Our History

The friends of the Tumalo Wildlife Corridor had its beginning in spontaneous meetings amongst concerned property owners and frequent users of the Winter Deer Range Cooperative Closure area in general and Tumalo Natural Area (TNA) in particular.  Over a period of years, the emerging consensus was that the regulations that were in place to manage and preserve the TNA were unknown to users and, there were increasingly outrageous incidents of destruction and criminal behavior.  No signage was in place, law enforcement was unable to reasonably cite regulatory violations since it was unclear to users what property belonged to whom or what was usage was permitted.  See Why We Got Started for details.  The Tumalo Natural Area page contains links to the various regulations currently in place.

A few very dedicated individuals established the fTWC organization as a public benefit non-profit organization 996512-92 with the State of Oregon and approved as a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization by the IRS.  Concurrent discussions with BLM resulted in a Cooperative Management Agreement between the parties. In 2014 with BLM oversight, fTWC devised and executed a plan to place kiosks at the three main entrances to the TNA and begin the closure of unauthorized user initiated roads and trails.

In a perfect world, BLM and the other partners with whom fTWC has had discussions would be adequately funded and resourced to manage the properties under their control.  The world is not perfect.  With your help, fTWC will continue to assist these agencies and individuals in the preservation of the unique resources in the Tumalo Wildlife Corridor while they still exist.  The pressure for use and development around Bend can only increase.  Friends of the Central Cascades,  Friends of the Oregon Badlands Wilderness and Protect Animal Migration are just a few responses to an increasing awareness of what we have to both gain and lose.

fTWC has no employees, no officers receive payment for their services and all contributions of money, labor and materials above our baseline costs go 100% to our projects.  With your help, we can move forward.

  • Here is how you can contribute money.
  • Here are the projects we are currently moving forward.
  • Here is how you can subscribe to newsletters and events.
  • Here is where you can find the latest discussions on our activities.

Thanks in advance!