Restoring a Landscape in Eastern Oregon: The South Cliff Knox Habitat Project
By: Karina Puikkonen
In the rugged terrain of eastern Oregon’s Malheur National Forest, a large conservation effort led by the Mule Deer Foundation (MDF) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Forest Service began this summer. The South Cliff Knox Mule Deer Habitat Restoration project is a multi-year project that includes habitat restoration across a variety of forest and vegetation communities that wildlife, including the Beulah-Malheur mule deer herd, rely on in this changing landscape.
This summer, the South Cliff Knox project began by addressing long-time conifer and juniper encroachment on aspen, shrub-steppe and mountain mahogany stands. The 897-acre project areas were identified as critical habitat pockets in need of treatment. This project represented a bold step in Oregon towards securing the future of the Beulah-Malheur mule deer herd, a herd that Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) considers an extreme level of concern with 2023 population estimates at a historic low of approximately 11,000 animals. The collaborative investment will help restore balance to the landscape that can support a more resilient future for all wildlife in the area.
Oregon’s New Approach to Mule Deer Management
After decades of managing populations based on geopolitical boundaries that didn’t always align with deer movements, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) has transformed its approach. Using mule deer collar data overlaid with the old wildlife management unit boundaries, the state has now identified 22 distinct herd ranges across eastern Oregon. The management focus is on biologically meaningful boundaries that consider population size and how quickly the population is increasing or decreasing when assessing herd range performance. This shift is outlined in the 2024 Oregon Mule Deer Management Plan and allows wildlife managers to address the unique challenges each herd faces.
The South Cliff Knox project illustrates this new approach on one of the 22 newly designated herd ranges: the Beaulah-Malheur Herd Range. The multi-year project is on the USDA Forest Service Prairie City Ranger District, targeting high-priority habitat that mule deer depend on during spring, summer, and fall. The area features a diverse mosaic of shrub steppe, scabland (barren, rocky, and elevated areas of land with thin soil and little vegetation, often deeply channeled by past floods), pine savannah, and aspen stands that are all critical components of healthy mule deer habitat in Eastern Oregon.
One Problem to Tackle is Conifer Encroachment
Decades without natural fire on this landscape have allowed juniper and small conifers to creep into meadows, shrublands, and aspen groves. The aspen stands provide critical spring and early summer forage, but struggle to regenerate under the shade of dense conifer trees. Mountain mahogany retains its nutrition even when dormant, so it’s one of the most valuable cold-season food sources for mule deer. The landscape was losing this diversity, and with it, its capacity to support healthy deer populations. Mule deer crave more open areas where sunlight and water resources can supply diverse plant communities they need for cover and food. Not to mention, the dense forest has also created dangerous fuel loads that increase the risk of catastrophic wildfire in the area.
Partnerships Far and Wide
Through MDF’s master stewardship agreement with the USDA Forest Service, a collaborative effort between nonprofit, federal, and state entities tackled this challenge head-on. In early July, hand crews thinned junipers and small-diameter conifers through labor-intensive lop-and-scatter techniques in less than two weeks. Working in roadless areas with steep terrain, crews had no choice but to do everything by hand. MDF’s Ryan Krapp observed the initial work and described the immediate transformation.
“Hearing the buzzing of chainsaws and witnessing the immediate visible change on the landscape is incredible” Krapp said. “One unit had young aspens sprouts surrounded by dense, ten-foot tall conifers. We removed the conifers, and it became a sea of aspen and mahogany unrestricted to future growth.”
What makes South Cliff Knox particularly powerful is its connection to broader restoration efforts. The Bureau of Land Management in cooperation with ODFW is conducting similar treatments along the project’s southern boundary, while private landowners to the southeast are working with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. Together, these coordinated efforts are restoring a large contiguous landscape across the entire Malheur River Watershed, supporting migrating mule deer, elk and numerous other species.
Looking Ahead
This cross-border collaboration between agencies and MDF represents our future in wildlife conservation and management. Mule deer don’t follow human boundaries and conservation efforts are more effective when they follow the deer rather than political or property lines on a map.
USDA Forest Service fire crews will return to these areas and burn the slash piles as needed, reducing fuel loads and opening the landscape further to regrow essential grasses, forbs, aspen, and mountain mahogany browse. Other phases of the South Cliff Knox project will include additional aspen restoration and mountain mahogany restoration, shrub-steppe restoration, and wildlife-friendly fencing projects over the next few years. MDF will lead a total of 1,850 acres in forest treatments, enhancing this critical habitat by creating a mixture of cover, improving forage areas and calving/fawning and rearing areas for big game, as well as reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire events for rural ranches while promoting forest health.
