Old growth site goes in trust

Sunday, August 24, 2003
By ERIK ROBINSON, Columbian staff writer

    Vancouver-based Columbia Land Trust has acquired some of the last known old-growth spruce forested wetland along the lower Columbia River.

    Trust director Glenn Lamb said the 196 acres are pinched between other parcels already held in permanent conservation by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and The Nature Conservancy. By tying together land conservation between the Grays and Deep rivers, Lamb said fish throughout the Columbia River basin will benefit.

    "This benefits every salmon species in the entire Columbia basin," he said.

    The area is located in the lower Columbia, in an area where smolts make the transition from fresh water to salt water in the ocean.

    Debrah Marriott, director of the bi-state Lower Columbia River Estuary Partnership, confirmed that the land trust's purchase will help fish. The estuary partnership is a central player in identifying and protecting ecologically valuable habitat.

    "It is one of the high-priority areas," she said.

    The trust paid $1 million for the parcel, Lamb said. Contributions came from two public sources, the North American Wetlands Conservation Council and the Washington state Salmon Recovery Funding Board, and three private foundations, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, as well as the Seattle-based Wildlife Forever Fund and Charlotte Y. Martin Foundation.

    Lamb said the family that owned the parcel had no immediate plans to change it, but a gravel mine had already been established on an adjacent property.

    "We did see there was some risk for the upland portion to be logged and potentially mined for gravel," he said.

    Lamb noted that some species of fish hang around the area for a few weeks, while others may spend several months to more than a year in the area before migrating to the ocean.

    Besides the habitat for fish, three bald eagle nests have been identified on the property.

    Clyde Sprague, a longtime area resident, approached the land trust three years ago to discuss family land that had been passed down to his daughter, Deborah Hubbard, according to the land trust. "We're grateful that Deborah and her family wanted to see the land in conservation," said Cherie Kearney, conservation director for the land trust.

    Columbia Land Trust, in its 13th year, has brought more than 4,500 acres into conservation in 11 counties in Washington and Oregon along the lower Columbia.