Columbia Land Trust

Lord Island becomes conservation area

Columbia Land Trust receives a grant to acquire a 210-acre island in the Columbia River in Oregon.

A new milestone for Columbia Land Trust is aquiring an island in the Columbia River. The Land Trust was awarded a grant from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board and from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to acquire Lord Island. This 210-acre island, located just downstream of Rainier, Oregon, is composed of wetlands, sloughs and mature cottonwood and willow trees. It supports a great diversity of fish and wildlife. Ian Sinks, Conservation Director for Columbia Land Trust says “The seasonally variable water regime, and the mix of intertidal flats, channels and wetlands provide some of the richest aquatic habitats in the region. It is home to bald eagle, peregrine falcon, black-tail deer, beaver, river otter, greater yellow-legs, wood duck, various species of bats and a whole host of other species of plants and animals.” Columbia Land Trust is acquiring the land from Weyerhaeuser Real Estate Company.

Lord Island

This conservation project is particularly important because it provides habitat for a number of threatened and endangered species. The large area of shallow water habitat in and around the island, backwater sloughs, inlets and shoreline areas are critically important for migrating and rearing salmonids. In addition, Lord Island is a re-introduction site for the federally endangered Columbia white-tailed deer. In cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife staff from the Julia Butler Hansen Wildlife Refuge, a population of deer may be established on the island in 2002. Columbia white-tailed deer can be considered for de-listing under the Endangered Species Act if they are successfully established on Lord Island.

Since the time of Euro-American settlement, well over 50% of the important fish and wildlife habitat in the lower Columbia River watershed has been lost as a result of development and land use activities. Columbia Land Trust is committed to making the Lord Island project a successful part of a growing regional effort to conserve and restore the watershed resources of the Columbia River.

Columbia Land Trust thanks the following partners for their support of the Lord Island project: Columbia County Board of Commissioners, Lower Columbia River Watershed Council, Columbia Soil and Water Conservation District, Friends of Fox Creek, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, Lower Columbia River Estuary Program, The Nature Conservancy of Oregon, Audubon Society – Willapa Hills Chapter, and Minister and Glaeser Surveying, Inc.

Listen To This

Glenn Lamb's Musings

It is so easy to get caught up in my own lists, my own projects, my own challenges. I sometimes forget what wildly different and often difficult circumstances other people face.

I walked by a house in my neighborhood recently. Someone from inside yelled “That’s the last time! I’m calling the police!” Just today I was told of a Land Trust Board member whose mom has been given less than two weeks to live. I have a friend whose family faces problems of drug addiction. Cranberry farmers we know at the coast are close to selling their farms because cranberry prices are so low.

Our lives are so very different. Yet the more I know about people, the more I see our similarities.

Klickitat River, Klickitat County, Washington

This is one of the joys of private voluntary land conservation.

Conservatives. Liberals. Environmentalists. Private property rights advocates. A rancher. A psychologist. A librarian.

People talk with us about their land, their lives. Challenges. Joys.

It doesn’t matter to me what your political views are. It matters to me that you care for your land. It matters to me what burdens you face, this week, this month, this year, or what opportunities beckon. It matters to me what I can learn from you. How understanding your life can make me a better man.

Caring for land is about caring for people. Each and every one of us can take the time to stop, listen, learn. To listen to each other’s story.

To be changed by what we hear.

New board members

Kerry Barnett

Former legal advisor to three Oregon governors, attorney, Vice President of Professional Services for ODS Health Plans, bicyclist and golfer from Portland, Oregon

Terry Cornelius

Farmer, Small business owner-Canvasback Canoe, State Farm Insurance agent from Ridgefield, Washington

Tim Welch

Internet businessman, land donor, philanthropist and fisherman from Woodland, Washington

East Biddle Lake acquired for environmental education

Volunteers helping with fish sampling

Columbia Land Trust recently bought East Biddle Lake, twelve-acres of woods and lake along the old Evergreen Highway just east of the I205 bridge. The land purchase ensures that the lake and surrounding habitat will never be developed. Together with the immediately adjacent Columbia Springs Environmental Education Center (formerly the Vancouver Trout Hatchery) and the Henry J. Biddle Nature Preserve, this wetland complex provides outstanding close-to-home environmental education opportunities. The Environmental Education Center is a partnership between Clark Public Utilities, Evergreen School District, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Vancouver-Clark Parks and Recreation Department, Clark College, and the Land Trust. The purpose of the partnership is to conserve the land and water and to provide environmental education programs. The East Biddle Lake addition conserves the largest water body in the wetlands complex and opens up a range of new education opportunities.

