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At this early morning gathering, you will have the opportunity to view Sandhill Cranes and other birds as they fly overhead to forage in the farmland bordering Frenchman’s Bar Regional Park. Staff from Columbia Land Trust will tell the story of this Cranes’ Landing property and share insights into the lives of the sandhill cranes. 

Register below for one of our three free, public tour dates available in November 2026: 

• Register for Friday, November 20th at 7:30am *Registration closed, event at capacity.(Please note that a reporter/photojournalist from KGW will be covering this event on Friday 11/20 for a brief TV segment about cranes and conservation. Attendees may be photographed and/or interviewed, if willing.)
• Register for Saturday, November 21st at 7:30am *Registration closed, event at capacity
• Register for Tuesday, November 24th at 7:30am *This is a new date added after the first two events reached capacity.

What to Expect: This tour involves standing in an outdoor area with access to a covered, ADA accessible picnic area at Frenchman’s Bar Regional Park. There is a portable restroom on site as well as an indoor restroom. We will be stationary for most of our time as we share our presentation but will have the opportunity to walk around the park after our remarks. Please dress for cold, wintry weather and bring binoculars if you have them. The Land Trust will provide a few spotting scopes to share, as well as hot beverages. Note that we cannot predict the activity of the cranes or guarantee their visibility, which varies based on the weather and their own foraging behavior. We will all cross our fingers for great flyovers, but we encourage you to come with an open mind for what the morning may bring! 

Capacity is limited for these two events, but if you can’t make these dates or we reach capacity, you are welcome to visit Crane’s Landing on your own at any time! Crane viewing is usually best from November through April, and the cranes often fly overhead dawn and dusk as they travel to and from their overnight roost. The Cranes’ Landing property itself is closed to public access to protect the cranes who are sensitive to disturbances, but there are many adjacent viewing areas. This page has details about how you can visit independently. You can explore our Access Map to see other Columbia Land Trust sites you can visit.

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The funds we raised together will enable the Land Trust to continue existing work and expand our impact in conserving the special places that make the Columbia River region home. As our new Executive Director, Jason Miner, said on stage, nothing is more durable and lasting than the work we are doing to protect and steward land.

We are immensely grateful to the generous volunteers, donors, attendees, artists, and sponsors (listed below) who made this night possible. Thank you!

Sustaining Sponsor: Compass EcoSpatial

Partner Sponsors: DeaMor; First Pacific Financial; The Lyle Hotel and Vista Capital Partners,

Patron Sponsors: The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde; Davis Wright Tremaine LLP; Ecological Restoration and Stormwater Management; Electrify Now; Gifford’s Flowers; Green Diamond; Inter-Fluve; Morel Ink; NW Natural; P.R. Worth Inc; and Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt

Associate Sponsors: Apex Companies LLC; Appraisal and Consulting Group LLC; Becker Capital Management; Columbia Bank; HP Inc; Lower Columbia Engineering; Manulife Investment Management; Maul, Foster & Alongi; Neil Kelly; Sierra Pacific Foundation; The Conservation Fund; Thede, Culpepper, Moore, Munro & Silliman; Trillium Asset Management; Wolf Water Resources; Xenium HR

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“Jason’s understanding of this region, commitment to conservation and his impressive range of experiences make him the right leader for this moment in Columbia Land Trust’s history,” said Columbia Land Trust Board President Tim Spofford. “We are excited to welcome him as Executive Director.” 

Jason has long admired Columbia Land Trust’s work, particularly the Land Trust’s ability to bring people together around the common goal of keeping our region thriving for generations to come. 

“There is no other place like the Lower Columbia River region. The biodiversity that arises here – that supports our communities, economies, and webs of life – always speaks to me and my family of home.” said Jason.  

“Columbia Land Trust has an unparalleled track record of protecting nature where it matters most,” he continued. “When faced with large challenges, the most practical thing you can do is come together and get to work. There is nothing more durable and impactful than building relationships and bringing people together to protect and steward these lands.” 

Jason served as the Natural Resources Policy Director in the Oregon Governor’s Office, where he directed land use, water, wildlife, forestry, and environmental policy across 14 state agencies, and as a Special Advisor on forest practices and land restoration. Prior, he served as the Executive Director of 1000 Friends of Oregon and Landscape Director at The Nature Conservancy. 

Over the coming months, Jason looks forward to immersing himself in the Land Trust’s work and connecting with donors, partners, and supporters. On the weekends, you can find him noting the birds attracted to his Gold-Certified Backyard Habitat, spending time with family, and enjoying long wilderness runs. 

The post Introducing Jason Miner appeared first on Columbia Land Trust.

Learn more about the Backyard Habitat Certification Program and how you can create your own habitat.

Drive down a steep hill in a residential west Portland neighborhood, and one yard stands out among the rest. 

