Columbia Land Trust

Restoration Success

The Corps of Discovery and Conservation in the Grays Bay Watershed - Part I

By Ian Sinks, Stewardship Director

On November 8th 200 years ago the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery reached what is now called Grays Bay in Southwest Washington. There they experienced heavy rains and winds, high waves, and a shoreline so littered with massive logs that it was difficult to find a place to rest. Steep slopes were covered with a nearly impenetrable tangle of vegetation. The water of the bay was too salty to drink and the waves too violent to allow an open crossing.

Below the water line tens of thousands of ocean migrants - chinook, coho, steelhead and chum – would have continued to arrive. For many of these fish the bay was a wide spot in the road on their journey to natal spawning waters upstream. For others it would be an entry point into a relatively small, but very productive, Columbia River tributary – the Grays River.

The journals of the expedition are not detailed about their stay along Grays Bay. Imagine what they could have described if their attention was not diverted towards survival! Even today the Bay explodes with life and richness. Thousands of waterfowl visit each fall and winter, bald eagles soar and large numbers of elk patrol the shoreline and forests. Each handful of mud represents its own bustling microcosm as the odor will quickly verify. In the 1880s reports from early settlers described the land as wild and pristine with fish in the rivers and bear in the trees.

Located within the Columbia River estuary, Grays Bay and the tidal portions of its tributaries provide habitat critical to all salmonids of the Columbia River. Adult fish migrate through the area, but perhaps more importantly, the juveniles travel these waters on their way to the ocean. Along the way they need to avoid predators, eat, grow and adapt to a radically different saltwater environment.

Today, after one and a half centuries of agrarian development, Grays Bay is different. Jetties block ocean waves from rolling into the river and saltwater is now a rare occurrence in the bay. Floodplains are disconnected and backwater channels cut off. The amount of sediment moving through the river system has changed; mostly making the river shallower and less predictable. Many of the trees along the hillsides were cut and there are fewer logs enriching the shoreline. And of course, the fish populations are a fraction of what they once were.

Five years ago Columbia Land Trust began to permanently protect the best remnants of spruce swamp, floodplain, and marsh habitat in and around the bay. The Land Trust also set out with project partners to identify areas where natural processes could be restored allowing the historic habitats to once again return as functional parts of the landscape.

There are many reasons to do this. Local communities plagued by flooding within the watershed are assisted by additional floodwater storage. Bald eagle nests and potential nesting habitat for marbled murrelet, both federally listed avian species, are permanently protected. The last remnants of relatively untouched spruce swamp and intertidal habitat, and indeed trees that stood sentinel at the passing of the Corps of Discovery, is protected as valued wildlife habitat and a historical reminder of what once was. And perhaps most importantly from a conservation standpoint critical juvenile rearing habitat is saved and restored to benefit all of the species within the Columbia River.

On the eve of the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark journey, the Land Trust is on the verge of completing a significant phase of this conservation work: 840 acres of land has been purchased, an additional 120 acres of remnant spruce swamp has been protected by The Nature Conservancy and is being transferred to Land Trust ownership, and 544 acres of previously diked land has been re-opened to allow the floodplain to once again interact with the river.

The work is by no means done. In many respects it has just begun. The Land Trust is committed to being active stewards of the conservation properties, to being good neighbors within the local community, and to monitoring the effectiveness of our efforts in achieving conservation goals. We are monitoring to determine how these restored habitats develop from pasture to intertidal wetland, and how these areas function to benefit salmonids. We are seeking to answer questions such as: Are the fish accessing intertidal areas for feeding, and if so what are they eating? What species of salmonid use restored habitat types? How many are present and when? And what benefits are the fish gaining by being in these areas? We also want to understand how these restored habitats may affect the sediment dynamics of the river and to what extent there is a decline of flooding within the lower watershed.

In addition to scientific monitoring the Land Trust is working with the community to address local concerns, working to control and eradicate invasive species, manage use of properties for public recreation and perform regular maintenance required of all property owners.

The Devil’s Elbow conservation property (see map above), located along a hard 340 degree bend in Grays River that gives the location its name, had its dike removed in the fall of 2004 in partnership with Ducks Unlimited and Natural Resources Conservation Service. What once was a weedy pasture is evolving into something more diverse. Pasture grasses are giving way to wapato, burreed, water plantain, cattail, bulrush and a variety of other native wetland plants. The presence and growth of wapato (or arrow root) is very encouraging in these restoration sites: not only did Lewis and Clark purchase large amounts of elk and wapato from the Native Americans to sustain themselves, but Chinook myth describes wapato as ‘the food before the salmon came to the Columbia (Pojar 1994).’ We certainly hope the wapato’s presence portends well for the Grays restoration sites as well.

