Pine Creek Conservation Area

The Place

Located in the Lower John Day River Basin, the 34,331-acre Pine Creek Conservation Area is owned by the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and managed for the benefit of fish and wildlife, as well as traditional cultural uses. A tributary of the Lower John Day River, Pine Creek, the area’s namesake, is a defining feature of the conservation area. This creek is designated as critical habitat for steelhead, and the surrounding rugged uplands are home to a diversity of birds, animals and native plants.

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Stewardship Pronghorn Fence

Stewardship Pronghorn Fence

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Western Rattlesnake

Western Rattlesnake

Also known as the Great Basin Rattlesnake, these pit vipers have buff-tan coloring and small, oval blotches to blend into their arid surroundings. Small heat-sensing indentations on each side of the snake’s snout detects warm-blooded prey for better striking accuracy in the dark. Source: The Oregon Encyclopedia

Latin name: Crotalus oreganus lutosus

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Bitteroot

Bitteroot

Bitteroot blooms on north-facing cliffs in western North America.

The Paiute name for bitteroot is kangedya. Traditional Native American uses of the plant included eating the roots, mixed with berries and meat, and using the roots to treat sore throats.

 

A History of Collaborative Restoration

When the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs acquired the conservation area in 2000, the ecosystem was unhealthy and out of balance. Intensive agricultural use and beaver trapping impacted the conservation area’s waterways, often leaving streams degraded with little supporting vegetation.

ONDA has partnered with the Tribes for over two decades on restoration projects that have improved the health and vitality of this area. During this time, Pine Creek Conservation Area has been an important testing ground for ONDA and the Tribes to innovate new techniques to restore cool, clear and abundant water that improves habitat and supports a diverse array of fish and wildlife.

Much of our work has focused on the “riparian zone” along the banks of Pine Creek, and our restoration actions have enhanced stream health and climate resiliency throughout the watershed. By supporting the recovery of thriving populations of beaver whose dams lead to the formation of wetlands that soak up ground water like a sponge, storing it and keeping it cool into the drier desert summer months, our restoration actions provide exceptional benefits to the entire ecosystem.

The success of these ongoing restoration efforts is readily apparent to the casual observer. In many places, beaver ponds teeming with life glimmer in the desert sun while dense willow thickets and towering cottonwoods obscure the creek where, just decades ago, there was virtually no native vegetation at all.

Allison Law

Current Projects

ONDA partners with the Tribes on two high-priority stream restoration projects at Pine Creek Conservation Area, and these efforts require a lot of hands-on work. This is where volunteers take center stage. Stewardship volunteers have opportunities to add native plants and complete instream restoration actions that support the rehabilitation of historic steelhead habitat, bolster climate resiliency, and enhance ecosystem health for a diversity of native plants and wildlife.

Robinson Creek Restoration Project

Robinson Creek, a major tributary of Pine Creek, flows through a rugged canyon to connect high-elevation ponderosa pine forests with the rolling grasslands of the conservation area, serving as a critical connective corridor for fish and wildlife.

While ONDA has completed several successful restoration plantings on Robinson Creek over the years, the larger ecosystem remains out of balance. Streambanks are eroded and many places still lack the density of trees and shrubs necessary to support healthy habitat. And, some sections of the creek run dry seasonally, trapping fish in isolated pools when water levels drop. To address these challenges, we recently launched an ambitious 5-year restoration project on Robinson Creek in partnership with the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs.

The long term goals of this project are to restore year-round stream flows to Robinson Creek, increase habitat resiliency, and jumpstart self-sustaining improvements to natural processes.

The main elements of the Robinson Creek restoration project include:

  • Building instream structures that mimic beaver dams and the natural accumulation of logs and debris found in a healthy stream. This new stream complexity slows water flows and captures sediment, raising the water table so the landscape retains moisture longer and the stream has a more consistent flow year-round.
  • Removing invasive western juniper from the valley bottoms to increase the amount of water flowing into the stream.
  • Planting native trees and shrubs in carefully selected locations where there is consistently enough water available to ensure vegetation like cottonwood and willow can survive.

Learn more about this project and view illustrations depicting the restoration process on Robinson Creek in our article, Seeing Conservation Work Come to Life.

Get Involved

This project is the most ambitious restoration effort ONDA has ever undertaken. We need YOU to join our community of volunteers working on increasing the health and resiliency of Robinson Creek.

Visit ONDA’s Stewardship Trips page to register for current volunteer opportunities on the Robinson Creek Restoration Project.

Join Us

 

Pine Creek Spring Restoration Project

For several years, ONDA has led stewardship trips to restore the small, spring-fed streams that are the lifeblood of the Pine Creek ecosystem. The goal of these projects is to create moister conditions throughout the year for important streamside plants to grow, ultimately improving habitat conditions for desert fish and wildlife. With the help of volunteers, ONDA achieves this by hand-building small natural structures in the stream. This strategy slows water down to “aggrade”—the opposite of erode—streambanks, retaining water that can spread out to create wetlands.

There are three main elements to this project:

  • Removing small western juniper trees that have moved into the steam corridor where they would not naturally grow and are reducing the amount of water in the stream.
  • Cutting juniper trees and other natural materials to build small structures in the stream, creating natural “speed bumps” that slow the flow of water.
  • Once more water is present for long enough periods to support new vegetation, we plant native trees and shrubs like willow and cottonwood to create habitat and support long-term resiliency.

Get Involved

This project is both accessible and gratifying for volunteers. As we work, we can see almost immediate results of our actions. Cool, clear water is more abundant and these small streams quickly expand to create beneficial wetland habitat.

Visit ONDA’s Stewardship Trips page to review current offerings and register to volunteer.

Join Us