In the News: Klickitat Canyon Conservation Area
News outlets throughout the Northwest covered the landmark completion of the 11,000-acre Klickitat Canyon Conservation Area
In late July, Columbia Land Trust succeeded in conserving nearly 4,900 acres of canyon forest, river frontage, and grasslands. The acquisition is the largest by acreage in the Land Trust’s 30-year history, and it also represented the third and final phase of an 11,000-acre conservation effort. News of the newly completed Klickitat Canyon Conservation Area traveled far and wide. You can read the Land Trust’s announcement here.
Wyatt Stayner of The Columbian covered the story of the conservation achievement, and the paper also published an editorial highlighting the Klickitat Canyon Conservation Area as a case study in the kind of conservation work that will be supported by the passage of the Great American Outdoors Act. The bill, which allocates permanent, dedicated funding to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, funds overdue maintenance at national parks and other federal public lands, and funds parks and green spaces in communities of color, was signed into law on August 4, 2020.
In addition, environmental reporter Courtney Flatt covered the story for Northwest Public Broadcasting, and the piece was reproduced as an audio story that aired across Washington and Oregon via public radio partners Oregon Public Broadcasting, KNKX, and Spokane Public Radio. It was also published on the Seattle-based site Crosscut.
Columbia Insight, an independent platform for environmental journalism in the Columbia River Gorge, penned an insightful piece detailing Land Trust Forest Conservation Director Cherie Kearney’s perseverance in seeing the Klickitat Canyon Conservation Area through from vision to reality over the course of 12 years.
Moreover, KOIN 6 local news covered the story and conducted a Zoom interview with Kearney.
The story also appeared in:
The Goldendale Sentinel
Columbia Gorge News (Hood River News, White Salmon Enterprise, The Dalles Chronicle)
Big Country News Connection
Lesprom Network