Written by Chad Karges, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Project Leader/Photo by High Desert Partnership

While winter is bringing much needed moisture to Harney Basin, staff at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, members of Friends of Malheur Refuge, and many other partners are busy preparing for spring and the much anticipated bird migration. Malheur Refuge and adjacent private lands play a critical role as a breeding and spring staging area for migratory birds at an intercontinental scale. Because of the importance of the natural resources on Refuge and private lands, it is equally important that all stakeholders find ways to complement each other’s efforts. During the last 15 years, the Refuge has engaged in a variety of different collaborative efforts including invasive carp management; enhancement of flood irrigation on private lands benefiting migratory birds; developing job readiness for kids K through 12; suppression, prevention, and restoration of mega-fires on Bureau of Land Management and private lands; enhancing entrepreneurial economic opportunities in the local community; forest treatments to create a healthy fire tolerant forest on U.S. Forest Service and private lands; addressing water quantity/quality issues throughout the Harney Basin; and last but not least, the development and implementation of the Refuge’s Comprehensive Conservation plan. The vast majority of these collaborative efforts are supported/managed by an organization called the High Desert Partnership which the Refuge is also engaged in.

These collaboratives are operating within a landscape of approximately 7 million acres and at the community scale. It is actually the efforts within the realm of community that have the greatest influence on practicality and durability of conservation efforts. Through the various collaboratives, community has been defined as any interested stakeholder no matter where you may live or what organization you are part of. When community is viewed this way, it allows people with a diversity of values and ideas to resolve complex problems. It also creates opportunities to link what are traditionally viewed as social or economic issues with the ecological systems both wildlife and people depend on. This approach of integrating social, economic, and ecological factors into outcomes helps to move problem-solving away from advocating for your values/ideas to seeking solutions in a more collaborative holistic approach.

Because of this collaborative approach, the Refuge and diverse stakeholders have had the opportunity to influence and interact with both traditional and nontraditional partners within a more comprehensive community. The diverse collaboratives are comprised of well over 200 participants, and growing. This diversity is reflected by engagement encompassing the Refuge Friends group, Portland Audubon, private ranchers, Burns Paiute Tribe, County Government, National Policy Consensus Center, The Wetlands Conservancy, Eastern Oregon Agricultural Research Center, local youth, Oregon Cattleman’s Association, Intermountain West Joint Venture, Natural Resource Conservation Service, local law enforcement, Ducks Unlimited, Oregon Department of Human Services, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Ford Family Foundation, Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Oregon Natural Desert Association, Business Oregon, local school systems, U.S. Forest Service, The Nature Conservancy, U.S. Geological Services, Oregon State University, and many more.

This diversity has created a social environment unique in the rural West where occupations and government shutdowns are reduced to temporary pauses having no meaningful effect on long-term efforts. Through understanding, persistence, and development of trust, diversity becomes our strength in addressing the challenges of today and tomorrow within a landscape where we all play an important role.