Nature Conservancy Establishes Native Prairie Preserve

NATURE CONSERVANCY  ENVIRONMENT 

By Kristian Foden-Vencil

Portland, OR  June 26, 2008 9:41 a.m.

The Nature Conservancy has established a new 270-acre nature park in the rolling hills east of McMinnville.

The Yamhill Oaks Preserve will protect rare plants and wildlife -- found among the native prairie and oak habitat that’s increasingly imperiled across the Willamette Valley.

Healthy populations of ‘Fender’s Blue Butterfly’ and ‘Kincaid’s Lupine’ can be found on the preserve. Both are federally protected.

Another conservation group bought a different parcel of land a couple of months ago in Philomath -- not far away -- with the same idea: to provide space for the butterflies and the plants they love.

I asked Melissa Roy-Hart, the marketing manager of the ‘Nature Conservancy,’ why so much attention is being paid to this particular area of the Willamette Valley?

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© 2008 OPB