This project seeks to prevent the conversion of native perennial bunchgrass communities and native shrub steppe vegetation to invasive annual grasses and restore deep rooted perennial grasses and shrubs to the Lower Deschutes Wildlife Area (LDWA) as part of a comprehensive restoration project across multiple land ownerships. Natural & Working Land funds are primarily supporting herbicide treatments for approximately 5,000 acres of annual grasses, re-seeding with deep rooted perennial grasses, and purchase/planting of native shrubs, forbs, and other grasses.

The ODFW Lower Deschutes Wildlife Area, Mid-Columbia Wildlife District, and NRCS Conservation Liaison have implemented a cross-boundary carbon sequestration rangeland restoration project focused on the upper and lower sections of the Lower Deschutes Wildlife Area, as well as the private and federal (Bureau of Land Management- BLM) lands in between. This area, similar to many areas across eastern Oregon, has been severely impacted by annual grass invasion, decrease of native perennial bunchgrass communities, and continued loss of valuable native shrub steppe vegetation. Historic grazing practices combined with changes to the historic fire regime and the increase in high severity wildfires have altered the plant communities across the lower Deschutes landscape.