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@oregonstate.edu.

Other Notable Events

Volunteer Planting Day, May 26, 2026

Hosted by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and Western Beavers Cooperative
Help plant native cottonwood and willow to support beaver recovery on a working cattle ranch
If interested, please email Hilary Doulos (hilary.a.doulos@odfw.oregon.gov) or Katie Salter (Kathryn.W.Salter@odfw.oregon.gov) for more information

Rangeland Ecology & Management Field Course, June 8-9, 2026

Hosted by Eastern Oregon Agricultural Research Center - Burns, OR
Free to attend
Registration and more information

Cascadia R Conference, June 26-27, 2026

Regional R Conference for the Pacific Northwest - Portland, OR
Learn more about the opportunity at the R Conf website

America the Beautiful

Grant Awarded

$3.5 Million for strategic sage steppe restoration in Crook and Deschutes Counties

The Prineville LIT engaged in a year long process to identify shared priority areas for restoration. The funding will be used to implement our shared vision of healthy rangelands to support wildlife and rural economies. In a national contest for limited funds, we are thrilled that the funders understood the importance of this fragile and unique landscape. We look forward to working with the Prineville Team to make these lands more resilient in the face of large fires and long droughts.

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@oregonstate.edu

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@oregonstate.edu