Forest Restoration Partnership

Northwest Oak Habitat Network

The Northwest Oak Habitat Network (NWOHN) is a partnership of private landowners, local and federal agencies, and land trusts formed to initiate significant coordinated restoration and protection efforts for oak habitats throughout the Willamette Valley.

The NWOHN will promote the restoration and conservation of oak habitats by identifying key habitats, outreaching to gain support for private lands participation, managing the planning and implementation of restoration on designated sites, linking funding sources to projects, and securing long-term protection through coordination with land trusts and government sponsored safe harbor agreements.

Objectives of NWOHN

Maintain and expand database of potential oak habitat sites for inclusion into network.
Provide funding to implement stewardship planning, restoration treatments, and monitoring through grants, and conservation assistance programs.
Develop stewardship/restoration plans and implement restoration activities.
Leverage long-term conservation/protection for these lands with assistance from land trusts.
Create a network of oak habitats accessible to researchers interested in studies involving oak habitat ecology, restoration, fire ecology, and noxious weed control.
Create a network of sites to demonstrate restoration practices and outcomes to a broad audience including landowners, the general public, schools, and natural resource managers.

Oregon Aspen Project

Aspen is declining throughout the Western United States. A variety of factors are responsible for this decline including changes in fire regime and over-browsing of new aspen shoots by cattle and elk. The interruption of natural disturbance regimes in aspen groves such as fire which helped re-initiate new aspen, and control conifer encroachment is a main factor in this decline. Aspen regenerate prolifically following fire, floods or avalanches. However, cattle and elk have greatly reduced re-sprouting of new aspen. Other still unknown factor may also explain this decline. For example, the rapid expansion of juniper and the resulting reduction of groundwater flows may be causing aspen to decline in range areas.

In Oregon in recent years, efforts have been initiated on aspen on public lands. However, few resources have been made available to private landowners to assist with rehabilitation of aspen on their lands. The Oregon Aspen Project is a multi-landowner effort started in 2007 to restore aspen habitats on private lands. Forest Restoration Partnership is recruiting landowners interested in enhancing and re-introducing aspen on their lands. Technical assistance will be provided and grants written to fund projects.