*Cerro Gordo Mountain. Photo by Eric Alan.*

Fifty Years of Conservation and Community

As 2024 comes to a close, Cerro Gordo Land Conservancy celebrates fifty years of conservation and community at Cerro Gordo. We look forward to the next fifty years of conservation and restoration, with your support.

There have been many milestones along the way, and too many people to list, without whom Cerro Gordo’s conservation efforts would’ve been impossible. We’ll just highlight a few here, in this half-century celebration.

*1974 aerial photo of Cerro Gordo showing Lakeside, Hidden, Homestead, and Central Meadows.*

In 1974, Chris Canfield’s visionary group of community leaders purchased Cerro Gordo’s precious and beautiful land, with the intention of building a new community on its 1,140 acres. It would merge ancient principles with new visions, in creating a community living close to the land and each other. Within that vision from the beginning, was a reverence and respect for the land and its natural life.

Although Cerro Gordo’s original vision of intentional community never fully materialized, its principles have guided community and conservation successfully ever since. It’s a vision that Cerro Gordo Land Conservancy now extends into a new, vibrant era.

In 1983, Cerro Gordo adopted a wildlife management plan in the effort to get favorable zoning for the community. This involved protecting the wildlife corridors in perpetuity; limiting the pets and domestic animals that could impact that wildlife; and taking care to ensure that the wild animals on the property would have habitat in which they could stay wild, and thrive.

In 1986, the first sustainable timber harvest was done on Cerro Gordo’s upland mixed conifer forests. This established a partnership with Trout Mountain Forestry, which continues to this day. Under the leadership of Scott Ferguson, Trout Mountain’s ecologically sound forestry practices have guided Cerro Gordo Silviculture’s management of those forested lands, which were successfully placed under conservation easement in 2012, via the Healthy Forests Reserve Program (HFRP).

HFRP is a program of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, protecting habitat for the endangered spotted owl, while restoring healthy forest diversity via active forestry practices. Under the HFRP program, 447 acres of Cerro Gordo’s upland mixed conifer forest are now forever protected.

*Conifer forest on East Ridge. Photo by Jim Stevenson.*

However, the HFRP conservation easement almost didn’t happen. The financial collapse of 2008/09 severely affected timber prices, which threatened the Silviculture land with foreclosure. After a community effort to loan money to Silviculture, in order to make the mortgage payments, the HFRP easement was obtained just in time to hold off foreclosure of the forest land.

Sadly, 11 days after all of the easement documents were signed—just a few days after a community champagne toast to its success—Cerro Gordo’s founder Chris Canfield suffered a fatal heart attack. With deep gratitude for his four decades of commitment to Cerro Gordo’s vision, the rest of the community turned forwards towards further conservation efforts.

After an arduous, years-long effort to create Cerro Gordo Land Conservancy, and consolidate its ownership of another 534 acres of Cerro Gordo’s most pristine meadows, oak woodlands, and riparian areas, another conservation success was achieved. In 2017, that acreage was preserved forever through a conservation easement obtained under the Willamette Wildlife Mitigation Program (WWMP), in conjunction with McKenzie River Trust (MRT). This brings the total of preserved open lands at Cerro Gordo to 1,000 acres, with the 132 acres of the original purchased land containing Cerro Gordo’s small residential neighborhoods.

Since 2017, a great deal of conservation work has been accomplished on those lands. Central Meadow has been restored to its original size, after 35% of its acreage had been filled with invasive plants and trees, most of which have now been removed. Substantial work has been accomplished in Mountain Meadow as well, on the face of Cerro Gordo Butte, overlooking Dorena Lake. Blackberries and Scotch broom have been cleared and burned, resulting in larger, healthier open meadows on one of the last remaining “fringe prairie” ecosystems in the region. Additional work is now taking place in and around Lakeside Meadow and in Spring 2025 will take place in Hidden Meadow and the forests nearby it. Trout Mountain Forestry’s able work is now under Shane Hetzler’s guidance, after Scott Ferguson’s retirement.

