Seven Thousand Three Hundred Days

As usual, Alan and Bernice Johnson woke before the sun had crested the horizon. Bernice readied breakfast while Alan walked the familiar muddy trail to put the cows in the lower pasture. The trail wrapped around the edge of the thick ash woodland; a raccoon skittered into the bushes. Every few strides he wiped the cobwebs from his face. Familiar small birds flitted through the woods. Alan walked to the edge of the pasture where Little Matney Creek had been captured in a ditch and routed in straight, perpendicular lines around the perimeter of the pasture.

The Johnson farm is high up in the watershed, the kind of place that likely might have sheltered young salmon in the narrowest shallow little creeks. In those old days, the upper watersheds throughout the Columbia River Basin were the rich nurseries that supported millions and millions of salmon every year.

There are no records to tell us precisely, but perhaps this was the day that, over their hot breakfast, Alan and Bernice made their decision:  they would return Little Matney Creek to its original watercourse and re-create the native wetlands that had occupied the lower pasture. They could still keep a few cows up closer to the house and barn, but this lower place would be returned to nature and wildlife.

We may not know the exact day when the Johnsons made their decision, but we do know that it was about 7,300 days ago - 20 years of the sun cresting daily over the eastern horizon - that two separate groups of people formed Columbia Land Trust and Three Rivers Land Conservancy.

Both groups came together to help people just like Alan and Bernice; in fact, the Johnsons were the first family to donate conservation land to Columbia Land Trust. Alan died two years ago; Bernice continues to carry out their dreams. And today there are fish in the Johnson pond and wetlands!

For Three Rivers Land Conservancy, Don and René Pizzo - both firefighters and outstanding civil servants - were early land donors that inspire even today.  They bought land on Abernathy Creek near Oregon City, in part because of the great old trees and amazing bird life. The Pizzos then donated a conservation easement on their land, wanting the experience to be available for future generations.

Columbia Land Trust and Three Rivers Land Conservancy had big dreams those 7,300 days ago.  The challenge of conserving and restoring our lands to support our salmon and eagles, deer and dragonflies, winter wrens and pileated woodpeckers loomed large. What could we expect to accomplish? How would we do it?

It took us three full years, as volunteers, just to conserve the Johnson property. Our dreams were not coming true quickly enough. Three Rivers Land Conservancy pursued their conservation dreams at a similar, protracted pace.

Ten years ago, both Three Rivers and Columbia hired our first staff. Since that time, in those last 3,650 days, our combined groups have worked with more than 150 landowners to conserve nearly 11,000 acres of land. We have now knit together the broad framework for a regionally significant fish conservation network - similar in design and function to our nation’s wildlife refuge system.