PRINEVILLE, Ore. — Eight years ago, The Deschutes Land Trust acquired the 185-acre Ochoco Preserve property. Since then, the land has transformed from farmland into a restored natural habitat. 

“There are active beavers building their own dams where they want to,” Marilyn Miller said. “Which is super exciting because beavers are nature’s tool maker. I mean, they’re they’re the best excavators on the planet is beavers.”

As those mammals work on the water, the Deschutes Land Trust excavates the rest of the land. 

“Everything you see was constructed. All these hills are new. They’re all part of the design. This was all flat.” Deschutes Land Trust Restoration Specialist Jason Grant said. “Even the trees you see, the ones that look like snags — the dead ones — those were placed by contractors.”  

The Ochoco Preserve Project was broken up into three phases over multiple years to restore the terrain. 

“Maximizing floodplain connectivity, fish and wildlife habitats, trying to address water quality, all those things. That’s what’s going on here,” Grant said.

The first phase restored McKay Creek in 2022. The second focused on Ochoco Creek last year. The third will start in 2026 once the Land Trust gets enough funding. 

“Phase three really is that recreational component. It’s bringing the footbridges, it’s building the trails, and it’s really having that full, full connection of people to, to the place,” Grant said. 

Deschutes Land Trust also hosts guided tours to show off the progress of the project.

“It makes my heart sing because there’s more places for a male mule deer to bed down in the bushes and, you know, get a reprieve from the highway going by,” Miller said. “And there’s places for beavers and there’s places for ground nesting birds.”

Showing off a bright future for both people and animals. 

“I want to be able to have future generations come out and see there are places where they can come see that are close to their community,  interact with the waterway, interact with the river,” Grant said. “I want them to see birds and waterfowl and wildlife right in their back yard.”

More information on the project can be found on the Deschutes Land Trust website.