Conserving Oregon white oak habitat has been a focus of Benton SWCD for more than 20 years, with hundreds of acres of habitat enhancement taking place on private properties in the county.  Most projects where we have collaborated have been large projects.  We are ecstatic when we get the phone call from a landowner saying they have 50 acres of oak and they would like to enhance the habitat with thinning, native plantings, and weed control.  There are great programs, funding opportunities, and many key partners willing to help with these larger acreage habitat projects.

However, more than 80% of our calls related to oak habitat are on much smaller properties, and we have fewer opportunities to assist people with woodland management.  Oak restoration can be expensive, and when we’re working on small acreages, we have little to no access to grants or other funding mechanisms to help get the work done.

In 2024, we began a project that will continue over the next couple of years to better assess the oak needs in Benton County.  We approach the project with many questions related to acreage sizes and education that excites landowners about oak conservation.

While all of our native tree species have habitat value, Oregon white oak is unique in that even a single mature tree can host an enormous community of native insects, birds, mammals, and other native organisms – many of which depend on oak as an essential part of their habitat to thrive.  With this in mind and given all the interest we receive from landowners who own 15 acres of oak or less, we hope to use this project to develop better tools to assist landowners who want to enhance oak habitat in Benton County.

The outreach for this project, and engagement of partner organizations, began in 2024 but will be a bigger part of our workplan in the coming fiscal year.  If you own oak and you wonder how it can best supply habitat to our local wildlife, please contact Michael Ahr at michael@bentonswcd.org.