Stewardship in the Blues
Across the Greater Hells Canyon Region, like elsewhere in the Western United States, a legacy of settlement, grazing, land management, and forestry has led to varying degrees of degradation across private and public lands. With an urgency driven by climate change and species loss, along with new approaches to restoration and coexistence, individuals, organizations and public agencies across the West are accelerating restoration and stewardship efforts. GHCC is a key partner in this work on public and private lands across our mission area. This work encompasses riparian restoration, beaver coexistence, monitoring, species surveys, and providing capacity to high functioning regional restoration partnerships.
Beaver coexistence
In 2021, GHCC helped form the Northeast Oregon Beaver Coexistence Working Group in collaboration with Grande Ronde Model Watershed, Nez Perce Tribe Fisheries, Powder River Basin Watershed Council, North Fork John Day Watershed Council, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Forest Service. Collectively, the working group seeks to promote the many benefits that beavers provide to our ecosystems across Northeast Oregon and to mitigate inevitable conflicts on actively managed agricultural and residential landscapes.
Northeast Oregon Beaver Coexistence Working Group
We work directly with landowners to keep beavers on the land and provide critical ecosystem services: improved water quality and retention, habitat for aquatic, terrestrial and avian species, and improving carbon storage and sequestration. Visit the Northeast Oregon Beaver Coexistence website to learn more about this amazing program.
Beaver Surveys in the Blue Mountains
If you would like to get more involved in supporting beavers in our mission area, we invite you to take part in our Beaver Survey. This community science project allows you to make a positive impact on mapping beaver activity across the Greater Hells Canyon Region.
Low-tech, Process-based Stream Restoration
Not all river restoration projects require large earth-moving equipment. In fact, so-called low-tech, process-based restoration actions can have a profound impact on restoring smaller creeks and streams that are prime beaver habitat. Many waterways require habitat restoration efforts to encourage beavers. These techniques mimic the hydrological benefits provided by beavers, and there is substantial evidence that beavers will utilize these structures for themselves.
These solutions include the installation of Beaver Dam Analogs (BDAs), post-assisted log structures, riparian replanting and placing large woody debris across waterways, in concert with water quantity and quality monitoring. Thanks to their lower cost and simpler regulatory approvals processes, there are countless opportunities to put these solutions to work. We work closely with foundations, public agencies, regional watershed councils, tribal natural resources departments, and private landowners to accelerate restoration efforts in the Greater Hells Canyon Region.
Student volunteers participate in planting Willows as forage for beavers in Northeast Oregon. Photos courtesy of Ian Wilson.
Riparian Project Monitoring
GHCC offers a wide variety of technical expertise in monitoring biological and habitat conditions necessary to sustain cold water and biodiversity in the Blue Mountains.
Streamflow Monitoring
Streamflow monitoring efforts include the design, installation, monitoring and data analysis for surface water measurements at restoration sites. This work helps to detect and track changes over time in water timing and availability. This is especially important to quantify project effectiveness and identify interactive actions to improve project outcomes.
Stream Temperature Monitoring
Temperature monitoring of restoration projects is another important way to help detect changes and heterogeneity associated with complex habitats necessary for cold water species. Logging temperature changes over time can demonstrate the effectiveness of a given restoration action as well as identify future actions to reach desired outcomes.
Endemic and Threatened Species Monitoring
We lead and take part in other endemic and threatened species monitoring efforts across the region. Many of these efforts are open to volunteers, and by joining a survey or monitoring event, it’s a great opportunity to see this work in action and get a deeper appreciation of the habitats and conservation opportunities across the Blue Mountains. We invite you to join us in the field — sign up for to our email list to get upcoming volunteer opportunities in your inbox.
Bumble Bee Surveys - Pacific Northwest Bumble Bee Atlas
Each spring and summer, when native bumble bees are active and their supporting flowering plants and shrubs are in bloom, we host volunteer trips at varying locations across Northeast Oregon to survey the abundance and distribution of these keystone pollinators. This work contributes to the Pacific Northwest Bumble Bee Atlas, a community science project managed by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. We are especially focused on identifying distribution of threatened species such as the Western Bumble Bee (Bombus occidentalis). These surveys are open to all ages, and it is an amazing way to participate in conservation while getting a deeper appreciation of pollinators and the habitats that sustain them.
MacFarlane’s Four o’clock
In spring, GHCC helps monitor the population of MacFarlane’s four-o’clock (Mirabilis macfarlanei), one of Oregon's federally listed, endangered flowers. This beautiful wildflower is endemic to Hells Canyon; it only blooms on a select few steep drainages on the Oregon and Idaho side of the canyon. These surveys work best with a team of volunteers and includes a campout in Hells Canyon, the heart of our mission area, working in support of this very important and stunningly beautiful plant. Dates vary depending on the time of year when the flower blooms.
Spawning Ground Stream Surveys
Spawning ground stream surveys are useful indicators of the health of fish-bearing streams. GHCC offers its expertise in monitoring adult salmon and steelhead spawning through redd (salmon nest) surveys to detect adult spawning in headwaters of the Blue Mountain Ecoregion.