After a decade of talking with a landowner about a conservation easement for his property and another couple years of wrestling with property divisions, state mineral rights and a defunct carbon credit program, the District closed on a property acquisition at the end of August. It was worth the wait!

Cherryhill Ranch is a 178-acre wildlife reserve on the edge of Sheridan. The majority of acreage is Oregon white oak woodland and savanna, mixed with open prairies which support a number of native prairie wildflowers. The property was once home to rodeo stock owned by Ellery Delashmutt and more recently supported a small cow calf operation. Thoughtful livestock management using rotational grazing techniques and never over grazing pastures kept a balance between forage and native species.

When the most recent owners purchased the property several decades ago, they were encouraged to cut the “worthless” oak trees down and plant more valuable Douglas fir forests. Luckily, the owners questioned this and sought advice from NRCS and YSWCD and were told that they had something special and if possible, keep the oak and manage the livestock around them. In the end, they were able to have a financially profitable operation and keep trees onsite which are many hundreds of years old. The ranch is one of the best historic examples of what the foothills of the valley looked like pre-settlement. During the application for funding by the Willamette Wildlife Mitigation Program, it received credit by the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde for being a culturally significant property.

Future plans for the ranch include enhancement of the prairies and thinning of planted conifers in a few areas to encourage growth of younger oaks trees. The cows and goats which once grazed the pastures are gone for now, but we may consider bringing them back in the form of limited conservation grazing to help with vegetation management. We also hope to use the property and barns for education and research opportunities related to upland oak habitat.