Protected Places
The Oak Meadows Natural Area
As the Trust’s first property purchased in January of 2025 just a few miles southwest of Stayton, OR in Linn County, the Oak Meadows Natural Area was a great way to start our land trust. At 270 acres, the site hosts an amazing expanse of wet prairie, a habitat type in short supply in the vast Willamette Valley.
The site also contains Oak Woodland, wetlands, a creek that flows to the North Santiam River (which is just a mile to the North), and an array of native grasses and sedges.
Once farmed, with portions also used as a poplar plantation, the property exemplifies what can be done in regard to habitat restoration, with the aim of providing essential habitat for a range of native species.
The site has a Conservation Easement from the Natural Resource Conservation Service to protect its wet prairie, and wetland habitat. Over the past few years work has been conducted by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to augment natural processes, and to foster native wildflowers. That said, the property also contains a seed bank that exemplifies endless years of ecological resiliency. In this vein, native wild Camas flowers show up in the spring in earnest. Along this line, the native Bradshaw’s lomatium also blooms on a portion of the property.
Thanks to the Kraemer Family for working with us to make this purchase happen. We also thank our friends at Oregon Farm Brokers who helped with this effort.
The Trust will be offering opportunities to get out and explore this property year-round. You can learn about this essential habitat, as well as the range of plants and animals that thrive here, on our regularly scheduled outings.
Stay tuned for more opportunities in June through September posted on our Events/Gatherings Page!
Mountain Prairie
The Mountain Prairie is a 72 acre Natural Area in Clackamas County, just a couple miles south of the Clackamas River. The site is a combination of wet prairie, and wetland. It hosts an amazing abundance of wildflowers in the spring, summer and into the fall.
The Trust received this property as a donation in August of 2025. It is our second protected place!
Mountain Prairie was once a mitigation bank, after serving as a cow pasture for decades. The mitigation bank was a planned restoration site that was able to sell credits due to impacts elsewhere in the watershed. When mitigation banks are done selling their credits, they are required to find a permanent steward, and to provide management funding to protect such sites in perpetuity. This makes an excellent fit for land trusts given the land trust model.
To us this site is stunning. The wildflowers that thrive here are home to myriad pollinators that are also found on the property. Flowers such as Nelson’s checkermallow, common madia, common camas, blue-eyed grass, and the very rare Bradshaw’s lomatium can be found on the site as well as others.
The Trust will be conducting regular tours of Mountain Prairie starting in Fall of 2025. The site is also home to deer, elk, coyote, and migratory songbirds! It has about a dozen Oregon White Oak trees, as well as various sedges and grasses.
We look forward to getting you out there!
