Silver Creek Area – Oregon Conservation Strategy

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Located at the southern edge of the Blue Mountains Ecoregion, just west of the Silvies River. Area includes ecologically significant stretch of Silver Creek and its surrounding habitat

COA ID: 175

Recommended Conservation Actions

Initiate or continue wet meadow conservation and restoration efforts
Restore and maintain riparian habitats
Use fire and thinning to restore and enhance Ponderosa Pine habitat

Local Conservation Actions and Plans

Eastern Oregon Bird Conservation Plan
Greater Sage-grouse Conservation Assessment and Strategy

Potential Partners

Bureau of Land Management
The Nature Conservancy

Special Features

General

Area contains significant coverage of the ecoregion's Ponderosa Pine Habitat
Includes part of Continental Zone Highlands subregion

Previously Associated With

2006 COA ID BM-08 (Silver Creek - Emigrant Creek)

Protected Areas

Delintment Lake
Dry Mountain Research Natural Area
Malheur National Forest
Prineville District
Silver Creek

Ecoregions

Blue Mountains

Located in NE Oregon, the Blue Mountains ecoregion is the largest ecoregion in the state. It provides a diverse complex of mountain ranges, valleys, and plateaus that extend beyond Oregon into the states of Idaho and Washington.

Northern Basin and Range

The Northern Basin and Range ecoregion covers the very large southeastern portion of the state, from Burns south to the Nevada border and from the Christmas Valley east to Idaho. It is largely a high elevation desert-like area dominated by sagebrush communities and habitats.

Strategy Habitats

Aspen Woodlands

Aspen woodlands are woodland or forest communities, dominated by aspen trees with a forb, grass, or shrub understory. Aspen woodlands can also occur within conifer forests.

Grasslands

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

Late Successional Mixed Conifer Forests

Late successional mixed conifer forests provide a multi-layered tree canopy, including large-diameter trees, shade-tolerant tree species in the understory, and a high volume of dead wood, such as snags and logs.

Natural Lakes

Natural lakes are relatively large bodies of freshwater surrounded by land. For the purposes of the Conservation Strategy, natural lakes are defined as standing water bodies larger than 20 acres, including some seasonal lakes.

Ponderosa Pine Woodlands

Ponderosa pine woodlands are dominated by ponderosa pine, but may also have lodgepole pine, western juniper, aspen, western larch, grand fir, Douglas-fir, mountain mahogany, incense cedar, sugar pine, or white fir, depending on ecoregion and site conditions. Their understories are variable combinations of shrubs, herbaceous plants, and grasses.