The Blue Mountain Land Trust purchased a 278-acre parcel outside of Prairie City.

With help from the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs and financing from Craft3, a regional nonprofit, the organization purchased Phipps Meadow, according to an Aug. 11 press release.

The press release noted that the Malheur National Forest surrounds the “ecologically diverse” property and is composed of wetland meadow, pine forest and sits on a mile and a half of the John Day River. The press release states it is an important ecological feature for wildlife and native fish in the region.

“Phipps Meadow is a remarkable property in the headwaters of the Middle Fork John Day River. The John Day River basin contains one of the last entirely wild runs of salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River Basin. This section of the river provides critical habitat for wild spring Chinook salmon, mid-Columbia summer steelhead, bull trout, redband trout, pacific lamprey, and a host of other native non-salmonid fishes,” said Amy Charette, watershed restoration coordinator with the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs John Day Basin office.

Alyssa Martinez Neumann, Blue Mountain Land Trust’s communications and marketing specialist, told the Eagle that the acquisition of the land is just the beginning of the project.

Martinez Neumann said the land trust is just starting to meet with technical conservation stakeholders in the next couple of months to look at what land use would look like in the future.

“Something to remember with these types of projects is that it’s a multi-year project,” she said. “It’s a marathon.”