15,000+ Acres of Prime Elk HabitatMinam River Acquisition

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The total project will secure 15,573 acres of public recreational access as well as improve access to another 6,000 acres of adjacent National Forest lands. It will also open new access to 40 acres of landlocked Bureau of Land Management lands.

Hunters, anglers, backpackers, horse packers, wildlife watchers and other recreationists will also enjoy a permanent entry point to the remote, rugged landscape of the Eagle Cap Wilderness through an existing trail network on National Forest that includes the Minam River Trail, which traverses the property.

The project also provides easily accessible recreation due to location along Highway 82 and the Hells Canyon Scenic Byway.

Multi-phase approach

Created in 1954, the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest combined previously individual Forest Reserves to create a 2.3-million-acre management area in northeast Oregon. A place of stark contrasts and natural wonders, the Wallowa-Whitman boasts the deepest gorge in North America, Hells Canyon, and the crown jewels of Oregon’s elk country, the stunning Wallowa Mountains. 

With 31 peaks over 9,000 feet, the Wallowas comprise the largest subalpine and alpine area in the state. Most notably, this fortress is home to the 361,000-acre Eagle Cap Wilderness. Created in 1940, the Eagle Cap is home to the full catalog of wild ungulates found in the West—bighorn sheep, mountain goats, mule and whitetail deer, Shiras moose, and of course, Rocky Mountain elk. 

Phase 1 - unanimously approved by the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission on August 6, 2021 and with fundraising nearly achieved, this portion of the project covers 4,610 acres with an intended closing date of December 2021.

Phase 2 - fundraising continues for the remaining 10,964 acres with a tentative closing date of December 2023.

Perhaps Oregon’s most important linchpin to big game, and a place RMEF, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), and the Hancock Natural Resource Group (Hancock) have joined forces to protect, this monumental land acquisition pulls all this geography and habitat together to forever protect it while creating a block of public land larger than Yellowstone National Park. It also marks the largest land protection/public access project in ODFW history.

The Minam project will bridge tens of thousands of acres of existing public lands on the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest and the federally designated Eagle Cap Wilderness Area to the Minam State Recreation Area at the confluence of the Minam and Wallowa Wild and Scenic Rivers.

It will also protect crucial big game winter range as well as a migration corridor for elk, mule deer and other wildlife. The area provides winter range for up to 1,200 elk at any given time.

The acquisition will also conserve 114 miles of perennial and intermittent streams, including a significant stretch of the Minam River, providing spawning, rearing and migration habitat for the Snake River spring/summer-run Chinook salmon (Federal and State Threatened) and Snake River Basin steelhead (Federal Threatened), Grande Ronde bull trout (Federal Threatened), and Pacific lamprey (State Sensitive). The National Marine Fisheries Service’s Snake River Recovery Plan identified the Minam River as one of the primary tributaries impacting the Grande Ronde population groups.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife will steward the property as a state wildlife management area, utilizing limited livestock grazing as well as active forest management in partnership with the Oregon Department of Forestry to improve forage conditions for wildlife.

The project will also boost rural economies through increased outdoor recreation spending, as well as economic contributions from maintaining livestock grazing and forestry on the property. As with other state wildlife areas, ODFW will pay fees “in-lieu” of property taxes to maintain county tax revenues - ensuring a win for all.