Over the next year Columbia Land Trust staff will be hosting a number of tours of the Grays Bay conservation projects. To participate in the tours or to find out more about the Land Trust stewardship and monitoring efforts in Grays Bay please contact Ian Sinks. (isinks@columbialandtrust.org or 360-696-0131). Look for more about the restoration of these lands and monitoring results in the next issue of our newsletter.

Dream a little dream

Glenn Lamb’s Muse

When is the last time you put aside your current worries and simply dreamed? Not just idle day-dreaming, but focused dreaming – dreaming about what you want to do in your life.

Think back to when you were a kid – what was it you liked the most? What did you dream about then? I dreamed of playing baseball at Fenway Park, living in a tree house, being a guide to help others climb the tallest mountains, inventing something really useful, and driving a very big truck.

Now that I am 44 years old, I dream of exploring and conserving the great Pacific Northwest, playing trombone in a jazz band, always being curious, being healthy and alert every day that I am on this planet, and being with my loved ones.

We at Columbia Land Trust help people’s dreams come true.

We are working with one of you now to conserve one mile of both sides of the stream where your ancestor’s ashes are scattered. Another of you dreams of conserving the little pocket of habitat that you and your late husband had so carefully tended. Yet another of you dreams of conserving your Columbia Riverfront land right in the heart of the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area. And in this newsletter, you can read about another family whose dream of returning Germany Creek to a prime spawning bed is about to come true.

One of the things I love most about pursuing dreams is how the result may not be what you originally dreamed about – in fact, it may be very different, but in pursuing the dream, great things happen.

Here at Columbia Land Trust, we dream of interconnected systems of habitat and landscapes; we dream of conserving the great places of the Columbia River region. Our dreams come true because you, our members, contribute so generously. Thank you.

Germany Creek project

By Sue Knight

One of Columbia Land Trust’s latest salmon habitat projects protects and restores the lower mile of German Creek, which flows into the Columbia on the Washington side about 10 miles west of Longview.

The project is designed to increase spawning habitat for threatened chum salmon, and off-channel rearing habitat for coho, chinook and steelhead. It’s located within a high priority reach of the river under the Lower Columbia River Fish Recovery plan adopted late last year.

Also known as Germany Creek, German Creek is an example of the kinds of projects that most interests the Columbia Land Trust. It focuses on the most important habitat areas, has strong and productive partnerships, and there is an engaged monitoring program to measure project effectiveness.

The 155 acre property includes 250 feet of Columbia River frontage and has three possible building sites. Because the Land Trust bought the land, the houses will not be built. The creek provides rearing habitat for coho. Other fish species (Chinook, steelhead, cutthroat, chum) use portions of this waterway for migration, spawning and incubation, and rearing.

Overall the creek is in good shape, although a lack of large wood material in the creek sediment runoff from logging and gravel mining limits productivity.. But some of the past land uses that disturbed the habitat actually offer enhancement opportunities. For example, pond depressions from gravel operations give a potential route for off-channel habitat creation: The old ponds and channels can be re-connected as a creek side channel that will be used by juvenile salmonids for refuge and rearing. Other opportunities include log placement that adds complexity to the stream habitat. Restoration plans will attempt to shift a young, disturbed forest of 20-30 year old alder trees to an older and more complex stand composed of a mix of cedar and other deciduous species.

The German Creek site complements Land Trust fish recovery efforts all along the Columbia from the river’s mouth 250 miles upstream to the John Day River. Not only will the stream play host to fish, it will also welcome bald eagles and Columbia White Tailed deer. The project highlights another opportunity for the Land Trust to work in partnership with state agencies, private enterprise, and other conservation groups; this time with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, engineering company Flowing Solutions, and Washington Trout.

Walluski River restoration

Along the Walluski River in Northwest Oregon, Columbia Land Trust is buying another tidelands parcel that continues knitting together high quality migratory bird and fish habitat. The parcel is in Young’s Bay just west of Astoria. Flowing into the bay from the southeast is the Walluski River, one of three rivers in this priority area. Tidal waters from the bay in turn surge upriver feeding the lowlands they border, providing rich and productive nesting, spawning and rearing areas.

The current purchase of Virginia Elliott’s property is adjacent to the 40 acre Kerr property that the Land Trust bought two years ago. Once restoration efforts open the property to the tide, the land “will make for fabulous bird habitat,” said Melanie Moon, Land Trust Project Manager.

The Elliott family has farmed the parcel since the 60’s and currently grazes sheep and cows there. The land has been diked since its inception as farmland, making the floodplain and river discontinuous. But within the past year the eroded Elliott dike had breached and its tidegate had broken: water had been returning to the land of its own accord. Additional restoration work will allow the river and floodplain to interact fully which benefits humans seeking flood protection, birds seeking habitat and fish seeking spawning and rearing areas.

