Oregon/Washington Recreation Partnerships

The BLM is committed to promoting the stewardship of healthy ecosystems and healthy communities in the present and for future generations. Community-based citizen stewardship begins with people taking care of special places. By involving communities and partners in a collaborative decision making process to manage their landscapes, integrating community and land management issues, the BLM expands its capacity to create innovative solutions and build sustainable partnerships.

In Oregon and Washington, the BLM endorses partnerships as an effective means of leveraging resources among cooperating organizations, improving working relationships, fostering trust, and recruiting a future workforce. In order to respond to the challenges associated with managing than 15 million acres in Oregon and over 400,000 acres in Washington, the BLM developed a Partnership Strategy to more effectively involve communities and leverage resources through the use of partnerships and volunteers.

Featured Partner

Community-based citizen stewardship begins with people taking care of special places. By involving communities and partners in a collaborative decision making process to manage their landscapes, integrating community and land management issues, the BLM expands its capacity to create innovative solutions and build sustainable partnerships.

In Oregon and Washington, the BLM endorses partnerships as an effective means of leveraging resources among cooperating organizations, improving working relationships, fostering trust, and recruiting a future workforce. In order to respond to the challenges associated with managing than 15 million acres in Oregon and over 400,000 acres in Washington, the BLM developed a Partnership Strategy to more effectively involve communities and leverage resources through the use of partnerships and volunteers.

A team of field researchers from the BLM and the University of Oregon explore a 2,000 year old medicine wheel where the oldest human inhabitants in Oregon lived almost 14,300 years ago. Their exploration was filmed by an Oregon Public Broadcasting team for an Oregon Field Guide story.
Archaeologists trade working on hands and knees for a viewpoint floating high overhead. Rare access to a helium balloon and remote controlled camera provides the clearest view of the most intriguing discovery in Oregon in years: stone circles that resemble the medicine wheels found in Wyoming and farther east. Photographer: Maria Thi Mai

Do you Remember the childhood game "rock, paper, scissors"? That's what comes to mind as I circle the ancient Medicine Wheel some 40 miles outside Burns, Oregon. I wonder if the sons and daughters of the people who built this terrestrial rock bracelet played games like we do.

Archaeologists tell us the Medicine Wheel is thought to be less than 2,000 years old whereas the oldest human inhabitants in Oregon lived almost 14,300 years ago. Interesting. Were the people who made the Medicine Wheel their descendants? Was the Medicine Wheel a place to play, dance, and tell stories? Did they convene council here to make crucial decisions? Who sat around the circle? Men? Women? Were children allowed? (Did rock beat paper?)

Oregon State University (OSU) recognized the BLM for its work with the Inner City Youth Institute (ICYI) to introduce young people to fields of study and careers in natural resources.
From skyscrapers to forests, the BLM creates the greatest classroom on earth. Photographer Matt Christenson
The Sandy Ridge system offers over 15 miles of single-track trail ranging from beginner flow trail to narrow technical trails with exposure. The system was designed and built with assistance from the International Mountain Biking Association and Antfarm YouthCore with the intention of providing a high quality mountain biking experience. Input was also solicited from user groups such as Northwest Trail Alliance and local stakeholders during the multi-year Sandy River Basin planning process.
The Sandy Ridge system offers over 15 miles of single-track trail ranging from beginner flow trail to narrow technical trails with exposure. The system was designed and built with assistance from the International Mountain Biking Association and Antfarm YouthCore with the intention of providing a high quality mountain biking experience. Input was also solicited from user groups such as Northwest Trail Alliance and local stakeholders during the multi-year Sandy River Basin planning process.

View more photos on Flickr:

Partnership Video