Willamette Valley Ecoregion

The Willamette Valley ecoregion is located between the Cascade and Coastal mountain ranges. More information about the Willamette Valley can be found in the Oregon Conservation Strategy.

There are a few different landscape-scale conservation planning efforts in the region. In 2016, the Oregon Conservation Strategy has identified a collection of Conservation Opportunity Areas within the Valley. Also, The Nature Conservancy developed the Willamette Valley Synthesis v 2.0, which represents a a synthesis of different conservation planning efforts across the region. The US Fish and Wildlife Service has developed a prioritization of lands, the Willamette Valley Conservation Study, across the valley that represent a selection of areas to protect grassland birds, threatened and endangered species, and other target species in the region. This effort is related to the USFWS Strategic Conservation Management effort in the Valley.

These project built upon a variety of previous efforts to map current and future condition and landscape trends in the region. The NW Power and Conservation Council produced a sub-basin plan for the region in 2004. The Willamette River Basin Atlas: Trajectories of Environmental and Ecological Change was produced by the PNW Ecosystem Research Consortium in the early 2000s. Around the same time period, TNC developed an Ecoregional Plan for the Willamette Valley and broader Puget Trough area. The Willamette Valley Futures analysis, lead by the EPA, also produced different landscape-scale future scenarios of the region.

The NPLCC has funded several projects that may be relevant to this region. Here are lists of projects in Oregon.