News

The Pacific Northwest Oak Alliance and Cascadia Prairie-Oak Partnership are proud to announce the release of “Prairie, Oaks, and People – An Investment Strategy”

March 10, 2025

We’re thrilled to announce the launch of Prairie, Oaks, and People, an investment strategy.

The Prairie, Oaks, and People Investment Strategy offers an action-oriented five-year strategy with $304.2 million of ready-to-implement projects.

Developed by partnerships across the Pacific Northwest, this effort brings together tribes, conservation organizations, community groups, private landowners, businesses, and government agencies in a nonpartisan commitment to conserve the oak and prairie landscape while advancing key natural disaster risk reduction strategies. The strategy identifies priority areas for investment, the strategic use of funding to achieve critical outcomes, and key sources of funding support.

“This strategy is the result of an incredible collaborative effort, driven by nearly 100 dedicated individuals from across the Pacific Northwest. A total of 41 organizations came together—bringing the voices of 8 Tribes and Nations, 18 land trusts, 3 state agencies, and 15 additional groups, including NGOs, conservation districts, and university experts. Seeing this level of unity and commitment is a powerful testament to what the oak and prairie community can accomplish when we work together.”

- Sara Evans-Peters, U.S. Assistant Coordinator, Pacific Birds Habitat Joint Venture

Prairie, Oaks, and People 2024 – An investment strategy

The Goal

The goal of this strategic plan is the protection and restoration of healthy oak and prairie ecosystems across the Pacific Northwest so their important biological, cultural, and economic values are sustained over the long term.

Purpose

The plan highlights the economic, cultural, and ecological values of these landscapes and the importance of working lands and private landowners, elevates tribal priorities, and calls attention to the benefits of collective action and leveraging funding support. The plan includes cost estimates for needed restoration and wildlife risk reduction strategies, land protection, species recovery, and long-term land management capacity, ensuring that investments deliver durable and high-impact results.

Objectives

The plan’s authors identified three primary objectives to help achieve the goal of the plan:

1 Protect 100,000 acres of at-risk oak and prairie habitat and restore 10,000 acres of degraded habitat over the next 5 years.
2 Downlist 5 imperiled species over the next 10 years and establish the ecological and social foundations to support their persistence over time.
3 We will effectively communicate the benefits and capacity needs of oak and prairie habitat restoration and conservation to build a broad collaborative community focusing its resources on ecological and community well-being.

The Why

The oak and prairie ecosystem is one of the most biodiverse, culturally important, and fire and drought-tolerant habitats in the Pacific Northwest. It also happens to be where the majority of our human population lives, farms, and recreates. As a result, these are some of the most imperiled habitats, making them a top regional priority for conservation.

This plan is intended to be a road map for connecting private foundations, philanthropists, governments, and the business community who see benefit in contributing to the goals and outcomes described in this plan.

Many of our partners are already advancing the work that directly contributes to the goal and objectives in this plan. But there is more work to be done. Oak and Prairie ecosystems are rich in biodiversity and ecological value and are essential to our communities. With this plan, we can work together to invest more strategically, perform more effective restoration, and better leverage resources and capacity for the benefit of oak and prairie systems across the Pacific Northwest.