This field trip will visit two ecologically significant and culturally important areas in the Willamette Valley located near Portland, Oregon. The sites offer examples of cooperative restoration projects that involved local tribes, federal agencies, non-governmental organizations, and other partners to restore and establish native plant species and provide valuable wildlife habitat adjacent to more urban populated areas. Several guest field trip leaders will discuss and share their cooperative work for different restoration projects. The field trip will focus on ecologically significant habitats, historical and contemporary tribal uses and values for natural and cultural resources linked with restoration strategies. In particular the use of Traditional/prescribed burning in a contemporary context to achieve multiple resource objectives that emphasize how tribal Traditional Ecological Knowledge and partnerships with tribes assist restoration efforts.

Field trip location 1: West Linn, OR. Camassia Preserve, The Nature Conservancy.

The site is a rocky plateau with high levels of Willamette Valley plant diversity, including many species of cultural significance to local tribes.  This rocky plateau supports wet meadows, Oregon white oak-madrone woodlands, vernal and permanent ponds, and even a stand of quaking aspen.

Field trip location 2: Sherwood, OR. Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge, US Fish and Wildlife Service.

The Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge is restoring habitats to a more natural state within the floodplain of the Tualatin River basin. The field trip participants will see current restoration and prescribed burning projects conducted cooperatively with the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde.