People, plants and animals depend on healthy lands and waters for survival. The Nature Conservancy is a leader in solving complex conservation challenges around the world, using science and building partnerships to protect lands and waters essential to the survival of the natural world.

To date, The Nature Conservancy and its one million members have helped protect more than 15 million acres in the United States and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. In Oregon, the Conservancy owns or manages 48 nature preserves and has helped protect over 492,000 acres.

Below are just a handful of the many Nature Conservancy projects supported by Second Nature. For more great conservation stories from around the world, visit www.nature.org.

IN OREGON:

Sycan Marsh










© Larry Olson

Surrounded by pine forest in the headwaters of the Klamath Basin, a vast wetland provides a refuge for unique and vulnerable fish, birds and other wildlife. The Conservancy’s vast, remote, mile-high Sycan Marsh Preserve is a critical stopover and nesting site for thousands of waterfowl, including tundra swans and sandhill cranes migrating on the Pacific Flyway.

The Nature Conservancy first acquired property at Sycan Marsh in 1980 and today owns over 30,000 acres. At Sycan Marsh, the Conservancy has revitalized more than 20,000 acres of wetlands by restoring natural water flows and channel complexity, and by removing drains and levees to allow winter flows to move unimpeded through the marsh.

Sycan Marsh provides a living laboratory for large-scale research and restoration efforts around the issues of water, fish and wildlife, grazing and forest management.

Zumwalt Prairie











© Rick McEwan

Nestled between the Imnaha River and Hells Canyon to the east, the Grande Ronde River to the north, and the majestic Wallowa Mountains to the south, The Zumwalt Prairie is a 250,000-acre plateau. At over 33,000 acres, Zumwalt Prairie Preserve is The Nature Conservancy’s largest land ownership in Oregon.

The Zumwalt Prairie is the largest, high quality expanse of unplowed, deep-soil or “palouse” bunch grass prairie in North America, has one of the highest concentrations of nesting hawks and other birds of prey in North America, supports Spalding’s catchfly, a federally listed threatened species, and at least 13 other species of conservation concern, and benefits downstream populations of Snake River steelhead and inland Columbia River redband trout.

Conservancy scientists and partners are working to improve the condition of prairie, riparian and aspen habitats by controlling invasive species, restoring fire, and improving grazing practices.

Williamson River Delta










© Larry Turner

Working in the Upper Klamath Basin with federal, tribal and private partners, the Conservancy acquired the 7,500-acre Williamson River Delta and is restoring it to natural marshlands to benefit endangered fish species. The delta includes a vast expanse of floodplain and lake-fringe wetlands that provide important habitat for federally endangered shortnose and Lost River suckers, and for flocks of migrating waterfowl and water birds.

Upper Klamath Lake has a unique population of fishes, with 8 of 17 native species found nowhere else on Earth. Water quality and fisheries experts have identified restoration of the Williamson River Delta as essential to recovering habitat for endangered fish.

In 2006, earthmovers launched full-scale restoration of 6,000 acres of marshlands. Restoration projects completed on site have provided rearing habitat for larval and juvenile suckers, improved habitat for other fish and wildlife species, and benefited water quality in the lower Williamson River and Upper Klamath Lake.

Willow Creek










© Matt Benotsch/TNC

A site of extraordinary natural diversity, Willow Creek Preserve harbors more than 200 native plant, 100 bird and 25 butterfly species within its native prairie, woodlands and perennial streams.

The Fender’s blue butterfly, thought to be extinct until recently rediscovered, thrives here in one of the few high quality remnants of native Willamette Valley prairie. Other inhabitants include a new species of stonefly and the reclusive western pond turtle, as well as six rare and endangered wildflower species.

On the edge of an expanding urban area, Willow Creek is within the nationally acclaimed West Eugene Wetlands, a collaborative partnership between the City of Eugene, the Bureau of Land Management and The Nature Conservancy.

AROUND THE WORLD:

Brazil












© Bill Possiel/TNC

The Cerrado in Brazil is the world’s most biologically rich savanna. It has over 10,000 species of plants, of which 45 percent are exclusive to the Cerrado, and it stretches across nearly 500 million acres of Brazil - an area nearly three times the size of Texas. The Cerrado also feeds three of the major water basins in South America: the Amazon, Paraguay and São Francisco Rivers.

The Conservancy’s work in the region focuses on landscape conservation planning, biodiversity and ecological processes within agricultural lands. Activities include the allocation of private land set-asides for biodiversity corridors and the promotion of best agricultural management practices.

Maya Forest Region











© Nicole Balloffet/TNC

This lowland tropical forest, containing numerous archeological sites of the ancient Maya civilization, forms the second-largest contiguous tract of tropical forest in the Americas—only the Amazon is larger. The Maya Forest forms the heart of the Yucatán Peninsula, covering more than six million acres from the Caribbean coast of Mexico through Belize and into the Petén region of Guatemala.

The Conservancy is working with partner organizations in all three countries to scientifically document the biological wealth found in these forests; support local and national leaders who protect the Mayan cultural heritage and biological legacy, and help identify and implement ways in which local economies can flourish while at the same time protect natural resources.