Northwest Fire Learning NetworkUpper Deschutes Basin
By Rob Lindner on 4/28/2009 | Keyword(s): FLN; Deschutes
 COLLABORATIVE VISION STATEMENT: The partners intend to accelerate the restoration of fire-adapted ecosystems while protecting communities from wildfire. To achieve success we must implement ecosystem restoration strategies and fuels reduction at ecologically meaningful scales and foster innovation and transfer lessons learned to other projects, scientists and decision makers. |
The UPPER DESCHUTES basin of central Oregon is the Northwest Fire Learning Network’s 2-million-acre anchor project. From alpine forests and lush meadows to dry juniper and sagebrush ecosystems, the landscape is owned by more than a dozen government agencies, private landowners and tribal organizations. With so many pieces to this puzzle, land managers often run into hurdles when looking for data on property beyond their own boundaries. In addition, the fire-dependent ponderosa pine forests of the east Cascade Range have been starved of fire for decades, resulting in different fire effects across the landscape: fire burns less often, more uniformly and often times with greater intensity. In this environment of changing ecosystem components and widely divergent interests of the communities, the Upper Deschutes Basin Fire Learning Network landscape formed in 2004 with the goal of bringing stakeholders together to improve the availability of landscape assessment and prioritization tools. This effort will help stakeholders restore the ponderosa pine and dry mixed conifer forests that make these scenic lands so rich.
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