Berggren Watershed Conservation Area

Why It’s Important

The Berggren Watershed Conservation Area features one of the most extensive, intact and dynamic networks of side channels remaining on the lower McKenzie River and more than a dozen unique partners working together to protect and care for this special place. The property also includes nearly a mile of river frontage, an intact floodplain forest, and 30 acres of farmland that will become the Berggren Demonstration Farm.

Animals on the property

The property’s side channel habitat and riparian gallery forests support a wide variety of fish and wildlife species – more than 60 in total. A total of 43 species of birds have been documented.

In addition, two species listed under the Endangered Species Act – Oregon chub (Oregonichthys crameri) and Spring Upper Willamette Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) – make their homes in the extensive slough network on the property. Three state-sensitive species live here, too: northern red-legged frog (Rana aurora), western pond turtle (Clemmys marmorata marmorata), and yellow-breasted chat (Icteria virens).

What’s happening now?

Just this summer we discovered that the 92-acre property which we acquired in July 2010 is home not just to the endangered Oregon Chub and Willamette Spring Chinook Salmon, but also to Yellow Breasted Chat, Ictera virens. This migratory songbird is listed as sensitive in the Oregon Conservation Strategy, a document that provides a blueprint and action plan for the long-term conservation of Oregon’s native fish and wildlife and their habitats.

Restoration in the riparian area of the Berggren property began last year by removing invasive species like knotweed and clematis. It continues this year with riparian forest and woodland vegetation enhancements and planning for the conversion of 10-acres of floodway farm fields to native riparian forest. We are using what we learned from restoration on Big Island – our 108-acre property located just across the McKenzie River from Berggren – to help us on this property. The floodplain forest buffer on Berggren will enhance habitat for fish and wildlife and attract native pollinators to the area. It will also give the side channels of the McKenzie River on the property a little more shade and room to spread out during high water events. Our partners at the McKenzie Watershed Council manage the restoration project.

The Berggren Demonstration Farm on 30 acres of the property is beginning to take shape with our partners at Cascade Pacific Resource Conservation and Development hiring Jared Pruch as the Farm Coordinator. As the Demonstration Farm gears up, visitors will begin to see the integration of habitat conservation and agriculture, with restoration and farming activities coordinated on a single site.

For now, public visitors are welcome to see the property through our guided tours. Visit our events calendar to see current offerings and sign up for our contact list to receive notice of new tours as they become available.

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