Instead of an expanse of lawn, this yard is filled with native flowers, shrubs, grasses, and trees. During a short visit this spring, a pair of mourning doves made an appearance, a hawk swept by overhead, and a hummingbird stopped to feed on red columbine in bloom. 

Much of the vision behind this patch of habitat comes from 15-year-old Summer Torres. What inspired a teenager to look at her family’s suburban yard and envision the native ecosystem it could be? 

For Summer, it began after noticing a Backyard Habitat Certification Program sign. She had an existing interest in nature, and learning about the program’s mission to create and expand urban and suburban habitats, and native ecosystems led to a growing curiosity about the plants around her. 

“I saw a sign, learned about the program, and realized that I could have habitat in my backyard. And more birds and bugs would visit me,” she said. Eventually, the universe provided an opportunity for Summer to put her dreams into action. A tree began leaning precariously towards their house, and after having it safely removed, as well as some nearby bushes, the family found themselves with a blank slate. 

Summer’s father, Brian Torres, had a vision for a yard that was natural and low-maintenance, which aligned with Summer’s native habitat dreams. They met with Becky Gross from Nuthatch Garden Design and began working on a plan to fill their newly cleared yard with native plants.  

Once they had a general landscape design plan in place, Summer began thinking about which plant species she wanted to incorporate. She found inspiration in many places, like orange honeysuckle growing at her school and oceanspray she spotted on a hike. Red flowing currant is one of her favorite native plants. “The blooms are so bright red,” she said. “I couldn’t believe it was something that grows in the wilderness.” 

As the transformation progressed, the family officially enrolled in the Backyard Habitat Program. When the technician came for their initial assessment, it was clear that Summer had done her homework, and they earned Silver certification on the spot.  

Native plants now happily growing in their yard include Western red columbine, Oregon stonecrop, camas, pearly everlasting, salal, sword fern, oceanspray, evergreen huckleberry, Douglas spirea, and others. 

“This program and the process connects you to this environment in a way that it’s hard to do otherwise,” said Summer. 

The Torres family’s yard sits near a creek and a powerline corridor used by wildlife, and the family has seen a variety of species utilizing their greenspace.  

For Summer, the overall goal is much larger and more important than reaching a certification level. 

“We as humans have become disconnected in a way from the land,” she said. “Having this [native garden] feels like a way to give back. I can be a part of the environment rather than just living in it.” 

The program and connection have also shaped the way Brian sees the yard, and his daughter. “Summer led this process,” he said. “She taught me about native plants and the importance of providing backyard habitats for wildlife. I’m very happy and proud.” 

The Torres family’s native plant garden is just one of more than 14,000 participating yards across the Portland-Vancouver metro area that are helping connect small urban wildlife habitats with larger conserved lands. 

The Backyard Habitat Certification Program supports urban and suburban residents who want to restore native wildlife habitat, manage stormwater, and garden sustainably in their yards and community spaces. Through the program, participants can access technical assistance, resources, incentives, and recognition as they work toward those goals. 

“As a young person, I hear a lot about climate change as a big, unstoppable force that’s going to ruin our future,” said Summer. “But there are ways we can make a difference individually. Sharing the Backyard Habitat program and the benefits of native plants and wildlife habitat with others is really nice because it feels like I’m a connecting force in a web of people that are all trying to help the world.” 

Summer has become increasingly involved with the native plant community, visiting local plant sales, talking with other gardeners, and chatting with people who stop to look at their Backyard Habitat sign and encouraging them to enroll. And this is just the beginning! 

Summer hopes to become a landscape architect, carrying what she’s learned in this little corner of Portland into whatever outdoor spaces she helps shape next.

The Backyard Habitat Certification Program is co-managed by Columbia Land Trust and Bird Alliance of Oregon. To enroll and learn more, please visit https://backyardhabitats.org/.

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Two new side channels will improve fish habitat in the Hood River, thanks to a recent restoration project led by the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon and the Hood River Watershed Group. Columbia Land Trust has cared for this section of the river within our Powerdale property since 2013, following the removal of the Powerdale Dam in 2010. For years, we’ve been preparing with our partners to restore fish habitat at this site, which is located just below the former dam location and three miles up the Hood River from its confluence with the Columbia River. 

The Hood River is home to an incredible diversity of fish species due to its location, fed by the glaciers of Mt. Hood and flowing into the Columbia River at the transition point between the east and west sides of the Cascade Range. Spring and fall Chinook salmon, Coho salmon, summer and winter steelhead, resident rainbow trout, sea-run and resident cutthroat trout, bull trout, Pacific lamprey, and many other resident fish species rely on this river. All the threatened fish species in the Hood River use or pass through the project reach at least once in their lifespan, making this a critical area for habitat restoration. 

