Reaching for new heights in conservation

Together, we can conserve Disaster Peak Ranch!

Our small organization works within a 12-million-acre landscape. In only seven years, we’ve conserved more than 20,000 acres in Oregon's high desert, and there’s more on the horizon — so much more that we could create conservation history this year! Let’s elevate our impact by connecting two special landscapes to grow ODLT’s Trout Creek Ranch and Pueblo Mountains Conservation Project.

In 2021, we embarked on our most ambitious project to date. With the help of supporters like you, we purchased the 16,645-acre Trout Creek Ranch near Fields in southern Harney County and established one of the largest private lands conservation projects in Oregon’s history. Four years later, there’s a chance to grow it even more. We have the incredible opportunity to acquire the nearby 2,690-acre Disaster Peak Ranch — to further expand the growing network of conservation lands, conserve fish and wildlife habitat, protect cultural resources, and conserve working lands while playing a key role in mitigating potential impacts of proposed mining in the region.

An unprecedented donation of this property will make its permanent conservation possible if ODLT can raise the funding needed for our stewardship reserve fund. This fund covers the costs of managing our properties in perpetuity and we need an additional $1.18M by the end of 2025 to match the generous commitments that have already been made

ODLT Board Member Tim Green visited the ranch and surrounding federal lands last spring. He feels they represent a wonderful cross-section of both upland and riparian habitats important to a host of sensitive species, including the vulnerable greater sage-grouse and threatened Lahontan cutthroat trout.

“The opportunity to implement and steward long-term conservation measures on both private and public lands in this corner of Oregon doesn’t come up often. I walked away impressed not only with how beautiful these lands are, but also with a greater understanding of the critical and timely conservation opportunity Disaster Peak Ranch represents.”

Tim Green

ODLT Board Member

Acquiring Disaster Peak Ranch would immediately expand ODLT’s Trout Creek Ranch and Pueblo Mountains Conservation Project. The purchase of Trout Creek Ranch secured over 500,000 acres of grazing permits on surrounding public lands. From west of the Pueblo Mountains to the Oregon Canyon Mountains, these properties are home to springs, wet meadows, and streams with outsized importance for the wildlife of this arid landscape. Just southeast sits Disaster Peak Ranch with grazing permits covering 56,774 acres. These two ranches connect at the summit of the Trout Creek Mountains. Unified management would result in a conservation effort stretching 75 miles along the Oregon/Nevada border.

This project is a huge lift for an upstart organization, but if we can raise an additional $1.18 million by the end of 2025, we’ll meet our fundraising goal to ensure conservation and stewardship of the property forever. This sounds like a lot, but working together we can make this vision a reality. This sentiment is shared by Tom and Lee Christie. They scouted the area years ago and are still moved by what they saw.

"We will never forget the day that we crested a hill and saw the property — it was unlike anything we had seen in southeast Oregon, so we made the commitment then and there to help secure the ranch for conservation."

Tom & Lee Christie

ODLT Supporters

As a former wildlife biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and current board member for ODLT, Angela Sitz couldn’t be more excited to support this endeavor.

"Disaster Peak Ranch is incredibly important for the recovery of Lahontan cutthroat trout and the proximity to Trout Creek Ranch makes this opportunity a no-brainer for ODLT. It also provides essential habitat for greater sage-grouse and hundreds of other sagebrush obligate species."

Angela Sitz

ODLT Board Member

Disaster Peak Ranch hosts more than 18 miles of McDermitt Creek and key tributary streams. These waters are home to one of the West’s most imperiled fish: threatened Lahontan cutthroat trout. They once thrived across thousands of miles of streams in the Great Basin, but their pristine, cold-water habitats have been disappearing over a century, with effects compounded by hybridization and competition from non-native fish. Our conservation efforts to restore and reconnect 55 miles of streams would double their habitat. This project would also further restoration in the Trout Creek Mountain Priority Area of Concern. It’s one of the most important areas for greater sage-grouse in the United States as it encompasses nearly 20% of Oregon’s sage-grouse population.

Helping these umbrella species is what drew in Mark Greenfield’s support in 2021 and fueled his care for the area. He’s excited to now increase his impact for these special birds and their stunning landscape through Disaster Peak Ranch.

“In addition to my sage-grouse concern, I think the area is spectacular, with the mountain mahoganies, the antelope, and lots of other bird species. I saw more golden eagles in one day than I think I’ve seen in my life,” beamed Greenfield. He said a drive down the highway may only reveal flat features with some mountains in the distance and you can’t really tell what they look like or what’s in them, especially all the water they hold.

"I love the high country, with the wildflowers and the meadows and the birds and the mountain peaks. It’s just a spectacular place.”

Mark Greenfield

ODLT Supporter

Over 90% of Disaster Peak Ranch is within The Nature Conservancy’s national map of Resilient and Connected Landscapes. With proposals for mining in the larger McDermitt Caldera region, it is more important than ever that we keep the most sensitive and valuable lands intact for people and wildlife. From high elevations to streambeds, Disaster Peak Ranch and Trout Creek Ranch provide climate-resilient habitat connectivity on more than one million acres of land, linking Steens Mountain Wilderness to the Owyhee Canyonlands. Disaster Peak Ranch itself includes a state-designated Conservation Opportunity Area, and an Important Bird Area. It also includes a private inholding within the 51,290-acre Fifteenmile Creek Wilderness Study Area that is currently proposed for permanent wilderness protection by Oregon’s congressional delegation.

Like our efforts at Trout Creek Ranch over the past few years, ODLT is committed to partnering with others to conserve and restore this important area. This acquisition would help us grow our partnerships with regional Tribes to support access on their historical homelands and expand cultural preservation opportunities. Grazing permits on surrounding public lands create pathways to partner with local ranchers on adaptive management and regenerative agricultural approaches that benefit conservation and restoration across a vast landscape.

"ODLT has taken the opportunity to acquire lands for conservation that only come along once in a generation. Please join us in supporting their effort."

Tom & Lee Christie

ODLT Supporters