Columbia Land Trust

1351 Officers' Row, Vancouver, Washington 98661
360.696.0131 voice, 360.696.1847 fax

In Our View: Thursday, March 23, 2000 Land Trust Scores Decade-old group based in Vancouver wins federal and state grants for habitat When a dozen or so environmentally sensitive friends gathered in a Vancouver restaurant 10 years ago, they began with little more than a general notion that there ought to be some local group to save some natural assets from the onslaught of progress. Thus was born the Columbia Land Trust, which this week scored major state and federal grants to pursue its stated mission to "preserve vital habitat and signature landscapes." The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Tuesday that it would grant $999,000 for the organization's plan to acquire 1,500 acres of wetlands and upland habitat in the lower Columbian River basin and Gray's Harbor and to restore and enhance another 4,400 acres of salmon and waterfowl habitat. The grant was the largest the Fish and Wildlife Service had awarded to any land trust anywhere in the dozen years since congressional passage of the North American Waterfowl Management Act. Because the local group's application promised to help save both salmon and waterfowl, its application ranked second in national priority out of 54 grant awards announced this month. Other projects funded About the same time, meeting in Wenatchee, the state Salmon Funding Recovery Board was deciding that Columbia Land Trust should get $83,000 toward Grays River land acquisition and $131,000 toward a project to acquire and restore streamside habitat near the Washougal River. Those two projects were among 24 packages worth a total $4 million submitted by the Southwest Washington Fish Recovery Board. Statewide, the Salmon Recovery Funding Board got 245 proposals adding up to $42 million. Just 84 of those were funded. The board agreed to just a little more than a quarter of the Southwest Washington package. The recent scores weren't the first wonders worked by the young group, which is up to more than 300 members and shooting for another 200 this year. In the Columbia River Gorge, around Clark County and downriver, the group has managed to put more than 1,000 acres under protection. Last year the group got a $125,000 grant from the Meyer Memorial Trust to hire some staff and move beyond volunteerism. Glenn Lamb, the new executive director who put together the successful grant packages announced this week, was among the interesting parties at that first meeting -- he's not sure now which restaurant provided the room. A Massachusetts native who came west to the University of Oregon with high-school running mate Alberto Salazar in hopes of making the Olympics, Lamb arrived in Clark County 13 years ago to work for the ill-starred Intergovernmental Resources Commission. He was working on unfortunately futile IRC efforts to save vital habitat around Lacamas Lake when he got the invitation to the founding meeting of Columbia Land Trust. After IRC folded, Lamb caught on as a recreation planner with Clark County and continued as a land trust volunteer and board member. Clearly, the Olympics' loss was Southwest Washington's gain. Area residents who want to get in on some very satisfying action can call 360-696-0131. The entry fee is $25 a year, which is a real bargain in terms of the group's proven ability to get things done. -- D. Michael Heywood, for the editorial board Web editor for Opinion is Michael Zuzel.

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