Prineville

Local Implementation Team

The Prineville Local Implementation Team is a collaborative partnership that shares the work of restoring sagebrush ecosystems within the range of sage-grouse in the Prineville area. This includes Crook, Deschutes, and northern Lake County. This is accomplished by identifying, prioritizing, and implementing landscape-level actions; that maintain and enhance culturally, economically, and ecologically healthy public and private rangelands.

The Prineville LIT’s Threats Reduction Plan (TRP) provides an overview of the threats that we wish to address and the work that partners have implemented. We use this document to guide funding requests, and direct restoration work to the areas where we expect to see long-term ecological benefits.

Meetings and Events

LIT Meeting

Please check back periodically for details about our next meeting for partners.

We are planning.

If you are interested in the meeting notes from past LIT meetings, please contact Rebecca Kelble at rebecca.kelble@crookswcd.com.

Other Notable Events

Crook County Multi-Agency Resource Center (MARC)

  • FREE Event Saturday, September 26, from 8:00am-5:00pm

  • Located at Crook County High School (1100 SE Lynn Blvd, Prineville, OR 97754)

  • One-stop-shop for the community to receive post-disaster information and connect them with relevant services

  • More details to be released soon!

Blueprint South 500-kV Transmission Line Project - Upcoming Open House Meetings

  • PacifiCorp is encouraging and accepting comments from the public regarding their Blueprint South 500-kV Transmission Line Project in South-Central Oregon (Crook, Deschutes, Lake, and Klamath Counties)

  • You may submit a comment here (select the "Resources" tab, then "Digital Comment Form") until October 2, 2026

  • If you would like more information, you may check out the website (headings at the top of the page provide lots of resources about the proejct) or contact PacifiCorp by email or phone (info@blueprintsouth.com; 503-892-6727)

SageCon Summit

  • FREE Event September 29, 2026 from 8:30am-4pm, breakfast, lunch, dinner included!

  • Located at the Elks Lodge in Burns, OR

  • 11th Annual SageCon Summit will include:

    • Updates on sage-grouse populations and management objectives from researchers and agency partners

    • The response to 2026 fires and post-fire restoration

    • Partners from Harney County will share stories about restoration projects

    • Rangeland restoration tools and techniques

  • Learn more about the Summit here

  • Register here by September 18, 2026

The Caldera Film Screening and Panel Discussion

  • FREE Event September 29, 2026 from 4:30pm-6pm

  • Located at Desert Historic Theater in Burns, OR

  • The event will screen Sean Grasso’s film, The Caldera: Life on The Lithium Frontier. The film takes us to the McDermitt Caldera, where one of the world’s largest lithium deposits is being explored by multiple mining companies. As competing visions for the future converge, a deeper question emerges: who decides what this landscape is worth, and who bears the cost?

  • After the 53-minute film, High Desert Partnership will facilitate a panel discussion with people who live in the area

  • Learn more about the screening event here and the film at their website

Soil Health Workshop

  • FREE Event, September 30, 2026 from 8am-4pm, lunch included!

  • Located at the Elks Lodge in Burns, OR

  • Come kick some dirt during this hands‑on workshop that aims to help ranchers, land managers, practitioners, and natural resource professionals learn practical and quick skills for use in the field.

  • Through a mix of short expert talks and hands-on field training, participants will explore the core components of rangeland soil health, and learn how these processes shape, and are shaped by, management decisions and disturbances.

  • Learn more about the workshop here

  • Register here by September 18, 2026

Sagebrush Seed Collection Opportunity

  • Anticipate late October events

  • ODFW has an opportunity in the Phillip W. Schneider Wildlife Area to collect sagebrush seeds for restoration plantings in the Murderers Creek area

  • If interested, please reach out to Danial Somers (Daniel.j.somers@odfw.oregon.gov)

Planting in the 2024 Pine Fire Scar

  • November 7 and 14: time and location TBD

  • BLM has an opportunity in the 2024 Pine Fire Scar to plant 5000 sagebrush plugs and 2000 bitterbrush plugs

  • If interested, please reach out to Larry Ashton (lashton@blm.gov)

Bitterbrush and Sagebrush Planting Opportunity

  • Anticipate early December events

  • ODFW has an opportunity in the Phillip W. Schneider Wildlife Area to plant 1000 plugs of bitterbrush and 1000 plugs of sagebrush

  • If interested, please reach out to Danial Somers (Daniel.j.somers@odfw.oregon.gov)

2026 Wildfire Recovery Efforts

Wildfire Recovery Resources

  • Farm Service Agency (FSA) Disaster Relief Assistance

    • Check out the many programs available to provide assistance (funding) to farmers and ranchers due to Drought and Wildfire here.

