A land conservancy group has acquired a 1,600-acre property in the Coburg Hills, just northeast of the City of Coburg. It's the first property in Lane County for Greenbelt Land Trust, a Corvallis-based nonprofit.
The property was chosen for its ecological significance. Because it goes from the valley floor up into the hills, the organization identified it as more resilient to climate change. It will also function as a wildlife corridor for species like alligator lizards, mountain lions and meadowlarks.
The property is near protected areas taken care of by the Bureau of Land Management and the Nature Conservancy, creating a larger region of protected lands that amplifies the benefits of conserving each individual area.
The property used to be a ranch, so it has a system of roads that will make doing restoration work easier.
It also contains a diversity of habitats, including prairie and oak savanna biomes that are threatened across the Willamette Valley by the spread of fir forests and transition to farmland and city.
The property was acquired as part of a 2010 agreement between the state of Oregon and the Bonneville Power Administration. To offset the negative environmental impacts of flood control dams along the Willamette River, the power administration provides funding to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife to purchase land for conservation throughout the Willamette Valley.
Matt Benotsch, outreach manager for Greenbelt Land trust, said the plan at what the group is calling "CBow Ridge" is to improve the quality of the habitat.
“The management plan is gonna focus on enhancing and probably expanding some of the, the native prairie areas and the oak savannas on the property," said Benotsch. "There’s only so many large conservation properties left in the valley. And so protecting them while we can is really important.”
The land has Kincaid’s lupine, a host plant for Fender’s blue butterfly. Both species are endangered. Benotsch said the organization hopes to create conditions that are favorable enough CBow ridge to bring Fender’s blue butterflies to the property, creating a larger habitat for them in the Coburg hills.
