Boardman Area – State Wildlife Action Plan

Boardman Area COA 154 Photo Credit: Keith Kohl, ODFW

Geographic boundaries of the COAs were updated for the 2026 State Wildlife Action Plan and the associated COA profiles are intended to provide additional information. Content of each COA profile is being refined and will be updated to reflect current conditions when feasible. Please help us by submitting information on Local Conservation Actions, Plans, or Potential Partners to: OCS.revision@odfw.oregon.gov.

South of the Columbia River, in north central Oregon. Area includes important conservation lands near the Boardman Conservation Area; Willow Creek Wildlife Area; and grassland included in The Nature Conservancy conservation portfolio. Portions of this COA were burned in the 2017 Horn Butte Fire.

Recommended Conservation Actions

Prevent wildfires to protect native habitats from risk of conversion to invasives
Maintain and/or initiate shrub-steppe restoration and management
Promote early detection and suppression of invasive weeds

Local Conservation Actions and Plans

Important Bird Areas of Oregon
MSCCAA (PGE, Threemile Farms)
ODFW maintains a conservation easement on 22,000 acres within this COA

Potential Partners

Special Features

General

Area hosts some of the highest densities of breeding long - billed curlew in the world
Area provides some of the highest quality remaining shrub steppe and grassland habitat in the ecoregion
Area represents the largest contiguous Washington Ground Squirrel habitat in Oregon
Bordered by the Lindsay Prairie Preserve managed by the Nature Conservancy

Previously Associated With

2006 COA ID CP-06 (Boardman area)

Protected Areas

Boardman Naval Bombing Range
Boardman Research Natural Area
Horn Butte
Prineville District

Ecoregions

Columbia Plateau

The Columbia Plateau ecoregion was shaped by cataclysmic floods and large deposits of wind-borne silt and sand earlier in its geological history. It is dominated by a rolling landscape of arid lowlands dissected by several important rivers, and extends from the eastern slopes of the Cascades Mountains, south and east from the Columbia River to the Blue Mountains.

Key Habitats

Grasslands

Grasslands include a variety of upland grass-dominated habitats, such as upland prairies, coastal bluffs, and montane grasslands.

Natural Lakes

Natural lakes are relatively large bodies of freshwater surrounded by land that were formed through geological processes, such as glacial scouring, tectonic movements, volcanic activity and river meander cutoffs. In Oregon, natural lakes are defined as standing water bodies larger than 20 acres, including some seasonal lakes. Depth is not a reference for characterization of …

Flowing Water and Riparian Habitats

Flowing Water and Riparian Habitats include all naturally occurring flowing freshwater streams and rivers throughout Oregon as well as the adjacent riparian habitat.