Aequinox has completed many conservation planning projects in Oregon for over the past two decades. Here is a sampling:
OWEB Land Acquisition Baseline Inventory and Management Plan Technical Services
Since Feb 2014, Aequinox has supported the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) on several conservation planning projects. We review technical documents (Baseline Inventory Documentation and Management Plans) for properties OWEB supports through their Land Acquisition Grant Program. We work with stewardship staff of conservation organizations such as the Deschutes Land Trust and Columbia Land Trust to ensure a property’s conservation values are well-documented and plans to protect and restore ecosystems are well-articulated and consistent with OWEB guidelines.
Vegetation and Resilience to Climate Change
Aequinox researched and wrote a report for the Deschutes Land Trust on vegetation’s role in maintaining resilience to climate change on the Land Trust’s protected and restored lands in the Whychus Creek Watershed. We covered how our climate in Central Oregon is changing, threats climate change poses to ecological systems, the role plants and soils play in carbon sequestration and mitigating effects of climate change, and the ways vegetation management and ecological restoration on Land Trust lands offer resilience and refuge to species in the face of climate change. Aequinox regularly supports the Land Trust on various conservation planning projects.
USFS Blanket Purchase Agreement (BPA) for Botanical Services
Since 2013, Aequinox has held a 5-year BPA with the U. S. Forest Service to assist them and other Federal agencies with botanical services throughout Region 6. In 2015, we surveyed invasive species in the 1,260 acre Bailey Butte Fire Area on Ochoco National Forest.
Lower Crooked River Spring Survey
Botanical survey of springs in the lower Crooked River canyon, performed via kayak due to difficult access. We mapped and characterized spring and riparian vegetation and habitat conditions to assist Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in their long-term management planning.
Survey of Streams & Special Habitats
Aequinox surveyed and characterized unmapped Class III & IV streams and Special Habitats on over 3,300 acres within timber sale planning areas on the Willamette National Forest, as per the Northwest Forest Plan.
Watershed Improvement & Restoration Needs Inventory
Aequinox assessed historic and current conditions in three watersheds subject to grazing on Humboldt Toiyabe National Forest, where stream incision led to a drop in groundwater and shift from wet to dry meadow species. Identified thirty-seven restoration sites and provided conceptual restoration designs, including for areas of wet meadow adjacent to streams that support Lahontan cutthroat trout.
Please contact us to discuss your project.