ACTIONS BY RURAL OREGONIANS

OREGON’S RURAL LANDSCAPE

Oregon’s natural and working rural lands comprise 94% of the state and are home to 1 in 3 Oregonians (35% of the population), including both rural and frontier landscapes. Rural Oregonians (33% of the population) live in rural areas that are ten or more miles from a city with 40,000 or more people. Two percent of Oregonians live in Oregon’s ten frontier counties, where there are fewer than six people per square mile.

Oregon’s rural and frontier populations have a long history of stewardship of our natural resources and have an unparalleled opportunity to influence long-term conservation of the fish, wildlife, and habitats that make Oregon beautiful. Landowners and rural residents can engage in restoration and stewardship activities around the home, on their land, and across property boundaries at the watershed scale.

Rural and frontier residents have significant potential to contribute to restoration and stewardship activities at several scales:

  1. Around the home – Plant native species, reduce pesticide and rodenticide use, create wildlife habitat with bat boxes, and secure garbage and other attractants from wildlife.
  2. On the land – Adopt best management practices for working lands that are compatible with both wildlife conservation and resource use, restore native habitats, remove barriers to movement, reduce catastrophic wildlife risk, and restore incised streams.
  3. Watershed – Work with local governments, nonprofits, or watershed councils to support restoration projects, share information with the community about where they live, and encourage schools to engage in education about conservation and stewardship of Oregon’s fish, wildlife, and their habitats.

 

AROUND THE HOME

As Oregon grows and changes, people and wildlife share the same spaces more often. Living close to wildlife can present challenges like property damage, safety risks, threats to pets and livestock, disease concerns, and nuisance issues like noise or dealing with animal droppings.

The good news is that many of these issues can be prevented through simple actions like securing garbage and other items that attract wildlife, avoiding feeding wildlife, protecting pets and livestock with secure enclosures or fencing, and wildlife-proofing your home by sealing up entry points.

Keeping cats indoors

Free-ranging domestic cats kill billions of birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates every year. Even when well fed, domestic cats instinctively hunt and kill wildlife. They also indirectly harm wildlife through transmission of disease, competition with native predators, and impacts to native wildlife behavior. Outdoor cats in rural and frontier areas where human settlements directly abut high quality natural habitats can be especially impactful to native communities of fish and wildlife. Keeping cats indoors is also important for the health and safety of the cats. Cats let outdoors face many dangers, including traffic, parasites, poisons, aggressive animals, and even abuse by humans. Indoor cats live longer, healthier lives than cats allowed outdoors. Keeping cats indoors, or creating safe spaces like catios, helps protect birds and other wildlife while also keeping cats safe and healthy.

Reducing light pollution

In rural areas, preserving natural darkness is important for wildlife and community well-being. Excessive outdoor lighting from homes, farms, and roadways can disrupt natural patterns of activity. Rural residents can help by using low-intensity, downward-facing lights, shielding lights, using motion-sensors for areas where lights are needed, and otherwise limiting nighttime lighting.

Preventing window strikes

Window strikes are a common cause of injury and death for birds, especially in areas where homes are near trees or other natural habitats. Birds often can’t see glass and may fly into windows because of the reflection of sky or vegetation (Key Conservation Issue: Barriers to Animal Movement). Nocturnal migrants like songbirds may crash into windows at night due to light pollution (Key Conservation Issue: Pollution). To help prevent window strikes, homeowners can make windows more visible to birds by adding decals, stickers, or tape in patterns spaced two inches apart vertically and horizontally. Installing screens, using external shades, or applying bird-safe window films are also effective solutions. Turning off non-essential lights at night is also an effective way to reduce issues with artificial light at night.

Managing wildlife in and around the home

Sometimes wildlife finds its way into homes while seeking food, shelter, or warmth, especially through open doors, vents, or small gaps in walls or roofs. Managing for these unwelcome visitors around the home requires careful consideration to avoid unintended harm to wildlife and pets.

Poisons like anticoagulant rodenticides, commonly used to control rats and mice, can pose serious risks to non-target species (Key Conservation Issue: Pollution). These poisons can remain in an animal’s system long after ingestion, meaning predators or scavengers like owls, hawks, foxes, and even pets that eat poisoned rodents can also be harmed or killed. Safer alternatives include sealing up entry points to prevent rodent access, maintaining clean yards free of food attractants, and encouraging presence of natural predators through habitat-friendly practices.

All bats in Oregon are Species of Greatest Conservation Need, reflecting their dire conservation status. However, sometimes these bats may find their way into your home, and Oregonians may need guidance on how to respond. A local Wildlife Control Operator  can help you bat-proof your home outside of the pup-rearing season (immobile pups (baby bats) may be present in June, July, and August and need protection), or you may close up all gaps in your home >1/4” to prevent incursion when bats are not present. Installing bat boxes in your yard or surrounding area as an alternative roost site can also help to limit conflict. Bats can be a welcome addition to your yard or garden by helping control insect populations.

