UMATILLA
COUNTY, Oregon (October
15, 2025) On September 26, Western
Rivers Conservancy
(WRC), the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR), and Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) completed a 100-acre land
transfer of Birch Creek Ranch to the CTUIR.
This
transfer lays the groundwork for restoration of critical salmon and steelhead
habitat in the Umatilla River Basin and reconnects the Tribes with ancestral homelands.
Located
southwest of Pendleton, the ranch includes over a mile of Birch Creek, a vital
tributary to the Umatilla River and the largest producer of Endangered Species Act-listed
Middle Columbia River summer steelhead in the Umatilla Basin. The project also
supports the Umatilla Basin’s Chinook, coho salmon and rainbow trout
populations.
“Conserving
Birch Creek Ranch will breathe new life into a formerly thriving steelhead and
salmon stream,” said Jessica Inwood, Washington State Project Manager with
WRC. “We’re grateful for our ongoing partnership with the Confederated
Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation to support and enable some of the most
significant fisheries recovery projects in the Columbia Basin.”
The
Umatilla River was once one of the mid-Columbia’s major producers of salmon and
steelhead, but decades of water withdrawals and other habitat impacts
devastated the river’s fish runs. The CTUIR has led the charge to restore these
runs for years.
At
Birch Creek Ranch, which the Tribes will call Kwálkwal, the CTUIR will now be
able to expand stream and floodplain restoration efforts. The CTUIR intends to
undertake extensive stream restoration work on more than a mile of wandering
floodplain, including the removal of a longstanding earthen barrier that has
impeded upstream fish migration for decades. The CTUIR also plans to dedicate
the ranch's significant surface and groundwater rights back to instream flows, which
will nourish the creek and floodplain below.
“We
thank Western Rivers Conservancy and Bonneville Power Administration for their help
on this project and look forward to restoring this property for the benefit of
the fish and wildlife of the Umatilla Basin” said Anton Chiono, CTUIR Habitat
Conservation Project Leader.
With
its meadows, uplands, and rimrock formations, the ranch also provides habitat
for diverse wildlife species, including Rocky Mountain elk, mule deer,
pronghorn, mountain lion, golden eagle, wild turkey, osprey, and Canada goose.
Additionally, the property includes a spring complex and a section of Stewart
Creek, which joins Birch Creek downstream of the property.
This
work builds upon WRC and CTUIR’s partnership, which is anchored by a shared vision
of conserving rivers and habitat within the CTUIR’s homeland. In a separate
recent acquisition effort, completed in January, WRC worked with CTUIR, Blue
Mountain Land Trust, and BPA on a conservation easement over the 943-acre UmaBirch Floodplain property at the confluence of Birch Creek and
the Umatilla River, downstream from Kwálkwal. This set the stage for one of the
largest floodplain restoration efforts in the Umatilla Basin, which continues today.
Taken
together, these collaborative projects will bolster basin-wide fisheries
recovery and improve the odds that salmon and steelhead will thrive again in
the Umatilla system.
