Umatilla Tribes, Oregon Secure $22M for First Co-Managed Wildlife Area

The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife have secured $22 million in federal funding to buy 11,438 acres near Starkey, Ore.

The land, known as the Qapqápa Wildlife Area, sits between two sections of the Umatilla National Forest in the Blue Mountains. The purchase will connect those areas and give the public and the tribes access to a property that has long been privately owned. The Qapqápa Wildlife Area State-Tribal Partnership Project calls for the state owning the property and providing operation and maintenance expenses while the management and restoration will be undertaken jointly with the CTUIR, according to a news release from the tribe.

The arrangement marks the first time in Oregon that a tribe will co-manage a state wildlife area. “This is a terrific example of what Oregonians can accomplish by working together,” Anton Chiono, project leader for Habitat Conservation in CTUIR’s Department of Natural Resources, said in a statement.

The Harry Merlo Foundation owned the property for about 30 years before signing a purchase agreement, Chioni told The Observer, a local media outlet. Merlo died a couple years ago, and the foundation expressed interest in selling last fall, according to the publication. .