Additional resources on living with wildlife can help guide all Oregonians trying to keep their home and their local wildlife safe:

Keeping garbage and other wildlife attractants secure

Securing food, garbage, and recycling is one of the most effective ways to prevent issues with wildlife. When animals find easy access to trash, pet food, or other human food sources, they learn to return regularly, which can lead to property damage, safety risks, and unhealthy changes in their behavior. To help prevent this, feed pets indoors, or quickly remove any uneaten pet food. Remove or secure any other food attractants. For example, use electric fencing to protect beehives, and secure vegetable gardens and chicken coops with wildlife-proof fence. Make sure trash and dumpsters are secure by using locking or screw-on lids, placing metal bars over dumpsters, or storing garbage in fully enclosed areas. Avoid putting trash out the night before pickup—instead, take it out as close to pick up time as possible. These simple steps help keep wildlife safe and wild, and protect people, pets, and property.

ON THE LAND

Oregon’s key habitats can be found throughout the state on public and private lands, including on farmland, ranchland, and commercial forestlands. As just one example of the critical importance of working lands in our state, flood irrigated pastures in Lake, Harney, and Malheur counties create continentally important seasonal wetland habitats that support millions of birds on migration. Oregon’s landowners work to protect these important habitats while also providing food, timber, and other resources.

Additionally, much of Oregon’s coastline is rural. The coastal environment, including natural resources and physical geography, influences where people live, work and recreate, which, in turn, affects local and regional economies. There are extensive commercial operations in the nearshore waters of Oregon, though the majority of the nearshore is public. Examples include shellfish mariculture in estuaries, commercial harvest of clams in estuaries, and commercial fisheries that occur in our nearshore waters. These waters are home to many species of fish, wildlife, marine invertebrates, plants, and algae. These working waters of Oregon are also where commercial shipping occurs, with goods being both imported and exported from our ports.

Habitat restoration or conservation for working lands can range from simple actions like retaining snags or removing derelict fencing all the way to complex multi-year projects that require engineering design or permitting, like installing beaver dam analogs to restore streams or conducting a prescribed burn to manage forests or sagebrush. With the diversity of habitat types and landowner needs across the state, it takes time and effort for motivated landowners and land managers to determine what action best suits their property.

Broad information on each Key Habitat, limiting factors affecting those habitats, and recommended approaches can be found in the Key Habitat page, but oftentimes more local information, including local comprehensive land use plans, are needed to inform an appropriate site-specific approach. Local biologists, including ODFW Habitat Biologists local ODFW office, SWCDs, watershed councils, and other local conservation agencies can provide support and guidance to land managers interested in managing their lands to benefit native species.

Support for landowners and land managers

People own and manage land for different reasons and need a range of incentives and conservation tools to complement each landowner’s unique circumstances. The State Wildlife Action Plan provides a summary of voluntary, non-regulatory approaches to conserving fish and wildlife and recommendations to further assist willing landowners to protect and restore Key Habitats.

Many landowners and land managers already have plans of some kind to manage their land, balancing short-, medium-, and long-term goals for habitat conservation as well as business plans. A habitat conservation and management plan developed with the assistance of local biologists can help achieve multiple goals simultaneously.

Adopting Best Management Practices

Managing lands for wildlife use and managing lands for resource use, like cattle grazing, crop production, or timber production, don’t need to be mutually exclusive. Adopting Best Management Practices (BMPs) that support both working lands and wildlife creates a win-win approach to land stewardship. Working lands can and do provide high quality habitat for native species, and sometimes minor changes in the type or timing of activities like grazing, mowing, harvesting, or irrigation can help land managers avoid harm to wildlife and create high quality habitat. For example, maintaining adequate separation (e.g. fencing or herding) between domestic and wild species, such as domestic and wild sheep where interaction leads to negative consequences, can reduce or minimize chances of disease transmission between species.  Where separation cannot be maintained, considering changing livestock species can be a viable option for larger landscapes.

Whether it’s preserving grassland bird breeding habitat on a hayfield or improving fish passage in an irrigation system, BMPs demonstrate that conservation and production can go hand in hand. Contact your local ODFW habitat biologist  or other local conservation organization for guidance on BMPs pertinent to your local area. Voluntary conservation programs can provide technical support, financial resources, and other incentives to support landowners who are interested in maintaining their working lands.

Reducing chemical pollutants

In rural areas, pollutants can originate from agricultural runoff, septic systems, unpaved roads, and livestock operations, impacting both surface water and groundwater quality. Landowners and residents can help reduce these risks by implementing Best Management Practices such as creating buffer zones of native vegetation along streams, minimizing and timing fertilizer and pesticide applications carefully, properly managing agricultural waste], maintaining septic systems to prevent leaks and water contamination, and preventing livestock from accessing waterways. Stabilizing road surfaces and using tilling practices that minimize soil disturbance can also reduce sedimentation and nutrient loading into local streams. Smaller actions for rural Oregonians include maintaining vehicles and equipment to prevent leaks and spills and reducing or eliminating the use of rodenticides. These efforts protect drinking water supplies, improve soil health, and maintain habitat quality for fish and wildlife while supporting the long-term sustainability of working lands.

