Columbia Land Trust

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

Vast plans to restore wetlands Wednesday, March 22, 2000 By Rick Bella of The Oregonian staff RIDGEFIELD, Wash. -- Glenn Lamb slowly craned his neck to watch flocks of Canada geese begin their landing approach over the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, his feet slowly sinking in the squishy brown mud. "Hear that honking?" said Lamb, Columbia Land Trust executive director. "Isn't that beautiful? That song is worth a million dollars." Well, almost -- at least for now. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service awarded a $999,000 grant today to the land trust to complete one of the Northwest's largest wetlands conservation projects. Working with an array of public agencies and private landowners, the Vancouver, Wash.-based land trust will buy more than 1,500 acres of wetlands and restore 4,400 acres in the Lower Columbia River corridor. The Oregon and Washington project sites stretch from Portland to the ocean. Carey Smith, who coordinates joint-venture waterfowl-management projects for the Fish and Wildlife Service, said the projects would go a long way toward restoring habitat crucial to the survival of endangered salmon while helping water birds and a long list of familiar species. The projects also will improve opportunities for outdoor recreation -- everything from hunting and fishing to birdwatching, boating, hiking and camping. "For decades, we had government-backed programs that encouraged ditching, diking and draining wetlands for development," Smith said. "I think we know more now about the advantages wetlands give us in terms of water quality and flood control. Projects like this show how we've turned our thinking around." The project also establishes the land trust as an important player in the local "We hope these 10 projects are just the beginning of what we can do." -- Glenn Lamb, Executive Director,     Columbia Land Trust land conservation field, a public coming of age for the 10-year-old organization, which did not have paid staff until last year. The grant is the largest the Fish and Wildlife Service has awarded to a land trust anywhere since Congress passed the North American Waterfowl Management Act 12 years ago and began putting money into wetlands conservation. Furthermore, because the projects will help endangered salmon as well as waterfowl, the grant application assembled by Columbia Land Trust ranked second in national priority out of 54 grants awarded last month by the Fish and Wildlife Service. Among the land trust projects: replace a dam at North Portland's Smith and Bybee lakes with an adjustable water-control device. The dam was installed in 1982 in hopes of making the marshy, shallow lakes more attractive for recreation. But several unintended changes occurred -- heavy algae blooms in the water and infestations of invasive reed canary grass around the banks. The water-control device "would allow a daily exchange of water in the lakes and let the seasonal floods move in and out," said Jim Morgan, supervisor of Metro's natural resources-management program. "That would improve habitat for several species of wildlife." The lakes are home to the Western painted turtle, listed as critically sensitive by Oregon and proposed for listing as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act. Western pond turtles, also listed as critically sensitive, are found there, too. In several projects, Ducks Unlimited, a nationwide nonprofit organization dedicated to wetlands restoration, will provide the on-the-ground muscle for improving ditches and breaching dikes, allowing water to return to areas previously drained. "We also will have some of our volunteers get involved in tree-planting," said Steve Donovan, Pacific Northwest regional biologist for Ducks Unlimited. "Everyone is excited to be involved in the project." The Columbia Land Trust was incorporated as a private nonprofit agency in 1990. In 1998, the Seattle-based Land Trust Alliance of the Northwest helped pay for the Columbia Land Trust to design a five-year plan. Then last year, the land trust used a $125,000 grant from Meyer Memorial Trust as seed money to hire an executive director, program director and conservation director. In the past year, the land trust launched 10 projects that conserve 550 acres. "These projects in the Lower Columbia corridor are a good start," said Lamb, counting geese as they circled the refuge's River S Unit. "We hope these 10 projects are just the beginning of what we can do." You can reach Rick Bella at 360-896-5718 or 503-294-5900 or by e-mail at rickbella@news.oregonian.com.

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