The Council's mission is "to facilitate community-supported maintenance and restoration of the streams, rivers, and lakes within our watersheds".
UPCOMING EVENTS:
​
We have some great speakers lined up for you in 2025 as we collectively endeavor to be good stewards of our natural resources!
​
First-off, Dallas Hall Defrees, Regenerative Ranching Program Director with Sustainable Northwest will be speaking to us about Sustainable Northwest Regenerative Ranching. The talk will be Thursday, May 15th at 6:00 p.m. upstairs at the Crossroads Carnegie Art Center, 2020 Auburn Avenue, Baker City. Come and hear about how ranchers across the west are producing healthy food in harmony with nature!
​
Next we have Reece Mercer, founder and director of Western Beavers Cooperative, a grassroots, coordinated effort of ordinary folks supporting landowners and beavers on Eastern Oregon landscapes. Reece will be speaking on how to establish beaver habitat on western landscapes and how to co-exist with beavers where infrastructure may be affected. Come and hear about how beavers can improve our arid landscapes! The talk will be on Thursday, June 12th at 6:00 p.m. at the Baker City Library, Riverside Room, 2400 Resort Street, Baker City.
​
Finally, we have Ellen Morris Bishop scheduled to give another exciting talk regarding the geology of our area, specific topic and location to be determined, but the date is scheduled for Wednesday, October 1st. Stay tuned for more details. The location will be in either Halfway or Richland.
Our Third Annual Beaver Dam Barbecue will be held on Saturday, June 28th, location and time to be determined. This is a great opportunity to get your hands dirty learning how to create beaver habitat! Stay tuned for details.
​
Baker Resources Coalition high school interns construct a beaver dam analogue on Camp Creek during the summer of 2023.
PROJECT SPOTLIGHT
Camp Creek Ecosystem Resiliency Project
​
​
Walking along present-day Camp Creek, one can only imagine how abundant beaver populations once influenced the ecosystem. Presently, Camp Creek is incised, there is little connectivity with the historic floodplain, and lowered water tables fuel upland vegetation encroachment. Flows are routed quickly through the system with little opportunity for sediment deposition or water storage. Reduced water storage makes this system and the surrounding human communities particularly susceptible to floods, drought, and wildfire.The goal of this project is to reconnect Camp Creek with its historic floodplain using Low-Tech Process-Based restoration. This technique promotes the restoration of natural stream processes through the installation of different types of hand-made structures. Specifically for Camp Creek, installed and planned structures include Beaver Dam Analogues (BDAs) and Post Assisted Log Structures (PALS).
Take a virtual tour of the
Powder River Watershed
Click here to read about the collaborative effort that PBWC is involved in working to conserve sage-grouse in Baker County.
2024 Action Planning
In 2023, the Powder Basin Watershed Council updated their Strategic Plan for 2023-2027. We are now beginning the exciting process of developing a Watershed Restoration Action Plan! We are inviting community members and local natural resource experts to help us develop a 10-year framework for future Watershed Council work. Join the effort to increase watershed, climate, and wildfire resiliency throughout the Powder Basin!
​
Want to get involved? Contact us via email: pbwcwrc@qwestoffice.net, or phone: 541-523-7288, to join our planning process!
2023-2027 Strategic Plan
Do you want to learn more about Powder Basin, current subbasin conditions, or the Watershed Council's goals and strategies? Click the link below to check out are updated Strategic Plan!
