Staff and volunteers from the U.S. Forest Service, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Oregon Hunters Association and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation recently gathered in the Blue Mountains near La Grande, Ore. As members of the Blue Mountains Elk Initiative (BMEI), they celebrated past successes and talked about seeking solutions to tomorrow’s challenges.
As they toured the recent three-phase Minam River acquisition, which encompasses more than 16,500 acres, the conversation narrowed to the web of management activities required to complete their complementing missions. Some sites are prime candidates for volunteer work parties while others need a more industrial approach and a complex network of funding. Among the challenges are patches of invasive plants like yellow-star thistle and medusahead grass in open places, areas of conifer encroachment and overstocking in need of thinning, and unique opportunities to restore hydrological functions to Oregon’s second-most ecologically important river. Issues are abundant but so are potential solutions.
“Amidst the uncertainty caused by retirements of pivotal members and the current state of federal and local funding, there was a shared commitment to something that works; something that embraces the monumental lift of landscape-scale conservation and the spirit of collaboration required to make it happen,” said Alex Baier, RMEF northwest regional land manager.
As the longest running initiative of its kind in the United States, BMEI has a 35-year history of bringing people together to address management challenges.
(Photo credit: Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation)
