The U.S. Department of the Interior announced the creation of the Willamette Valley Conservation Area last month. The area is part of an effort to protect oak and prairie habitat and the species that live there like the monarch butterfly and Western Meadowlark.

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service published a conservation study in 2017.  It found that grasslands, oak woodlands and riparian habitat in the Willamette Valley needed more protection. 

We hear more details from Damien Miller, the project leader of the Willamette Valley National Wildlife Refuge complex.