Oregon man donates money for Zumwalt Prairie conservation

EUGENE, Ore. — A Eugene man has given $500,000 to The Nature Conservancy to help restore a native grassland in northeast Oregon.

John Soreng, 80, an avid fly fisherman and longtime supporter of conservation causes, wants to help preserve Zumwalt Prairie near the Snake River and Hells Canyon.

“It’s a very impressive piece of land up there,” said his son, Rob Soreng, who works at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History as a specialist on the evolution and classification of grasses.

“It’s one of the largest intact pieces of what they call Palouse prairie. There isn’t much that has not been plowed under or otherwise degraded through extensive overgrazing.”

The 27,000-acre Zumwalt Prairie has experienced light grazing pressure and remains in good condition, he said.

“It will take some work to bring it back to prime condition and remove some of the invasive species,” Soreng said.

The Nature Conservancy purchased Zumwalt in 2000 and has nearly completed a $16 million fund-raising drive to pay for the site and launch conservation work there.

The organization used John Soreng’s contribution to leverage another $500,000 from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board. The combined $1 million will fund projects in areas bordering the preserve, including removing obstacles to migrating native Snake River steelhead in Upper Joseph Creek, supporting a new raptor research project, extending weed management areas and making native plant seeds more available.