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South Wasco Range Enhancement

County: Wasco

Primary Resource Concern Addressed: 

  • Terrestrial habitat - Terrestrial habitat for wildlife and invertebrates
  • Pest pressure - Plant pest pressure
  • Degraded plant condition - Plant productivity and health

Project Description
The goal of this Conservation Implementation Strategy (CIS) is to improve the condition of upland vegetation and wildlife habitat within south Wasco County through projects that promote plant vigor and landscape resilience. This strategy provides an opportunity for landowners to implement conservation practices for the improvement of range utilization by livestock, habitat quality and connectivity, as well as plant health and diversity. This region of the county is predominantly open grassland and has been hit hardest in recent years by drought and wildfire along with historic overgrazing.

Conservation Practices Offered

  • Brush Management (314)
  • Range Planting (550)
  • Wildlife Habitat Planting (420)
  • Prescribed Grazing (528)
  • Critical Area Planting (342)
  • Herbaceous Weed Treatment (315)
  • Fence (382)
  • Mulching (484)
  • Spring Development (574)
  • Water Well (642)
  • Livestock Pipeline (516)
  • Watering Facility (614)
  • Pumping Plant (533)
  • Heavy Use Area Protection (561)
  • Woody Residue Treatment (384)
  • Structures for Wildlife (649)
  • Upland Wildlife Habitat Management (645)
  • Obstruction Removal (500)
  • Water and Sediment Control Basin (638)
  • Water Harvesting Catchment (636)
  • Firebreak (394)
  • Fuel Break (383)
  • Access Control (472) 

Project Partners

  • Wasco SWCD
  • Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW)
  • Wasco Watershed Councils
  • NRCS Oregon
  • Private landowners

Application Questions
NRCS uses prioritization questions to evaluate applications for this initiative. See the list of workload prioritization questions on the Oregon EQIP page. Ranking questions below will also apply.

Ranking Questions

  1. Does the application include practices to improve rangeland management such as prescribed grazing and/or upland wildlife habitat management?
  2. Does the application include practices to improve livestock grazing infrastructure such as fence and/or livestock water?
  3. Is the project area within an ODFW Conservation Opportunity Area?
  4. Does the application include Brush Management to treat juniper encroachment?
  5. Will the application include annual grass and/or broadleaf weed treatments?
    1. Yes, treatments are included across the project area and native species dominate (>50%) the stand
    2. Yes, treatments are included but they do not address all problem areas or non-native species dominate the stand
    3. No treatments planned