Zumwalt Prairie Plateau – Oregon Conservation Strategy

At the eastern edge of the ecoregion northeast of Enterprise and Joseph, the area builds from TNC Zumwalt Prairie and extends northwest to include significant canyon and riparian habitat

COA ID: 162

Recommended Conservation Actions

Continue to restore and maintain native grassland habitat
Promote early detection and suppression of invasive weeds
Restore or enhance riparian habitats

Local Conservation Actions and Plans

Eastern Oregon Bird Conservation Plan
Important Bird Areas of Oregon

Potential Partners

Bureau of Land Management
The Nature Conservancy
US Forest Service

Special Features

General

Includes significant grassland habitats
One of the largest blocks of native grassland in North America
Provides habitat for numerous wildlife species including breeding birds and butterflies

Previously Associated With

2006 COA ID BM-24 (Swamp Creek)
2006 COA ID BM-25 (Zumwalt Prairie Plateau)
2006 COA ID BM-26 (Hells Canyon)

Protected Areas

Swamp Creek
Wallowa County Fair Grounds
Wallowa Whitman
Warde Park
Zumwalt Prairie
Zumwalt Prairie - Pine 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.

Strategy Habitats

Grasslands

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

Specialized Local Habitats

Canyon shrublands

Strategy Species

American Pika (Modeled Habitat)

Ochotona princeps

American Three-toed Woodpecker (Modeled Habitat)

Picoides dorsalis

Black-backed Woodpecker (Observed)

Picoides arcticus

Bobolink (Modeled Habitat)

Dolichonyx oryzivorus

Burrowing Owl (Modeled Habitat)

Athene cunicularia hypugaea

California Myotis (Observed)

Myotis californicus

Columbia Spotted Frog (Modeled Habitat)

Rana luteiventris

Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse (Observed)

Tympanuchus phasianellus columbianus

Ferruginous Hawk (Observed)

Buteo regalis

Flammulated Owl (Observed)

Psiloscops flammeolus

Fringed Myotis (Modeled Habitat)

Myotis thysanodes

Great Gray Owl (Observed)

Strix nebulosa

Greater Sage-Grouse (Modeled Habitat)

Centrocercus urophasianus

Hoary Bat (Observed)

Lasiurus cinereus

Lewis’s Woodpecker (Observed)

Melanerpes lewis

Loggerhead Shrike (Observed)

Lanius ludovicianus

Long-billed Curlew (Observed)

Numenius americanus

Long-legged Myotis (Observed)

Myotis volans

Olive-sided Flycatcher (Observed)

Contopus cooperi

Pallid Bat (Observed)

Antrozous pallidus

Pileated Woodpecker (Observed)

Dryocopus pileatus

Silver-haired Bat (Observed)

Lasionycteris noctivagans

Steelhead / Rainbow / Redband Trout (Documented)

Oncorhynchus mykiss ssp

Swainson’s Hawk (Observed)

Buteo swainsoni

Spalding’s Campion (Observed)

Silene spaldingii

Townsend’s Big-eared Bat (Modeled Habitat)

Corynorhinus townsendii

Western Painted Turtle (Modeled Habitat)

Chrysemys picta bellii

Western Toad (Modeled Habitat)

Anaxyrus boreas

White-headed Woodpecker (Modeled Habitat)

Picoides albolarvatus

Strategy Spotlight: Zumwalt Prairie

Native grasslands are the most imperiled habitats in western North America. It is a habitat type that is disappearing rapidly globally. Grasslands are a Strategy Habitat in the Blue Mountains ecoregion, and are vanishing across Oregon as they continue to be converted for agricultural uses and urbanization.

Zumwalt Prairie is North America’s largest remaining grassland of its type: bunchgrass prairie including Idaho Fescue Festuca idahoensis, Bluebunch wheatgrass Pseudoregnaria spicata, Sandberg’s Bluegrass (Poa secunda) and many species of wildflowers. These grasslands once covered a vast area west of the Rocky Mountains, and included portions of southern British Columbia and Alberta, eastern Oregon and Washington, Northern Idaho, and Western Montana. Zumwalt Prairie is located in Wallowa County in northeast Oregon, this grassland once covered approximately 300,000 acres, of which approximately 20% has since been converted to crop agriculture. The prairie once part of the homeland of the Joseph Band of the Nez Perce people, this area now is used for growing wheat and as spring/summer, and fall range for beef cattle. Despite centuries of human use, Zumwalt Prairie continues to provide a habitat for many of the rare plants, wildlife and invertebrates that have survived there for millennia.

In 2000, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) purchased 27,000 acres of the Zumwalt Prairie, the largest Oregon acquisition in the TNC’s history. In 2006, TNC added a further 6,065 acres, making the 51-square-mile preserve Oregon’s biggest private nature sanctuary.

Since acquisition, the TNC has been engaged in surveys, monitoring and research the animal and plant communities. A priority is managing, and where possible, eliminating damaging non-native invasive plant species such as sulfur cinquefoil, meadow hawkweed and common bugloss. The use or prescribed fire and carefully managing grazing by domestic livestock are being employed to preserve and restore wildlife diversity. TNC has been working in partnership with other neighboring landowners to improve the ecological health across the landscape. The U.S. Department of the Interior has designated 4,400 acres of Zumwalt Prairie Preserve as a National Natural Landmark.