The Columbia River Basin is the Nation’s fourth largest watershed. Originating in Canada and stretching throughout the Pacific Northwest, it covers nearly a quarter of a million miles of mountains, forests, farms, and other lands. The river system supports five species of salmon and other important species, including the steelhead, shad, smelt, and bald eagle, some threatened or endangered.

Wasco, Gilliam, and Sherman Counties sit along several rivers in the heart of the Basin, with agriculture the dominant land use in many places. Numerous Federal and state agencies and non-profit organizations encourage landowners to adopt conservation practices. In areas covered by the Endangered Species Act (ESA), federal agencies are required to employ a lengthy, formal consultation process on landowner conservation plans if the plan might affect endangered or threatened species. These consultations can take months, even years, to complete. Often, the landowner becomes discouraged by the long regulatory process and declines to participate.

Oregon Farm Bureau, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Oregon Department of Agriculture, Oregon Wheat League and Oregon State University Extension, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), USDI Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Wasco, Gilliam, and Sherman County Soil and Water Conservation Districts.

After a four-year consultation among NRCS, NMFS, and FWS led by the soil and water conservation districts in Wasco, Gilliam and Sherman Counties, the agencies developed a biological assessment and biological opinion for conservation practices in the three counties. Private landowners with an NRCS-approved resource management system (RMS) conservation plan receive an incidental take permit for their operation. This allows private landowners to improve livestock management, plant trees, protect soil, and improve water quality in a timely manner with minimal red tape. In addition, private land managers who have land on hillsides above the streams and reduce soil erosion have the same protections. As an added benefit, farmers can implement the projects when the timing is best for both the endangered species and the crop cycle.

This milestone provides regulatory certainty for agricultural producers under the Endangered Species Act—a win-win for endangered species, farmers, ranchers and federal agencies.