Page 60 - Southern Oregon Magazine Fall 2021

neck of the woods | community

Pollinator Project Workshop

The goal is to raise healthier produce with better nutrients and richer smolts. And these numbers are increasing. The ranch is learning how to
taste, including benefits such as less starch in the potatoes. cohabit with this environment and to be an example of how to do it
properly. They want to be an asset, not a detriment in the watershed.
Already USDA-certified organic, Dunn Ranch is seeking certification in
regenerative agriculture. They look to others who are leaders in the field Another benefit of the project is that the water, filtered through vegeta-
to learn more about the process, including a company on the east coast. tion, is healthier for the ranch. Downstream communities (Ashland, etc.)
also benefit from cleaner water with bacteria and sediment removed.
An exciting opportunity to bring balance back to nature presented
itself on the ranch. They partnered with the Freshwater Trust and The goal of the Freshwater Trust is restoration and creating durable
Bureau of Reclamation on the Neil Creek Restoration project, which solutions that work for private landowners. The Trust doesn’t issue
is near competition. The snowmelt-driven creek flows through Dunn regulations, but helps develop site management for the benefit of the
Ranch for one mile before reaching Bear Creek. About five years ago, environment and the landowner. “I think we really succeeded here,” says
the creek was a heavily degraded riparian zone, so choked with veg- Wier. We’ve gone from increasing habitat for instream bugs all the way
etation you could hardly see the water. One reason this location was up to the highest level of terrestrial wildlife, all benefitting from this
chosen is that by being snowmelt fed it could support salmon and steel- project. It’s pretty cool.”
head, fish that require cold water.
To introduce folks to what they’re doing and to help them reunite with
When Eugene Wier, Freshwater Trust designer, implementer, and nature, Dunn Ranch has added music. During the summer, they hosted a
restoration project manager for Neil Creek, approached the folks at Farm to Fire Summer Workshop & Music with educational workshops from
Dunn Ranch, he encountered reservations about the project’s success chicken farming to bird watching to seed saving, to creating a pollinator
and skepticism about salmon in the stream. One year into the project garden, and more. Local musicians offered their talents, and guests were
and with 18 acres of cleared land, the owners were thrilled to spot welcome to bring picnics or enjoy a meal from a local food truck. Sadly, the
a pair of spawning Chinook salmon in the tail of a pool created just smoke shut down the program early, but they plan to resume next spring.
two months earlier. They loved the idea of salmon on their farm. By
then, too, 14 acres had been planted with native vegetation, includ- Owens and Zaslow are passionate about Dunn Ranch on two levels.
ing roughly 30,000 trees and shrubs. Soon, wildlife moved in, starting First, they want to do agriculture right—the way that best serves nature
with beavers who constructed dams that created pools used by otters and creates the most nutritious and delicious produce possible; and sec-
and rare wood ducks. Bobcats, coyotes, foxes, skunks, raccoons now ond, to bring people into the process and re-introduce them to the idea
inhabit the area, typical animals associated with a native riparian area that healthy food can be grown and consumed without a lot of process-
in the Rogue Basin. After the major part of the project was completed, ing and middlemen.
179 juvenile Coho were counted, along with hundreds of previously
unseen fall Chinook, and three to four times the volume of steelhead www.dunnranchcenter.org

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