Lower Deschutes River – State Wildlife Action Plan

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.

Follows the Lower Deschutes River Corridor and includes surrounding habitat.

Recommended Conservation Actions

Maintain or enhance in-channel watershed function, connection to riparian habitat, flow and hydrology
Promote early detection and suppression of weeds
Restore and enhance remnant Oak Woodland habitats
Restore and maintain complex, continuous sagebrush and grassland habitats
Restore and maintain riparian habitats
Maintain and enhance shrubs, especially during fire recovery efforts

Local Conservation Actions and Plans

Lower Deschutes Weed Control Project, an ongoing project with SWCD, NRCS, ODFW, BLM, OPRD, Sherman City Weed Department, and conservation organizations to control invasive weeds in the lower 40 miles of the Deschutes
Lower Deschutes River Management Plan (BLM)
Lower Deschutes Wildlife Area Management Plan

Special Features

General

Excellent steelhead and trout fisheries
Lower Deschutes Wild and Scenic River corridor
Provides important winter range for big game, bighorn sheep, and many sensitive wildlife species.

Previously Associated With

2006 COA ID BM-01 (Deschutes River area)
2006 COA ID CP-02 (White River area)
2006 COA ID CP-03 (Lower Deschutes River)

Protected Areas

Columbia River Gorge
Deschutes River State Recreation Area
Lower Deschutes River
Lower Deschutes Wildlife Area
Warm Springs Reservation
White River
White River Falls State Park

Ecoregions

Blue Mountains

Located in NE Oregon, the Blue Mountains ecoregion is the largest ecoregion in the state. It provides a diverse complex of mountain ranges, valleys, and plateaus that extend beyond Oregon into the states of Idaho and Washington.

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.

East Cascades

The East Cascade ecoregion extends from the Cascade Mountains' summit east to the warmer, drier high desert and down the length of the state. This ecoregion varies dramatically from its cool, moist border with the West Cascades ecoregion to its dry eastern border, where it meets sagebrush desert landscapes.

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 …

Example of Oak Woodlands, which is a Strategy Habitat within the State Wildlife Action Plan

Oak Habitats

There are several oak habitat types in Oregon, where oaks comprise most of the canopy. These can include oak woodlands, oak forest, oak chaparral, and riparian oak. Oak savanna is covered in the Grasslands Key Habitat. Oaks may also co-dominate a canopy in oak/fir, oak pine, and oak hardwood habitats.

Ponderosa Pine Woodlands

Ponderosa pine woodlands are common in Oregon’s eastside ecoregions. While dominated by ponderosa pine, these woodlands may also have lodgepole pine, western juniper, aspen, western larch, grand fir, Douglas-fir, mountain mahogany, incense cedar, sugar pine, or white fir, depending on ecoregion and site conditions. Known for their open forest structure, these woodlands generally have fewer …

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.