Umpqua Oak Partnership
The Umpqua Oak Partnership is a collaborative regional partnership composed of active participants focused on fostering the conservation, restoration, and long-term health of oak habitats, which are present across both public and private ownerships in the Umpqua Basin.
Cherry Hill Willamette Valley 2021 Credit: Sara Evans Peters
Who We Are
UOP participants include private landowners, non-governmental organizations, local, state, and federal agencies, as well as private citizens and watershed-based groups.
The UOP works in the Umpqua Basin which is generally described by the Douglas County boundary. The Umpqua River Basin contains some of the largest remaining tracks of Oregon white oak (Quercus garryana) forests and savannas in the Pacific Northwest.
We are a coordinated effort to restore oak habitat conditions that promote healthy wildlife populations, support working lands, reduce the catastrophic effects of severe wildfires, and reduce the impacts of invasive species and encroaching conifers.
Mission
The Umpqua Oak Partnership uses a collaborative landscape-level approach to bring people and organizations together around oaks to increase their overall extent, diversity, and resiliency in the Umpqua Basin.
We connect family farms and ranches to programs and funding, we facilitate information sharing, and we provide a forum to further oak initiatives in southwest Oregon.
Vision
UOP envisions a community that values its oak and prairie habitats and is committed to improving ecological processes throughout the Umpqua Basin and associated bioregions. This includes respecting historic ecological values, managing for healthy and diverse habitats that support abundant ecosystems, and conserving oak habitats while ensuring working lands are preserved. UOP is viewed as the “HUB” for oak ecosystem restoration and conservation through the development of robust and effective partnerships that include landowners, natural resource managers, and local user groups.
Objectives
Umpqua Oak Partnership Work
Umpqua Private Land Oak Restoration
Our Working Lands Initiative seeks to bring Umpqua Oak Partnership partners and landowners together to discuss ways to preserve the basin’s agricultural heritage while emphasizing oak habitat-friendly practices.
Workforce Development
Oregon Conservation Corps of the Umpqua Valley (OCC), connects underserved and disadvantaged youth and young adults with workforce training opportunities through a diverse range of hands-on natural resource stewardship projects.
Understory Restoration Working Groups
Community-based initiatives to conserve native plant communities and restore landscape resilience are inextricably linked to social, economic, and environmental sustainability.
