We partnered with Kids Club to provide a fun area for youth to do activities.

Free bobbers were given out to the youth.

Fishing for the big one!

The prints were hung up in the sun to dry.

Checking out what a carp feels like!

What a catch!

Awards ceremony

Participants on the bus during the 2017 Restoration Birding Tour.

Harney Basin Wetlands Initiative partner Chris Colson, with Ducks Unlimited, teamed up with our executive director Brenda Smith to give the tour.

Participants viewing birds whose habitat Harney Basin Wetlands Initiative is working to restore!

Our booth at the Burns High School

Students receiving materials at the Harney County Watershed Council station.

Students learning about Mule Deer Migration at the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife station.

Natural Resource Conservation Service had a stream table for their activity.

At the US Forest Service station students learned about the amazing relationships that plants and people have formed over time.

Harney Soil & Water Conservation District had a contest to see which youth could sketch the best grouse. The winner received a $25 gift card!

Thanks to the new Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Fish Biologist Joe Barnett for participating and bringing a live carp for the youth to see!

Dr. Paul Hessburg presenting Era of Megafires. Dr. Paul Hessburg has conducted fire and landscape ecology research for more than 27 years.

Dr. Paul Hessburg was the host of Era of Megafires. Dr. Paul Hessburg has conducted fire and landscape
ecology research for more than 27 years.

A shot from part of the Era of Megafires presentation.

The presentation was followed by a panel discussion where community members were able to ask questions about fire from local fire managers and collaborative members.

As part of Nature Night: Malheur, One Year Later, an event High Desert Partnership co-sponsored with Portland Audubon, Harney Basin Wetlands Initiative partners participated in a panel discussion to give audience members a greater understanding of what collaboration looks like. From left to right: Dan Nichols (rancher), Bruce Taylor (Intermountain West Joint Venture), Brenda Smith (High Desert Partnership), Esther Lev (The Wetlands Conservancy), Bob Sallinger (Portland Audubon), Jarvis Kennedy (Burns Paiute Tribe) and Chad Karges (Malheur National Wildlife Refuge).

Over 250 people came to participate in Nature Night: Malheur, One Year Later, which High Desert Partnership co-sponsored with Portland Audubon.

High Desert Partnership board member and Harney Basin Wetlands Initiative partner Chad Karges answering questions after the panel discussion.

US Fish and Wildlife and Forest Service personnel teamed up this fall to remove invasive carp from Malheur Lake's tributaries. Your can read more about it here: http://highdesertpartnership.org/news-events/hdp-news-articles-updates/partners-helping-partners.html

US Fish and Wildlife and US Forest Service personnel worked together twice this fall to remove carp from Malheur Lake's tributaries. You can read more about it here: http://highdesertpartnership.org/news-events/hdp-news-articles-updates/partners-helping-partners.html.

Josh Giles presenting to the group about lessons learned on the Marshall Devine project.

Josh Giles, USFS silverculturist, received a Harney County Restoration Collaborative poster as a thank you for all this hard work the past several years. Josh accepted another position within the Forest Service. He will be missed by the collaborative!

Daniel Dean, retired logger and Calla Hagle, biologist Burns Paiute tribe at the August HCRC meeting.

2016 Malheur CFLR monitoring crew lead Kat Morici (center), crew member Jordan Woodcock (left), and HCRC facilitator Jack Southworth (right).

The group looking out over Crooked Creek Meadow and trying to stay in the shade to keep cool. They were discussing the encroachment of conifer trees into the meadow, which has a negative impact on meadow vegetation, diminishes riparian health and depletes the water table.

HCRC facilitator Jack Southworth in action at the second stop on Crooked Creek Meadow.

Travis Swaim, USFS silverculturist and project lead, used aerial imagery from 1943 and 2012 to contrast the difference in vegetation. Here he is describing a proposal to remove a nearby stand of lodgepole pine, which did not exist on the same site in 1943.

Sometimes making a circle can be challenging and the group has to get creative!

HCRC members discussing different aspects of the Dairy Project. In this picture, they are looking at and talking about a previous prescribed fire. The fire burned at a higher temperature than usual for fall, which resulted in "hotter spots." These spots will create new openings in the forest. The openings are important for wildlife needs and wildlife biologists in the group stated that they would like to see more of these in the future.

June 21, 2016 - A panoramic of the group.

June 21, 2016 - One of many group discussions on the Harney Basin Wetlands Initiative.

June 21, 2016 - Participants in the Portland State University Executive Seminar Program for Natural Resources at Wright's Point.

Our executive director Brenda Smith had the privilege of participating in a flyover of the Harney Basin. She joined Richard Wilhelm and Sue Arbuthnot, who were taking photographs and videos of spring in the basin. The flight was set up by Esther Lev, HBWI partner with The Wetlands Conservancy, and provided by LightHawk, a non-profit that donates flights for conservation.

LightHawk volunteer pilots Anthony Carson and Mark Gaponoff. LightHawk provided us the opportunity to shoot film and take pictures of the Harney Basin in springtime from the air. LightHawk is a non-profit that donates flights for conservation.

District Ranger Christy Cheyne discussing restoration work at one of the stops on a field tour with Robert Bonnie, USDA undersecretary, and Jim Pena, Forest Service regional forester.

A short stroll down the Sod House Road led us to the Rookery and allowed tour participants a chance to see herons and cormorants nesting in trees from a distance. The Steens could be seen in the distance and created a fantastic backdrop for pictures.

Participants look for birds as Chris Colson, Ducks Unlimited biologist, and Brenda Smith, executive director of the High Desert Partnership, talk about conservation efforts currently taking place in the Harney Basin.

Chris Colson, a biologist with Ducks Unlimited, talks with participants about the importance of flooding in wetlands meadows for waterbird habitat.

Participants exploring one of the fish traps that biologist use to collect data on fish species in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

HDP board members and HBWI partners met with the press to share the positive story of collaboration in Harney County.

Reporters interviewing HBWI partners and HDP board members and staff on Wright's Point. A spotting scope was set up to view the migratory waterbirds.

Board member Chad Karges and executive director Brenda Smith talk with reporters at the press junket on Wright's Point.

Our executive director and board members met at the Diamond Hotel with Dan Ashe and other USFWS officials to discuss the collaborative work we are doing.