Ecological Burning at Dorris Ranch

Ecological burns are conducted with the safety of neighbors and the greater community in mind. Temperature, humidity, wind conditions, and air quality must be favorable before a burn can proceed. This work is possible through the Rivers to Ridges partnership, permitting through Lane Regional Air Protection Agency, and local partners Eugene-Springfield Fire and Oregon Department of Forestry.

Upcoming Ecological Burns

Willamalane is planning a controlled ecological burn in the oak prairie at Dorris Ranch in the fall of 2025. The exact timing of this work is weather-dependent. During the controlled burn, some areas of Dorris Ranch will be closed, including a section of the Middle Fork Path that extends from Dorris Ranch to the Quarry Creek picnic area, the Tomseth House parking lot, the upper parking lot, and Trail 1.

Project Updates

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Fire as a Land Management Tool

For thousands of years, the Kalapuyan People have used fire as a tool to protect and cultivate the land. As a result, certain species in the Willamette Valley have evolved to depend on fire as a routine disruption. However, plant communities and their related habitats haven't benefitted from this means of disruption due to fire suppression and other post-settlement land management practices. A contributing factor was the forced removal of Indigenous people from the region and suppression of Indigenous land stewardship practices (such as controlled burns). The Kalapuyan People continue to make important contributions to the environment today.

Today, Willamalane works with partners to conduct controlled burns that continue to offer numerous benefits to wildlife, native plant communities, land resiliency, and protection against uncontrolled wildfires. These routine controlled burns remove invasive plant species, return nutrients to the soil, and create space for native, culturally significant wildflowers to thrive, such as camas, checker-mallow, yarrow, and western buttercup.

Benefits of Ecological Burning

The Oregon white oak is a keystone species that supports more than 200 native plant and animal species, including acorn woodpeckers, western bluebirds, western gray squirrels, northern pygmy owls, and California myotis bats. Oak habitats are some of the most endangered habitats in the Pacific Northwest. Scientists estimate that there is only about 7% of the oak woodland and 2% of the oak savanna habitat remaining in the Willamette Valley today. 

Using controlled, low-intensity fire as a land management tool has many benefits, including:

• Recycling nutrients in the soil
• Reducing fuel for uncontrolled wildfires
• Replicating the historic disturbance native species have evolved to depend on

In the fall of 2023, Willamalane and Rivers to Ridges partners completed a successful series of ecological burns in the oak prairie at Dorris Ranch. After the burn, Willamalane’s Natural Resources team spread native seeds throughout the prairie to capitalize on the nutrient-rich soil and primed conditions. The following spring, the prairie put on a spectacular wildflower display of purple camas and pink checkermallow blooms, displaying the ability of low-intensity fire to recycle nutrients in the soil and create favorable conditions for fire-adapted plants to thrive. See more photos of the spring wildflowers here.