Bowman Creek

The 348-acre Bowman Creek Natural Area in Klickitat County, Washington, is an enchanting oak-pine woodland conserved by Columbia Land Trust in 2010 and home to one of the largest documented concentrations of Washington State–endangered western gray squirrel nests. Located in the Klickitat River watershed, our stewardship efforts in this region facilitate the development of mature, open and patchy oak-pine woodland forests that support diverse native plant communities and high-quality wildlife habitat. 

For many years, a cadre of volunteers have joined Land Trust staff at Bowman Creek in the winter to locate, count, and classify the nests of these squirrels, which they build more than 25 feet off the ground in trees, including ponderosa pines. Protecting and improving habitat for these rare squirrels, and other woodland and forest species including Lewis’ woodpeckers, is one of several stewardship priorities at Bowman Creek. As part of this work to restore resilient forest conditions, the site has benefited from extensive restoration and land-management treatments over the years.

Recently, we have focused on strategic thinning to reduce conifer tree density. Removing trees from overcrowded forests simultaneously reduces the risk of high severity wildfire, improves spatial variability (i.e. patchiness) and increases the amount of sunlight reaching Oregon white oaks and understory plant species. These thinning treatments are followed by prescribed broadcast burns that further reduce the risk of high severity wildfire and improve understory conditions for native plants, pollinators, wildlife, and more.

In a historically fire-adapted landscape like Bowman Creek, the positive impacts of restoring fire to the land can be seen the following growing season, when places that were covered in thick layer of forest litter now support higher densities of native plants.