Red Prairie-Mill Creek-Willamina Oaks South – State Wildlife Action Plan

Photo is needed for this COA. — Submit photos to: OCS.Revision@ODFW.Oregon.gov

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.

The Red Prairie – Mill Creek – Willamina Oaks South COA (35 mi²) is located south of Highway 19 along Highway 22 in the foothills of the Coast Range. This area includes tributaries of the South Yamhill River and associated lowland habitats. This COA is adjacent to the Mill Creek and Baskett Butte COAs.

Recommended Conservation Actions

Manage public access and recreation with fish, wildlife and habitat in mind.
Protect and expand Oregon white oak habitat.

Maintain and restore existing habitat and ecological function, ensuring sufficient habitat complexity for wildlife.

Local Conservation Actions and Plans

Potential Partners

Special Features

General

The NRCS Wetland Reserve Easement program exists in this region.
This area contains a mix of grassland, oak savanna, mixed deciduous and conifer, and riparian habitat. This habitat supports a variety of important wildlife species, including acorn woodpecker, streaked horned lark, white-breasted nuthatch, and western gray squirrel.

Protected Areas

Buell County Park
Mill Creek Recreation Site
Noble Oaks (WWMP Property)

Previous COA Associations

Size Change from 2016 boundaries: +3.0 mi²(9%)

Ecoregions

Coast Range

Oregon's Coast Range, known for its dramatic scenery, is extremely diverse, with habitats ranging from open sandy dunes to lush forests and from tidepools to headwater streams. It follows the coastline and extends east through coastal forest to the border of the Willamette Valley and Klamath Mountains ecoregions

Willamette Valley

The Willamette Valley ecoregion is bounded on the west by the Coast Range and on the east by the Cascade Range. This long mostly level alluvial plain has some scattered areas of low basalt, and contrasts with productive farmland and large urban areas. It has the fastest-growing human population in the state resulting in challenges due to land-use changes.

Key Habitats

Grasslands

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

Late Successional Mixed Conifer Forests

Late successional mixed conifer forests provide a multi-layered tree canopy, including large-diameter trees, shade-tolerant tree species in the understory, and a high volume of dead wood, such as snags and logs.

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.

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.

Ducks on a wetland in Ladd Marsh Wildlife Area, Oregon

Wetlands

Wetlands are habitats that are inundated or saturated by surface water or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support vegetation typically adapted for life in sodden soil conditions. While dominated by periods of inundation, the natural ecological cycle may also include dry intervals. Permanently wet habitats include backwater sloughs, oxbow lakes, peatlands, …