Coalition of Oregon Land Trusts

10/28/2026

⚖️ Join us for C**T’s December 2026 Conservation Law Forum!

Join C**T and a community of conservation and legal professionals for a morning of learning and discussion on December 2. This month’s forum will explore the intersection of conservation easements and Tribal sovereignty, alongside other timely legal topics.

🔗Register now! https://pro.gofundme.com/event/2026-december-conservation-law-forum/e861476

10/28/2026

10/27/2026

10/27/2026

10/27/2026

Autumn is a lovely time to recall the summer blooms we love to see. Knowing that they are patiently waiting in the soil to visit us once again is always such a comfort. Here's an article that was written by Zion Lamarr, our former First Foods Conservation Intern, that shares their precious and intimate understanding of Camas - a flowering bloom that is beyond more than just its visual presentation.

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Each spring, patches of blue begin to appear across the meadows at Rogue River Preserve. At first glance, Camas (Camassia leichtlinii) is easy to appreciate simply for its beauty. But these flowers tell a much larger story. One about ecology, culture, and the long relationship between people and this landscape.

The Rogue River Preserve protects 352 acres of oak woodlands, meadows, floodplain forest, and wetlands. Each spring, camas emerges throughout these open landscapes, adding brilliant shades of blue to the preserve, which supports a wide variety of native pollinators.

For Indigenous peoples throughout the Pacific Northwest, Camas has always represented much more than a beautiful spring flower. The underground bulbs have nourished communities for thousands of years and remain one of the region's most important First Foods. Harvesting Camas requires patience and care. Traditionally, bulbs are gathered only after the plants have flowered and set seed, allowing future generations of Camas to continue growing. This practice reflects a relationship built on reciprocity—taking only what the land can continue to give.

That relationship is especially meaningful at Rogue River Preserve. The preserve lies within the ancestral homelands of the Takelma and Latgawa peoples, who actively stewarded these landscapes for countless generations through practices such as cultural burning and the careful cultivation of important food plants. Although those relationships were disrupted by colonization and forced removal, descendants of those communities continue to care for these lands today.
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Read the entire article here:
https://www.landconserve.org/news

10/27/2026

“For Native Americans, there can be no better remedy for the theft of land than land,” David Treuer wrote in our May 2021 cover story. “And for us, no lands are as spiritually significant as the national parks.”⁠ https://theatln.tc/niOL3j1P

“The national parks are sometimes called ‘America’s best idea,’ and there is much to recommend them. They are indeed awesome places, worthy of reverence and preservation, as Native Americans like me would be the first to tell you,” Treuer wrote.
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But many national parks were created only after Native people were forcibly removed, by an invading army or following a treaty signed under duress, Treuer continued: “Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, in Wisconsin, was created out of Ojibwe homelands; the Havasupai lost much of their land when Grand Canyon National Park was established; the creation of Olympic National Park, in Washington, prevented Quinault tribal members from exercising their treaty rights within its boundaries; and Everglades National Park was created on Seminole land that the tribe depended on for food. The list goes on.”⁠⁠
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“Many of the landscapes that became national parks had been shaped by Native peoples for millennia,” Treuer wrote. “Indians should tend—and protect and preserve—these favored gardens again.”

Revisit the story at the link.
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📸: Katy Grannan

10/26/2026

Did you know that back in 1988, a group of community volunteers including Charlie and Elsie Ross dreamed of protecting an “emerald necklace” of parks, natural areas, and open spaces around Corvallis and Philomath?

Fast forward to today, and Greenbelt Land Trust has turned that vision into a vibrant reality across the Willamette Valley. 🌱

Founded as a nonprofit in 1989, Greenbelt Land Trust works to protect landscapes, restore habitats, and connect people with nature. For thirty-seven years they have conserved key natural areas, from the 587-acre Bald Hill Farm with three miles of public trails, to the 110-acre Luckiamute Confluence property connecting two units of Luckiamute State Natural Area. Connecting habitat and open space for wildlife and for recreation remains a priority for the land trust.

 

As Charlie Ross put it: “In the beauty of the land lies the dream of the future.”

Big thank you to Greenbelt Land Trust for keeping that dream alive!✨

10/25/2026

10/23/2026

C**T is pleased to announce another year of our Increasing Botanical Knowledge grant program, available exclusively to C**T member land trusts. 🌿🪻🌻

What's available: Funding for a contract botanist to survey a property your land trust owns or holds a conservation easement on. The botanist will provide a list of the plant species found there, with special emphasis on the locations of rare and uncommon species and plant communities. Funding typically ranges from $3,000 to $12,000, and we select approximately five projects each year for surveys in spring and summer 2027.

This project is a partnership between C**T, member land trusts and agencies, the Oregon Flora Project, the Oregon Biological Information Center, scientific, conservation and regulatory organizations, and a group of dedicated botanical advocates in Oregon.

C**T members: submit your project by November 30th.

Apply now! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdOoprzDOffbcvVWHTpMJsEm15oSFW30q59ZVzEmhN6JA1T1Q/viewform

10/21/2026

Oregon just hit a milestone for working lands: $9,101,925 in federal ACEP-ALE funding for fiscal year 2026, the largest total in the state’s history. 🌾

What does that buy? Permanent protection for 7,391.26 acres of working ranchland across three cow-calf operations near Chiloquin, Bonanza, and Lakeview. These lands include wet meadows and floodplains that feed the Wood River and Klamath Lake, sagebrush rangelands where families have spent years clearing juniper to restore watershed health, and habitat for Goose Lake redband trout and the rarely spotted white-faced ibis.

The funding is entirely federal, apart from the landowners’ own contributions. As Nellie McAdams of Oregon Agricultural Trust put it, “These easements mean that these ranches will remain ranches forever.”

Read the full story -> https://oregonlandtrusts.org/record-9-1-million-secured-to-protect-working-ranchlands-in-southern-oregon/