As the year comes to a close, we approach the wonderful season of winter and also the season of giving. Each year, it’s inspiring to see the commitment our supporters have made to the Land Trust. Their dedication and investment in our mission is truly heartening and one reason I love what I do.
One question that often rises to the top is how our funding has been affected by recent political, economic, and emergency events—federal cuts, government shutdowns, wildfires, and competition for limited resources. While parts of the answer vary for each issue, one aspect of the answer remains the same: The Land Trust, like many other nonprofits, is navigating a funding environment that looks nothing like years past.
Some of the challenges the Land Trust continues to navigate as we close 2025 include:
- Reduced partner capacity: Reductions in staff and funding for our Tribal and federal partners continue to limit our ability to partner on conservation and stewardship projects. This includes land transfers, cross-boundary wildfire mitigation, stream restoration projects, and pollinator conservation efforts.
- New grants on pause: Federal solicitations for grants for future projects have been paused. This continues to result in delayed implementation of planned restoration projects, primarily affecting Ochoco Preserve and Paulina Creek Preserve.
- Shifting priorities: After thousands of Land Trust acres burned this summer in wildfires, the Land Trust needed to shift focus to respond to these emergencies. While the fires have been extinguished, the restoration that needs to happen in their wake creates new, expensive projects for the Land Trust.
For the Land Trust, all of these challenges together mean that, while the need for our land protection and restoration work in Central Oregon is greater than ever, the financial environment is more constrained than in the past, and competition for funding is fierce.
What does this mean for our donors and supporters? It means we’re entering a moment when your gifts matter more than ever. Because federal funding is less predictable, private philanthropic support and individual giving are critical in ensuring we can keep our commitments. Your support can protect our forests and rivers, it can help restore Preserves burned by fire, it can help sustain and improve habitat, and provide places for our community to connect with the natural world.
In this context, every gift truly helps provide a stable operational backbone for the Land Trust, so that when federal programs resume or match funding becomes available, we’re ready to act. We invite our donors to consider flexible, multi-year support or unrestricted gifts that let us move quickly when opportunities arise. Together, we can strengthen our conservation work in spite of challenging external funding conditions and maintain momentum for protecting the lands and waters of Central Oregon.
Learn more about how you can help: