Cerro Gordo Land Conservancy Newsletter
Spring 2024
Cerro Gordo’s newly restored Central Meadow. Photo by Eric Alan.
May 16, 2024
What vibrant years 2023 and 2024 have been at Cerro Gordo, for the land and for the community.
As spring fully blooms, we have much news to share and celebrate, including: Cerro Gordo Land Conservancy’s recent conservation work, Cerro Gordo wildfire and recovery, present and pending conservation work, successful consolidation of Cerro Gordo Silviculture and Cerro Gordo Land Conservancy, upcoming McKenzie River Trust guided tour of the Cerro Gordo burned area, grant funding, in hand and pending, membership participation and funding needs, and updated information on Conservancy board of directors, website design, contact information.
Looking north into Central Meadow. The oaks in the upper right have been released by removal of invasive firs and cedars, as part of returning the meadow to previous size. Photo by Eric Alan.
Cerro Gordo Land Conservancy’s Recent Conservation Work
Cerro Gordo Land Conservancy has made substantial progress in recent years with land conservation and restoration.
The most visibly striking conservation work Conservancy has accomplished is in Central Meadow. The meadow has now been returned to its initial size, after 35% of its acreage was lost to conifer encroachment since Cerro Gordo’s purchase in 1974. Vast numbers of encroaching firs, cedars, and other trees and plants have been removed. Carefully chosen wildlife snags have been left to remain. Several hundred slash piles have been burned. Remaining stumps have been ground, so that they may go more easily back to the earth. Meadow grasses and wildflowers have filled in the open space, below the newly expansive views of the lake and mountains to the south. Given rains as well as land care, 2023 brought the most spectacular wildflower display in Central Meadow for many years. The wildflower display in 2024 is beginning to equal it.
Mountain Meadow, on the face of Cerro Gordo Butte, received significant conservation attention in the past year. On the butte’s open face—the rare herbaceous bald habitat —crews led by Shane Hetzler of Trout Mountain Forestry cleared invasive blackberries and Scotch broom, then burned the resulting 70 to 90 slash piles, and spread native grass and wildflower seed after the ground cooled. As a result, Mountain Meadow is much healthier and more open, with far fewer invasive plants.
Conservancy has a bright future ahead, with full schedule of pending conservation and restoration work. Upcoming work will improve the health and beauty of Lakeside Meadow, Hidden Meadow, and the forest burned area that connects the two. Details are in the newsletter below.
Burn piles of invasive scotch broom and blackberries on Cerro Gordo’s Mountain Meadow, after removal by crews led by Trout Mountain Forestry. Photo by Shane Hetzler.
Cerro Gordo Fire and Recovery
Disaster was only narrowly averted when a wildfire started in Lakeside Meadow on September 14th. The apparent cause was accidental ignition by a crew hired by a local utility company to clear brush under the power lines. Cerro Gordo was evacuated, as the fire moved within 300 feet of the closest house in Cerro Gordo’s Wellspring Parcel. Fortunately, fire crews were already in the region, working on other fires. Very quickly three helicopters, one air tanker, and ground firefighting crews were pulled off of other fires to respond. As a result, even though initial fire lines at Cerro Gordo were jumped by the fast-moving fire, it was contained to 24 acres of Conservancy meadow and forest land. Residents were able to return home by evening.
Even though the fire was unplanned and unwanted, it did mimic a prescribed burn in that it recycled nutrients, created a seed bed for native seeds, burned out the conifers competing with the oaks, and created a better habitat for deer and elk. (See Chris Adlam’s article, “Good Fire at Cerro Gordo,” in the July 2023 newsletter.) It assisted Conservancy’s restoration work by burning out blackberries and other underbrush. Recovery work soon commenced.
The burned ground was seeded in fall, with native grass seed and yarrow. The meadow is greening up beautifully, with abundant spring wildflowers returning. In May or June, the dead and dying conifers will be removed, before bugs start to infest the trees. Whatever burned timber proves marketable will assist in funding their removal. Whatever is not marketable, will be piled for later burning.
Although some oaks were also killed, it’s unclear yet how many. The oaks fared better in the fire than the conifers, and many are now showing evidence of normal annual budding. By the time of McKenzie River Trust’s tour of the burned area on June 2nd— see below—Conservancy will have a better assessment of oak survival. Then, once the fall rains return, brush piles will be burned, and the ground again seeded. Shrubs will be planted along the stream banks, to help prevent erosion.
Overall, the fire has helped Conservancy’s restoration work, as well as redirecting its priorities. We are beyond grateful for the heroic firefighting efforts that makes this outcome possible. It saved Cerro Gordo’s houses, as well as untold acreage beyond Cerro Gordo that could have easily burned.
Fire expert and Cerro Gordo Land Conservancy board member Chris Adlam, walking into the wildfire at Cerro Gordo on September 14th, 2023. Photo by Jim Stevenson.
Conservation Work, Present and Future.
2024 is set to be a big year for conservation work. The fire in Lakeside Meadow revised Conservancy’s priorities, in order to respond to the damage and the opportunity created by the fire. Of the twenty-four acres burned, eight were in Lakeside Meadow, and sixteen were in the adjoining forests to the east, reaching the edge of the planned restoration area in and around Hidden Meadow.
In addition to the restoration and conservation work in the burned area listed above, adjoining work in and around Hidden Meadow is planned. As well as restoring Hidden Meadow to its previous size, there will be conifer removal and undergrowth clearing in areas surrounding the meadow. Conservation work on riparian areas is also planned.
Blackberry removal in the riparian areas is planned for 2024, with conifer removal planned in 2025.
In Central Meadow, a 16-foot wide fire break will be created around the edges of the meadow, to include grinding down large rocks so that the fire break can be easily mowed. Stump grinding will also continue. Additionally, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service may get a burn plan written in preparation for a future prescribed burn—also known as a “cultural burn” to the indigenous tribes. A careful prescribed burn could greatly benefit Central Meadow’s restoration, as the Lakeside Meadow fire unintentionally did.
Oak restoration will be another focus for Conservancy, in oak savannah and woodland areas.
Seeding of burn piles on Mountain Meadow, after burning. Photo by Shane Hetzler.
Expansive blooms within the burned area in Lakeside Meadow, newly thriving several months after the wildfire. Dead burned trees will soon be removed, as part of post-fire recovery work. Photo by Eric Alan.
Consolidation of Cerro Gordo Silviculture and Cerro Gordo Land Conservancy
Another major milestone was recently reached, with the long-planned donation by Cerro Gordo Silviculture of its land and assets to Cerro Gordo Land Conservancy. The Silviculture land contains Cerro Gordo’s upper conservation easement, managed for owl habitat under the Healthy Forests Reserve Program, managed by the Natural Resources Conservation Service. This generous donation by Nick Cutting and Jim Stevenson means that Cerro Gordo’s two contiguous conservation easements are now consolidated under the ownership of Cerro Gordo Land Conservancy. Along with the acreage preserved under the Willamette Wildlife Mitigation Program, Conservancy now has forever protected 1,000 acres of Cerro Gordo’s precious land. In the consolidation process, Silviculture also made a very generous cash donation to Conservancy, which will pay for management activities in the forest and will assist in administrative costs not covered by grant funding. This ensures Conservancy’s basic fiscal health in times to come.
McKenzie River Trust Tour, June 2nd.
On Sunday, June 2nd, 2024, from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., McKenzie River Trust will offer public tours of the restoration in progress at Cerro Gordo, in and around the Hidden Meadow and the burned area. This initial tour will focus on the restoration to be done. A later tour will be held, once the restoration of Hidden Meadow and the burned area have been accomplished. Sign-up will be with McKenzie River Trust beginning in early May, via their website at https://mckenzieriver.org/. Signing up early is recommended, as these tours fill very fast.
Grant Funding, Acquired and Pending.
Grant funding to cover the specific projects listed above has already been acquired or is pending. Funding sources include grants from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB), the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP), and money from the federal infrastructure bill coming through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. An application for a second EQIP grant was submitted in the fall to fund the recovery work on the burned area. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) also applied for an America the Beautiful grant, to fund a number of the Willamette Wildlife Mitigation Program projects around the state, including Cerro Gordo’s WWMP conservation easement. To the surprise of all, that grant fell through. However, ODFW was encouraged to reapply this year. Thus, funding through America the Beautiful may still come through. If so, that grant will be administered by McKenzie River Trust.
Additional administrative funding will still be needed, through membership donations. See below.
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.
As previously, two levels of membership are invited: a sustaining 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, and Chris Adlam.
Nick Cutting and Jim Stevenson were required to step off of the board in order to maintain Conservancy’s public charity status. The public charity status could have been lost if Nick and Jim had any influence over how the Conservancy used the very large donation.
Contact Cerro Gordo Land Conservancy here or reach us by mail at P.O. Box 192, Cottage Grove, OR 97424, and by phone at 541-942-2049.
Copyright (C) 2024 Cerro Gordo Land Conservancy. All rights reserved.