmers, landowners, conservation partners and other members of the community discuss the natural resource needs for the county. Based on feedback from those meetings, NRCS updates the county's Long Range Plan and develops new Conservation Implementation Strategies to address those resource concerns. You may contact us anytime to express concerns or comments about conservation needs in the county, and we encourage you to attend the next Local Work Group meeting in your county. For more information about Local Work Group meetings, contact your local NRCS office.