Greenhill Oak and Prairie Restoration (2019-2024)

The Greenhill Oak and Prairie Restoration Project is a collaborative effort amongst neighbors and local partners to restore the structure and health of oak savanna, woodland, and prairie habitat across 315 contiguous acres. Fire suppression, woody encroachment, dense canopy conditions, and pressure from non-native and invasive plant species have affected the Coyote Creek subbasin of the Long Tom watershed. This corridor, identified as a high priority for oak and prairie conservation, supports a high diversity of plant and animal species endemic to the Willamette Valley. This coalition of neighbors have each stewarded the land and employed restoration techniques to achieve their goals but fire was still absent from the landscape. Through partnership with the Long Tom Watershed Council, Ecostudies Institute’s Willamette Valley Fire Collaborative and Rivers to Ridges partnering organizations, dense woodlands were thinned, good fire was reintroduced, prairies were seeded, and we worked with landowners to come up with property specific solutions.