This past year has been a relatively quiet year for the Land Trust's Ochoco Preserve. Phase two of restoration efforts wrapped up at the Preserve in 2024, restoring Ochoco Creek and a portion of the Crooked River. This year the Preserve has largely been an active recovery zone with Land Trust staff monitoring restoration areas, managing weeds, and planning for phase three.

This fall, however, we did complete another round of restoration plantings at the Preserve. The Land Trust planted 54,000 new native plants throughout the two restored portions of the Preserve. Aspen, alder, willow, wildflowers, and wetland plants were added by contract crews over four days in October. Our goal was to increase the overall density of native plants at the Preserve and to supplement where some plants were washed away by high water. We also added more shrubs and wildflowers in the drier portions of the Preserve to supplement the grasses we initially planted. These plantings, along with previous efforts, will go a long way to helping create better habitat for fish and wildlife. We look forward to watching them thrive!

Crews were also recently on site monitoring resident rainbow trout and steelhead populations along McKay Creek. Portland General Electric, along with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Land Trust, conducted a fish survey on a section of McKay Creek that was restored during phase one of the Ochoco Preserve Project. More than 200 fish were sampled during the monitoring, which is exciting news! Within this group of fish, there was a variety of sizes, which leads us to believe there's a good amount of age diversity in the creek. We will continue to watch how our restoration work to create more habitat types within the creek affects these fish populations in future years. Stay tuned!

Learn more:

• About phase two of the Ochoco Preserve Project.
• Watch all of our Ochoco Preserve Project videos.
• About the Ochoco Preserve Project.