*Looking up at the Oak canopy. Photo by Eric Alan.*

On September 14, 2023, disaster was again narrowly averted. A fire was accidentally sparked in Lakeside Meadow by Lane Electric Cooperative’s contracted crew, clearing brush under the power lines. The fire quickly spread into meadows and forested areas, reaching within 300 feet of the nearest Cerro Gordo home. Fortunately, with the quick assistance of helicopters, an air tanker, and ground firefighting crews, the fire was contained to 24 acres of Conservancy land.

Fire recovery work has now commenced. Crews have begun removing the burned firs in the forested areas, releasing the oaks within the fire zone and to the west of it, towards Hidden Meadow and to the north up to Ross Lane. Since the oaks weathered the fire considerably better than the overgrown firs, and since the meadows benefitted from the clearing of blackberries by fire, the post-fire ecosystem will soon be healthier than previous to the flames. For that, we feel fortunate.

Another recent accomplishment has been the consolidation of Cerro Gordo Silviculture and Cerro Gordo Land Conservancy. Through the generosity of Nick Cutting and Jim Stevenson, the Silviculture land containing the HFRP easement has been donated to Conservancy, so that the entire 1,000 acres of conservation land is now owned and managed by the Conservancy. This completes a process of reorganization through preservation, which has taken nearly fifteen years of devoted work.

*Blackberry Pancake Breakfast in August 2024. Photo by Greta Loeffelbein.*

Last August, we were able to celebrate in person at Cerro Gordo’s annual pancake breakfast, a tradition that stretches back nearly to Cerro Gordo’s beginnings. This one took place in Cerro Gordo’s Homestead Hamlet. Around fifty people attended, which was the most we’ve had for the pancake breakfast in years.

This year also saw the establishment of Cerro Gordo Land Conservancy’s website, at www.cglandconservancy.org. The website will allow us to better share with you and the public, all the impending conservation work, and celebrate together what we’ve all achieved.

*Cottonwood seedling sprouting in burnt-out stump. Photo by Greta Loeffelbein.*

Fire recovery work will continue in 2025, including in Lakeside Meadow, where small burned firs remain standing, in the midst of the newly vibrant grasses and wildflowers. The meadow has been reseeded with native plants and grasses, after the fire. Restoration work on and around Hidden Meadow will commence, including the release of oaks, removal of blackberries and other undergrowth, and reseeding with native herbaceous plants. Long term plans include further restoration of oak woodlands and riparian areas. On the Central Meadow a 16-foot wide mow-able firebreak will be created around the edges of the meadow. Additionally more of the stumps will be ground and brush will be removed, all in preparation for a prescribed burn, possibly as soon as next fall. The US Fish and Wildlife Service will create a burn plan for this. The work is being ably overseen by Shane Hetzler of Trout Mountain Forestry.

What a wild and wonderful half-century journey it has been, to reach the successful level of conservation we have now collectively been able to achieve. It wouldn’t have been possible without the quiet efforts of each and every person who has been a part of Cerro Gordo’s vision from the outset. For being one of those, we thank you. We look forward to the next half century of continued efforts, to leave Cerro Gordo’s rare and beautiful landscape and wildlife thriving for the next generations to come.

Grant Funding, Acquired and Pending

Looking ahead, grants are in-hand or pending, to aid in further work in conservation and restoration. We currently have grants from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) for $260,312, from the Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) for $134,289, and from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) administered through the US Fish and Wildlife Service for $204,856. We are waiting to hear about our America The Beautiful grant application for $250,000.

Membership and Administrative Funding

Cerro Gordo Land Conservancy continues to appreciate and need membership support, to cover administrative expenses and other costs to which grant funding cannot be applied.

Two levels of membership are invited: a supporting membership, at $100/year, which includes voting privileges on board of directors’ members, and other issues. The basic membership, at $35/year, includes future newsletters and updates on Conservancy activities. And donations in any amount with or without becoming a member are most welcome.

Cerro Gordo Land Conservancy contact information

The Cerro Gordo Land Conservancy board of directors currently includes: Charlie Sannes (President), Mark Irving (Secretary and Treasurer), Suzanne Huebner-Sannes, Don Nordin, John Koester, and Pam Reber.

Cerro Gordo Land Conservancy website is www.cglandconservancy.org.

Cerro Gordo Land Conservancy can be reached by mail at P.O. Box 192, Cottage Grove, OR 97424 and by phone at 541-942-2049.

December 2024

Cerro Gordo Land Conservancy Newsletter