Volunteers share their skills on the Wind River

By Ryan Crehan

Three miles north of the town of Carson, Washington the Wind River takes two sharp turns. Shallow rapids break to the east and lead into gentle eddies and sandy shores before drifting into faster water and twisting to the south again. Here, Columbia Land Trust owns and conserves the Double Bend property—157 acres of wild lands along both sides of the Wind River. On June 2nd, six volunteers and Columbia Land Trust stewardship staff explored the site under misty skies to gather information for the baseline assessment of the property’s natural features. As part of the first volunteer stewardship day of the year, participants conducted vegetation surveys and accounted for species diversity and cover. We created an informal bird list and explored the property’s talus slopes and cliffs, streamside habitat and forested area. Volunteers shared their knowledge of plants, birds and amphibians. Highlights of the day included finding a juvenile western redback salamander, (Plethodon vehiculum), Oregon stonecrop (sedum oreganum) covering large boulders along the river, evening grosbeaks, night hawks, flycatchers, and a bald eagle. Though rain darkened the sky for much of the day, everyone was pleased to be out on the land, to walk along the river and to volunteer stewardship for a beautiful stretch of river. Thanks for all who helped!

To become a stewardship volunteer or learn more about the program, check out the stewardship heading at www.columbialandtrust.org or call Stewardship Coordinator Ryan Crehan at 360-696-0131. The next stewardship volunteer day will be September 22nd where we will start baseline data collection and weed removal from the Lord Island property.

Kalama River “Holy Waters” conservation area

A critical link in the Holy Waters is for sale at a bargain price. This property is the heart of the Holy Waters, with the best habitat for both fish and elk. The Land Trust has six months to raise $425,000 to acquire this important conservation land along the Kalama River.

By Glenn Lamb

The Kalama River is one of those incredible Northwest rivers, clear clean waters tumbling from the southern flanks of Mt. St Helens.

From the road, you walk through thick bushes of salmonberry, the day suddenly cool under the thick forest. Soon you hear the roar of the river. You step out from the woods into a broad meadow. Sign of elk everywhere, a true elk meadow, not just a subdivision borrowing nature’s names.

You cross the meadow, shoes wet from dew. You edge into the woods along the river, and then you see it. Flashes of whitewater, basalt bedrock rising from riverbed to steep cliff on the far side. A dark deep pool where the river rests momentarily before the next downward dash.

Riverbanks lined with towering Douglas fir and cedar, shading pools with salmon and steelhead trout.

These fish, and the river, survive. They survive despite the logging of the entire watershed, including the river banks, in the 1970’s. Today, in the 21st century, the riverbank is sprouting 30 to 40-year old trees. And subdivisions of houses.

According to a recently completed study, the loss of riparian vegetation and downed trees in the river has left many areas with poor habitat for salmon. While logging practices and regulations protect the riverfront, land clearing for subdivisions and river views is one of the primary threats to the river and its fish.

We’ve all seen the trend. The Kalama River still has pristine areas.

Recently, Columbia Land Trust and private landowners have formed a partnership to create a future for the Kalama River that puts the emphasis on fish and wildlife habitat. In a river reach so rich in fish and habitat that the fishermen have named it “The Holy Waters,” Columbia Land Trust has identified a five-mile conservation priority area. A critical link in this conservation area is for sale at a bargain price. Columbia Land Trust needs to raise $425,000 in the next six months to acquire river and uplands within this reach for fish and wildlife habitat. We are seeking generous donations to Kalama River Holy Waters Conservation Area. If you would like to learn more, contact Glenn Lamb, 360-696-0131.

Columbia Land Trust, a private, non-profit organization, was founded in 1990. We're dedicated to conserving signature landscapes and vital habitat together with the communities of the Columbia River region.  Questions, comments, or concerns may be directed to info@columbialandtrust.org

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This page was last updated on August 14, 2002

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