Watershed Resilience Project OREGON, USA: A Path Towards Whole Systems Regeneration

To exponentially accelerate resilience requires engaging as many producers as possible within linked watersheds by creating complex interdependent biological systems that can draw strength from each other in a trophic web. The knock-on effects benefit life upstream and downstream, both on land and within communities in Eastern Oregon.

Low-tech process-based restoration (LTPBR) uses simple, low unit-cost structural additions (e.g., wood, beaver dams, adaptive grazing) within waterways to mimic healthy biological functions and 

jumpstart beneficial processes in soil and watersheds.

Pheasants Forever has devised a novel  program that reduces the financial and administrative burden on landowners and lessees easing the way to apply  for and manage NRCS conservation funding.

FROM drought ridden and erosion prone  meadow systems TO oases of abundance and biodiversity for  livestock and wildlife.

FROM reliance on input for technical and funding assistance TO sovereign and enduring local resources that do NOT require outside input.

FROM communities feeling strained and stressed TO communities feeling neighborly, hopeful, excited and grateful.

FROM dwindling attractors to the region TO robust incentives to stay, play and work in the county.

FROM  scarcity TO abundance.

Thriving land, people and communities in Lake County

Biodiversity increases almost immediately. 

Case Study 2 on this website describes how 100 beaver dams built last year on Cottonwood Ranch  are slowing down the water, filling the aquifers, and spreading the water across once dry meadows. Beavers have moved in and  they are adjusting the man-made beaver dams. Elk herds have been spotted which have not been seen there for decades. Habitat for fish and amphibians have increased greatly. 

Partnerships

Relationships and partnerships are key.  This  multistakeholder living soil/watershed health initiative is designed for relationship and co-creation dedicated to serving thriving landscapes and communities. ThePivot.Earth has partnered with Pheasants Forever, Lake County Umbrella Watershed Council, Intermountain West Joint Venture, Ducks Unlimited, and the National Resource Conservation Service to engage land stewards in south eastern Oregon to adopt various low tech approaches and restore their watersheds, working lands, and ecosystems into thriving interdependent systems.  

An on-the-ground full-time coordinator will focus on vital relationships with producers, supporting them in funding conservation of their working lands, highlighting successful local stories and foster strength in collaboration. 

This is just the beginning of this dramatic story for Lake County. We intend to bring thriving to  all four watersheds in Lake County as part of this Watershed Resilience Project. Stay tuned for many more stories like this one as we at ThePivot.Earth spread  our wings!