Description
Located in the Willamette Valley, Coburg Ridge protects a swath of intact oak habitat, prairie and iconic wildlife. This property is privately owned and managed to protect the sensitive species that call it home, and it is closed to the public.
About Coburg Ridge
Coburg Ridge features some of the largest and best examples of Oregon white oak habitats and upland prairie in the southern Willamette Valley. While much of the Willamette Valley was once dominated by prairie and oak savanna, today less than 2% of those habitats remain due to land conversion and Douglas fir encroachment in the absence of beneficial fire
The valley is one of the fastest-growing regions in the state. Pressures to convert remaining natural areas into residential and urban use pose a significant threat to the future of regional pollinators, fish, and wildlife, and spurred The Nature Conservancy to pursue protection for this outstanding example of oak savannah and woodland habitat.
Caring for the Land
With the support of private landowners, ecologists have been studying the Fender’s blue butterfly and restoring habitats at Coburg Ridge for over two decades. Restoration efforts have included a 250-acre oak release project, prescribed burns, native prairie enhancement seeding, and the removal of invasive species such as non-native blackberry and English hawthorn.
Alongside restoration efforts, Nature Conservancy staff and volunteers continue to conduct Fender’s butterfly surveys as well as breeding bird surveys to understand lasting impacts from oak release and prairie restoration work.
Plants at the Preserve
This rare remnant of Willamette Valley upland prairie and oak woodlands lies at the transition from valley bottom to Cascade foothill and features abundant native bunch grasses, Oregon white oak trees and a variety of native wildflowers including spurred lupine, Oregon iris, rosy checkermallow and rare species such as Hitchcock’s blue-eyed grass and Shaggy horkelia.
Animals at the Preserve
High-elevation populations of the federally threatened Fender’s blue butterfly thrive here, with the preserve also providing prime haunts for at least 25 other at-risk species, including western gray squirrel, cutthroat trout and oak savannah-associated birds such as acorn woodpecker, chipping sparrow, lazuli bunting and western bluebird.