    • While the programs are not up and running yet, FSA is recording names and contact information for people interested and will contact people from those lists as soon as the programs are up and running.

    • For those working through the Deschutes Farm Agency, contact Eileen Whitcomb to learn more about the programs and get your name on the contact list: eileen.whitcomb@usda.gov; 541-923-4358; webpage.

  • Oregon State University (OSU) Extension

    • OSU Extension is collecting wildfire resources for agriculture and livestock producers.

    • OSU Extension is leading efforts to collect and distribute hay/grain and monetary donations for post-fire recovery efforts.

    • Learn more about their resource list and contact information here.

America the Beautiful

Grant Awarded

For more information please reach out to Crook County Soil and Water Conservation District (541) 447-3548

Accomplishments

  • In Fall 2025, the Prineville LIT, in cooperation with local partners, hosted Beaver Dam Analog Restoration Training events for agency personnel, members of the general public, landowners, and producers.

  • The Prineville LIT hosted Threat-Based Strategic Conservation workshops to identify places of “Conservation Readiness” in our LIT geography. Check out the outcomes of this process

  • The Prineville LIT hosted a meeting for ODFW to present the proposed changes to the sage-grouse habitat maps. The meeting included a presentation about the data used to update the maps and provided an opportunity for comments on the accuracy of the updates.

  • In Spring 2023, LIT partners used their consensus process and agreed to adopt the first version of the living TRP. LIT partners will update this document annually according to the protocol outlined in section 4.3.

  • Barbwire Juniper Removal project

    • In 2023 Pheasants Forever and Department of State Lands received Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding to remove 1,232 acres of Phase I and II juniper within the Brothers PAC.

    • In 2024 Pheasants Forever and Department of State Lands received another round of BIL funding to remove additional acres of Phase I and II juniper within the Brothers PAC.

Barbwire Juniper Removal Project area.  Treatments scheduled for 2023.

Intact Sagebrush-steppe in the foreground with Barbwire Juniper Removal Project area in the background.

Past Meetings

If you are interested in reviewing the notes from past meetings, please contact Rebecca Kelble at rebecca.kelble@crookswcd.com

  • Prineville Local Implementation Team (LIT) Meeting - Partner Meeting

    • 31 March 2026 - Hybrid meeting (Zoom and 4-H Clover Building in Prineville, OR)

    • Covered round-table updates from partnering organizations, LIT Activity updates, and general discussion with questions. Participants heard updates about grant project submissions, the America the Beautiful Challenge project, the Invasive Annual Grass Core Group, Threats Reduction Plan, and LIT Coordinator activities.

    • 20 organizations attended (23 individuals)

  • Prineville Local Implementation Team (LIT) Meeting - Partner Meeting

    • 7 January 2026 - Hybrid meeting (Zoom and 4-H Clover Building in Prineville, OR)

    • Covered introduction to the new LIT Coordinator, round-table updates from partnering organizations, ODFW greater sage-grouse population update, update on America’s Ecosystem Restoration Initiative - America the Beautiful Challenge project, Strategic Invasive Annual Grass Partnership opportunity, update on the plan for updating the Threats Reduction Plan, general discussion & questions

    • 21 organizations attended (41 individuals)

Partners

Prineville Bureau of Land Management, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, US Fish and Wildlife Service - Bend Field Office, US Forest Service, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Department of State Lands, Crook and Deschutes Soil & Water Conservation Districts, Crook County, Deschutes County, Crooked River Weed Management Area, East Cascades Bird Alliance, The Nature Conservancy, Private Landowners

Contact

Want to be a part of the email list to learn more about new events and meetings for the Prineville LIT? Please contact:

Rebecca Kelble

Prineville Local Implementation Team (LIT) Coordinator
Crook County Soil & Water Conservation District
rebecca.kelble@crookswcd.com