Boardman Area – Oregon Conservation Strategy

Boardman Area COA 154 Photo Credit: Keith Kohl, ODFW

South of the Columbia River, in north central Oregon. Area includes important conservation lands near the Boardman Conservation Area; Willow Creek Wildlife Area; and grassland included in The Nature Conservancy conservation portfolio

COA ID: 154

Recommended Conservation Actions

Control wildfires to protect native habitats from risk of conversion to invasives
Maintain and/or initiate shrub-steppe restoration and management
Promote early detection and suppression of invasive weeds

Local Conservation Actions and Plans

Important Bird Areas of Oregon
MSCCAA (PGE, Threemile Farms)
ODFW maintains a conservation easement on 22,000 acres within this COA

Potential Partners

Bureau of Land Management
Department of Defense
Natural Resources Conservation Service
Oregon Military Department
Oregon Parks and Recreation Department
The Nature Conservancy
Threemile Canyon Farms
U. S. Navy

Special Features

General

Area hosts some of the highest densities of breeding long - billed curlew in the world
Area provides some of the highest quality remaining shrub steppe and grassland habitat in the ecoregion
Area represents the largest contiguous Washington Ground Squirrel habitat in Oregon

Previously Associated With

2006 COA ID CP-06 (Boardman area)

Protected Areas

Boardman Naval Bombing Range
Boardman Research Natural Area
Horn Butte
Prineville District

Ecoregions

Columbia Plateau

The Columbia Plateau ecoregion was shaped by cataclysmic floods and large deposits of wind-borne silt and sand earlier in its geological history. It is dominated by a rolling landscape of arid lowlands dissected by several important rivers, and extends from the eastern slopes of the Cascades Mountains, south and east from the Columbia River to the Blue Mountains.

Strategy Habitats

Grassland Strategy Habitat

Grasslands

Grasslands include a variety of upland grass-dominated habitats, such as upland prairies, coastal bluffs, and montane grasslands.

Flowing Water and Riparian Habitats

Flowing Water and Riparian Habitats include all naturally occurring flowing freshwater streams and rivers throughout Oregon as well as the adjacent riparian habitat.

Sagebrush Habitats

Sagebrush Habitats

Sagebrush habitats include all sagebrush steppe- and shrubland-dominated communities found east of the Cascade Mountains.

Ducks on a wetland in Ladd Marsh Wildlife Area, Oregon

Wetlands

Wetlands are covered with water during all or part of the year. Permanently wet habitats include backwater sloughs, oxbow lakes, and marshes, while seasonally wet habitats include seasonal ponds, vernal pools, and wet prairies.

Strategy Species

Burrowing Owl (Observed)

Athene cunicularia hypugaea

Brewer’s Sparrow (Observed)

Spizella breweri breweri

Chinook Salmon - Spring/Summer Run

Chinook Salmon (Documented)

Oncorhynchus tshawytscha

Common Nighthawk (Observed)

Chordeiles minor

Ferruginous Hawk (Observed)

Buteo regalis

Grasshopper Sparrow

Grasshopper Sparrow (Observed)

Ammodramus savannarum perpallidus

Hoary Bat (Observed)

Lasiurus cinereus

Lewis’s Woodpecker (Observed)

Melanerpes lewis

Loggerhead Shrike (Observed)

Lanius ludovicianus

Long-billed Curlew (Observed)

Numenius americanus

Northern Sagebrush Lizard (Modeled Habitat)

Sceloporus graciosus graciosus

Pallid Bat (Modeled Habitat)

Antrozous pallidus

Sage Sparrow

Sagebrush Sparrow (Observed)

Artemisiospiza nevadensis

Steelhead / Rainbow / Redband Trout (Documented)

Oncorhynchus mykiss ssp

Swainson’s Hawk (Observed)

Buteo swainsoni

Silver-haired Bat (Observed)

Lasionycteris noctivagans

Washington Ground Squirrel (Observed)

Urocitellus washingtoni

Western Painted Turtle on a log

Western Painted Turtle (Modeled Habitat)

Chrysemys picta bellii

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