Natural and Working Lands Program:
What are Natural and Working Lands?
In Oregon, natural and working lands span forests, rangelands, wetlands, farmlands, and estuaries, and they form the foundation of the state’s ecological health, cultural identity, and rural economy. These lands support biodiversity, regulate water and air quality, store carbon, and provide food, lumber, and habitat. They are home to diverse ecosystems such as sagebrush steppe, oak savannah, and coastal estuaries, which sustain fish and wildlife populations and serve as critical buffers against the impacts of climate change. Working lands, including farms and ranches, are often managed in ways that support conservation values while contributing to local economies and food systems. Natural and working lands represent vital spaces that must be protected and stewarded to maintain Oregon’s resilience and quality of life for future generations.
What is ODFW’s Role?
The Natural and Working Lands (NWL) Program, housed within the Habitat Division and funded by the Oregon Climate Action Commission through HB 3409, was created to expand capacity for habitat restoration practitioners working to enhance climate resiliency, carbon sequestration, and long-term ecosystem health across Oregon’s priority habitats as well as promote and expand the use of natural climate solutions.
The program’s goals include:
- Promote the sustainable management and restoration of priority habitats on working lands
- Help ensure priority habitats remain resilient in the face of climate change;
- Provide added capacity to ODFW staff, partners, and private landowners through grant writing and administration, permitting support, technical assistance, and outreach.
The program also offers guidance and information on implementing natural climate solutions, as well as climate-smart and carbon-smart practices in habitat restoration projects. (See our Guidance Documents)
What is a natural climate solution?
Natural climate solutions (NCS) were formally developed and popularized by The Nature Conservancy as a set of principles carried out by humans to protect, manage, and restore natural lands, with a focus on reducing greenhouse gases for climate change mitigation. There are a few rules that NCS have to follow. They must be nature based, sustainable, climate additional, measurable, and equitable.
If you’ve ever planted a native tree in your yard or as a volunteer at a park or wildlife area, you have implemented a natural climate solution. Your tree was a nature based way to improve the natural state of the land, it will help sustain the biodiversity around it by providing habitat, and it may improve water retention and soil health. It is an additional action that would not have happened without you, it will provide a measurable amount of carbon sequestration over the course of it’s life, though you probably didn’t calculate it, and the benefits of that tree will benefit everyone within it’s influence equally making it an equitable contribution to the landscape.
The NWL Program operates statewide and is available to support projects in any county or watershed, with a focus on collaborative efforts involving state, local, and private partners. While statewide in scope, the program prioritizes work in four priority habitats:
