BLM Funds to Restore Landscapes in OR
Eric Tegethoff, Producer
Monday, June 5, 2023
The federal government is investing $161 million to restore landscapes across the West, including in Oregon.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management selected 21 projects in eleven states. Ten million dollars are going to southeast sagebrush in Oregon and forests in the southwest section of the state.
Michael O'Casey is the deputy director for Pacific Northwest region at the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership. He said these funds are a boon for public lands users.
"That'll boost fish and wildlife habitat and sporting traditions," said O'Casey, "as well as working to solve these increasingly challenging issues on BLM lands like increasing drought and invasive weeds and ever more wildfires across the West."
Funding for the restoration projects come from the Inflation Reduction Act passed by Congress last year.
O'Casey said restoration in southeast Oregon in particular is crucial because it's helping conserve a large migration corridor for pronghorn.
"This project in particular will be $5 million towards the restoration of 3.7 million acres of BLM sagebrush landscapes," said O'Casey, "that provides habitat for pronghorn, greater sage grouse, mule deer and other iconic wildlife there in the northern Great Basin."
The southwest Oregon project is focused on restoring degraded habitat for Coho salmon and other aquatic life. It will also build resilience on the region's wildland-urban interface.
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