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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) 
  • Tree/Shrub Site Preparation (490) 
  • 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 facilitate grazing management such as fence and/or livestock water?
  2. Is the project area within an ODFW designated Conservation Opportunity Area or directly adjacent to the Lawrence Memorial Grassland Preserve?
  3. What percentage of the planning area will 420 or 550 be implemented for the purpose of improving plant diversity and upland habitat?
  4. Select the choice that best aligns with annual grass and broadleaf weed treatments in the application. a) Treatments are included across the project area and native species dominate (>50%) the existing stand, b) Treatments are included but they do not address all problem areas and/or nonnative species dominate, c) No annual grass or weed treatments are included in the application
  5. Does the project area have a high or very high wildfire burn probability rating?
  6. Select the choice that best represents juniper treatments included in the application. a) 314  will be implemented to remove actively encroaching juniper throughout the planning area, b) Only 384 will be implemented to treat dead and dying trees in wildfire impacted areas, c) No juniper treatments are included in the application