Clatsop State Forest lands lie across the Walluski, and there is forested land on both the Kerr and Elliott parcels. But restoration efforts will focus on the tidelands that spend most of the wet months submerged. An adjacent landowner who, as a professional forester, helped Columbia Land Trust with the timber appraisal on the Elliott property, believes this is what nature designed. While his land lies across the road from the Kerr and Elliott properties, and is thus unsuitable for restoration as flooded tidelands, his intention as a landowner is similar to that of the Kerr’s and Elliott’s: he, too, sees Columbia Land Trust as a cooperative ally and partner.

Many other farms lie up this river valley, thus there is much potential for willing sellers to work with the Land Trust to restore their lands for non-farm species. A lover of maps would see these property lines vary throughout the seasons, with the winter high-water mark establishing a new shoreline that is historically representative of the region, one that benefits migratory birds and fish.

Farewell

Since our last newsletter, conservation project manager Les Zimmer has returned to his native Indiana. During his time with Columbia Land Trust, Les was responsible for conserving thousands of acres of critically important salmon habitat and wetlands. Les developed deep friendships with landowners and helped them accomplish their conservation vision. Thank you Les, and good luck in Indiana!

New additions

Columbia Land Trust is pleased to introduce our new Development Director, Donna Wiench, who is nearly a Northwest native, having lived in Oregon and Washington for more than 30 years. Donna comes to the Land Trust from the Housing Development Corporation, an organization serving farmworkers in Northwest Oregon. She was Communications Director for the Jesuits of the Northwest, host of All Things Considered with KPLU, NPR, Seattle/Tacoma, an award-winning reporter at KOIN-TV, Portland, and a co-owner of a video production business.

The Land Trust’s previous development director and friend, Lisa DeGrace, now works for an arts group in Oregon, but continues to consult with the Land Trust from time to time – for which we are most grateful. We welcome Donna and wish Lisa all the best.

Portraits and Reflections

By Donna Wiench

I picked my way from rock to rock in the shallows of the Washougal River, looking for a spot in the sun to simply sit and breathe in the beauty around me. It was early September, but the air was chilly and the aspen trees on the opposite shore were hinting that colors would be changing soon. Birds darted through the air, insects skimmed along the river’s surface, and my eyes were peeled for the fish I had heard were in the pools. The sound of the river filled my ears. Downstream about 100 yards, my new colleagues were pulling themselves from a swimming hole, water glistening on their bodies. Dogs tumbled in play as one of the more daring among us scrambled through brush to a rocky ledge he found suitable to launch a swan dive.

It was my first day with my new colleagues as development director and we were at the organization’s annual picnic, which was unlike any company picnic I had ever attended. Being there I knew that working with the Columbia Land Trust was going to be a fun, adventurous, and meaningful experience.

I have learned over the past two weeks that the Land Trust is peopled with remarkably dedicated, knowledgeable, respectful and intelligent folk. Some patiently and sensitively create land purchase agreements; others do the science and physical work of habitat restoration; and the rest of us, to put it simply, run the office and raise funds. But for everyone, the Land Trust is more than a job. Walks with colleagues have shown me that.

The voice of Stuart Johnson, our controller, who by day focuses on keeping the Land Trust financially strong, trembles with emotion when he tells me about the trumpeter swans that retuned to the Long Beach Peninsula after a 40 year absence. Along with stewardship coordinator Lindsay Cornelius and her dad, Terry, Stuart spent long, cold, rainy days doing habitat restoration on the Long Beach Peninsula. Their efforts paid off when the swans came back the very next year.. I will tell you more stories about the adventures of the Columbia Land Trust crew in future issues, but it’s also your stories that I want to hear.

During the next few months I hope to meet many of you as I learn what draws people to support the Land Trust, and how best to reach others who share your values and sense of commitment. It’s clear to us that in order to conserve and steward the volume of land that willing landowners are choosing to place in our hands, we will need help, and in order to finance expansion we must increase membership. Our task is to reach future members and you play an essential role. The best promoters for the Land Trust are current volunteers and members. If you believe in Columbia Land Trust, please tell your friends about us. Let them know that they can be part of the team working to conserve the Great Lands of our region for future generations. It’s a vitally important work and a work that will continue to reap rewards long after we are all gone from this earth. Thank you for your participation. I look forward to visiting with you. You can reach me at dwiench@columbialandtrust.org; or by phone: 360-696-0131 or 503-701-2000.

2005 Wild Splendor Auction

We had fun!!!

Thank you all for helping make this year's auction the most successful to date!!

About 200 people socialized, celebrated and gave generously as we raised more than $120,000. Nearly $65,000 came during a special appeal that Ray Hickey and two anonymous donors jump started with gifts totaling $30,000. Money raised translates directly to land conserved. Thank you for helping the Land Trust save the great lands of our region. Forever.