Zumwalt Prairie

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The Zumwalt Prairie is located in Wallowa County in northeast Oregon, United States. This grassland is situated a basalt plateau (elevation 3500 - 5500 feet; 1060 - 1680 m) and is dominated by several native bunchgrasses, including Idaho Fescue (Festuca idahoensis), Bluebunch Wheatgrass (Pseudoregnaria spicata), Sandberg's Bluegrass (Poa seconda) and many species of wildflowers.

The climate of the Zumwalt Prairie is continental and semi-arid. On average the Zumwalt Prairie receives 15-17 inches of precipitation yearly with the majority of the precipitation coming during the winter months. The summers months of July and August, are dry with a mean monthly rainfall of 1.25 inches and a mean daily maximum temperature of 84 degrees Fahrenheit. Winters are cold with a mean daily minimum temperature of 16 degrees Fahrenheit.

The Chief Joseph band of the Nez Perce were the original human inhabitants of the Zumwalt Prairie who used the area for hunting and gathering in the spring and fall. Euro-American settlement of the area began in the 1850s. The Nez Perce were forced out of the area in the late 1870s after President Ulysses S. Grant officially opened Wallowa County to white settlement.

Today, the Zumwalt Prairie consists of mostly of privately owned ranches and is used for summer grazing of cattle.

The Nature Conservancy (TNC), a non-profit environmental conservation organization, owns and operates a nature preserve on the Zumwalt Prairie. TNC has undertaken several initiatives to understand and protect the biodiversity of the Zumwalt Prairie's ecosystems. These include biological inventories, ecological monitoring, and scientific research.[1]