Cerro Gordo Conservation Easement
Easement
In 1974, a visionary group led by the late Chris Canfield bought 1,165 acres of forests and meadows above Dorena Lake with the goal of creating a village in harmony with nature. In 2017, McKenzie River Trust worked with the Cerro Gordo community to permanently protect much of that land through a 532-acre conservation easement purchased with support from the Bonneville Power Administration and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Willamette Wildlife Mitigation Program.
Nestled in the foothills of Oregon's Cascade Mountain Range, Cerro Gordo is a collection of people and families organized as a cooperative. Together, they care for nearly 1,000 acres of conservation land across mountains, meadows, forests, and creeks above Dorena Reservoir.
Meet Cerro Gordo
“Do what’s right for the land.” It’s an ethos that the people who have lived at Cerro Gordo have taken to heart. Today, thanks to their foresight and dedication, glimmering Willamette Valley prairie, healthy oak and conifer forest, and a prominent rocky butte near Cottage Grove are all protected for conservation. However, it hasn’t been an easy or straightforward path.
In 1974 a visionary group of people led by the late Chris Canfield bought 1,165 acres of forests and meadows above Dorena Lake with the goal of creating a village in harmony with nature. While the original plan never fully materialized, a dedicated core remained committed to conserving this special place.
In 2017, the Cerro Gordo Land Conservancy, celebrated another success in turning their ethos into action, placing a 531-acre conservation easement on native oak and grasslands that define the landscape above Dorena Lake.
Protecting Rare Plant Communities
Cerro Gordo boasts a stunning diversity of habitat types and plant communities throughout its landscape. The property has exceptional native grass diversity and several notable populations of rare and threatened plants, including shaggy horkelia, timwort, tall bugbane, Roemer’s fescue and yellow monkeyflower.
“Every acre is really different,” shared Scott Ferguson of Trout Mountain Forestry, who has worked with the people of Cerro Gordo to manage working forests outside of the conservation area since 1986. “The quality of the prairies is significant, and the conifer habitat is really diverse, too.”
In 2012, a Healthy Forests Reserve Program conservation easement was secured on another 447 acres of Cerro Gordo forestland through the Natural Resources Conservation Service. Together, these easements comprise nearly 1,000 acres of contiguous, protected habitat, substantial conservation area that not only serves the Cerro Gordo community but everyone downstream.
Project Funding
This project was funded in part by a grant from Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and Bonneville Power Administration’s Willamette Wildlife Mitigation Program. Key partners in this conservation success include Cerro Gordo Land Conservancy, the Cerro Gordo landowners, Trout Mountain Forestry and McKenzie River Trust.