Water conservation and stewardship

Rural residents and landowners play a vital role in protecting Oregon’s water resources. Practices like wildlife-friendly irrigation, maintaining healthy riparian buffers, control of invasive vegetation, and restoring wetlands help retain water on the land, support wildlife, and increase drought resilience. Use of cover crops and no-till practices can improve soil moisture retention and reduce the need for irrigation. Managing livestock access to streams and preventing runoff from roads or fields can protect both water quality and aquatic habitat. Whether on a farm, forest, or ranch conserving water supports both the long-term health of working lands and native ecosystems.

Creating defensible space

Wildfire is a growing threat across Oregon’s rural landscapes. Proactive steps can help protect homes, property, and wildlife habitat. Create defensible space around buildings by clearing flammable vegetation, dead vegetation, dry leaves, and pine needles, thinning trees and shrubs, and removing ladder fuels that could carry fire into treetops. Create and maintain firebreaks and access routes for emergency vehicles and use fire-resistant materials for buildings and other structures. Remove invasive vegetation—many invasive plants burn easily and increase the spread and intensity of wildfire. With guidance from local experts, manage forest or rangeland fuels through practices like thinning, grazing, or prescribed burning. These actions not only reduce risk to people and property, but also support healthy, fire-adapted ecosystems that support all wildlife.

Managing invasive species

Invasive species are species that are not native to an ecosystem and that cause economic or environmental harm. Not all non-native species are invasive, but many become a serious problem. Invasive vegetation can outcompete native plants, reducing forage and shelter for native fish and wildlife, and in many cases increasing wildfire risk. Invasive aquatic species can clog waterways, damage infrastructure, and displace native aquatic life. Invasive wildlife can aggressively compete with Oregon’s native wildlife for food and habitat, damage crops, prey on native species, and spread disease. These invasions often reduce ecosystem resilience, harm local economies, and require costly management efforts to control. Landowners and land managers can take action to prevent the establishment of non-native species on their property. Reducing invasions of non-native species provides benefits to wildlife and maintains property value for resource production, including by improving livestock forage and water quality and reducing wildfire risk.

Removing barriers

Human-caused changes to the landscape (Key Conservation Issue: Barriers to Animal Movement) can affect the ability of fish and wildlife to move across landscapes by adding obstacles, changing their natural behavior, and increasing habitat fragmentation. Buildings, solar energy facilities, roads, fences, power lines, wind turbines, dams, and other structures can be obstacles to species movement. Certain types of land use, like crop production and recreation, can also deter or prevent movement.

Landowners can take action to improve wildlife connectivity in their own backyards, farms, forests, and ranches in a variety of ways, including replacing culverts to improve fish and wildlife passage, removing or replacing fencing to make it wildlife friendly, maintaining riparian buffers and planting prairie strips or other corridors of native vegetation to provide cover and facilitate wildlife movement, and removing, repairing, or replacing tide gates on coastal lands to improve fish connectivity. Different animals have different needs, and local biologists can help in identifying barriers to animals moving across the land and developing a plan to address them.

Observing and reporting

Residents of Oregon’s most rural and frontier areas are often front-line observers of our natural systems on the landscape.  This situation creates a unique opportunity for these residents to serve as sentinels for conservation.  Many issues that might develop in rural areas can be most effectively handled with a rapid assessment and response once observed. Reporting observations, including disease, invasive species, or other conservation concerns to local conservation partners is essential to informing rapid responses that can reduce impacts to both natural and agricultural systems.  Rapid detection is critical in situations involving wildlife diseases or other animal health issues.  One example of rural ranchers on the frontline of protecting native species is the disease caused by M. Ovi, which can cause devastating losses to domestic livestock and native sheep alike. Monitoring, early treatment, and maintaining separation between domestic sheep and wild populations can keep animals safe.

Participating in or leading a collaborative stewardship group

For decades Oregon landowners have been creating and leading collaborative stewardship groups to work with neighboring private and public lands on shared goals around watershed management, drought mitigation, juniper encroachment on grazing lands, sage grouse management, wildfire management, and more. Landowners can serve as paid or volunteer leaders in these groups or participate in a variety of other ways, including hosting tours of past habitat restoration projects or sharing insights on management planning processes.

AT THE WATERSHED

At the watershed scale is where rural, suburban, and urban Oregonians come together. Actions at the watershed scale beyond your communities’ boundaries, including recreating, volunteering, or engaging in community science can often be a primary way that Oregonians directly interact with, observe, or impact wildlife and their habitats.

For more information on actions all Oregonians (urban, suburban, rural, and frontier) and visitors can take at the watershed scale, see the Actions by all Oregonians at the Watershed Scale page.