Completed over about eight weeks of construction in July and August, the project created a new perennial side channel that adds about 1/3 of a mile of fish habitat, as well as a new 2,400-foot seasonal channel that will activate during high flows. Together, the excavation of these new channels required moving about 11,000 cubic yards of materials. 

The new perennial side channel is about 25 feet wide at its base for most of its length. Salvaged boulders and wood structures were placed strategically to create pooling areas, reconnect the river with its historic floodplain, and provide important habitat features for salmon and steelhead at multiple life stages. Just upriver, the secondary channel will only fill during high-water events. This feature will slow down floodwaters by spreading the river across more of the historic floodplain. This benefits smaller fish like juvenile salmon and steelhead that would be flushed downstream by strong flows. 

This seasonal channel connects to the top of the new perennial channel, and together they flow 1/3 of a mile downstream before flowing into previously scoured channels and rejoining the mainstem. 

Two inlets were excavated to connect the river to the new perennial side channel. Two large wood structures anchored with boulders were constructed adjacent to the main riverbank, one on the downstream side of each inlet. These structures help direct a portion of the river’s flow into the side channel entrances and were designed to look and function like the natural log jams found on the upstream ends of nearby islands in the Hood River. The root wads that stick out from these structures provide cover for fish and help create deep pools where fish can hide from predators. “There is intention behind both the placement and the material of these structures,” said Javan Bailey, Project Manager for the Hood River Watershed Group.  

The project was engineered by local river restoration firm, Inter-Fluve, Inc. and Aquatic Contracting implemented the design. The challenge was balancing the need to slow down and spread out the river’s flow across the floodplain while ensuring that the Hood River’s glacially-fed, silt and sand-laden waters won’t slow down too much, which would cause the river’s sediment load to drop out and fill the channel that was just created.  

“Opportunities to pursue floodplain restoration like we’ve accomplished in this project are limited in the Hood River watershed,” said Matt Steinwurtzel, Fisheries Habitat Biologist and Hood River Restoration Project Manager with the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon. “The River Mile 3 project exemplifies the great work that partners in the basin can accomplish when working together on behalf of fisheries. Because this project is located within the lower mainstem Hood River, these actions will benefit virtually all aquatic species that depend on the health of the watershed. The Hood River lies within the ceded lands of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs. Through these efforts, not only are we addressing the key limiting factors to the recovery of winter steelhead, summer steelhead, and Spring Chinook salmon populations, but we are also ensuring that spring Chinook harvest opportunities remain available for Tribal members now and into the future.”  

The lower section of the Hood River, including the River Mile 3 project site, has been impacted by hydropower development since at least 1923 when the Powerdale Dam and the accompanying pipeline were built. In addition to the dam itself, the development of roads, levees to protect the pipeline from flooding, and nearby railroads and bridges all confined the river to a single main channel, cutting it off from most of its former floodplain and side channels. This simplified the available aquatic habitat and removed fish-friendly features like gravel beds for spawning, slow-moving side channels where fish can escape strong flows, and deep, protected pools that provide cover from predators. The goal of the restoration work here is to restore those habitat features to this section. 

“This project elevates Columbia Land Trust’s 13 years of site restoration and stewardship at River Mile 3 to the next level,” said Land Trust Conservation Easement Manager Kate Conley. “A decade ago, we completed an initial phase of floodplain reconnection here and now, thanks to our partners at the Hood River Watershed Group and the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs, we – and the fish! –  will see the benefits of year-round flow through this historic floodplain. I can’t wait to see what these channels look like when water levels rise this winter.” 

The end of construction is really only the beginning, as Columbia Land Trust will continue to steward this site, and there are years of re-vegetation, weed control, and monitoring ahead. “That is the challenge and the joy of this work,” said Conley. “Our job is never done, but sticking around for the long term means we get to witness improvements that nature makes over time after restoration gives the river more room to move.” 

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Columbia Land Trust participates in Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife’s “Hunt By Reservation” program, which provides hunters with managed access to our conserved lands, such as Kerry Island in the lower Columbia River. As a way to give back to the Land Trust for participating in this program, ODFW is organizing a volunteer stewardship event at Kerry Island on Saturday, August 29^th. 

ODFW will work with volunteers and the Land Trust’s Coast Stewardship team to improve site access and habitat through removal of encroaching vegetation. Gloves, tools, water, snacks, and lunch will be provided. This is a great chance to meet other local hunters while caring for a site with great importance for wildlife including juvenile salmon, Columbia white tailed deer, and more

Date: Saturday, August 29^th, 2026 
Time: 8am – 12pm; late arrival is okay. 
Where: Kerry Island is located in Clatsop County, across the road from 10911 Carver Rd, Clatskanie, OR.
Lunch will be provided!

Visit this ODFW form to register by August 27th, and select Kerry Island for the event location (in the RESTORE category). Please contact events@columbialandtrust.org with any questions.

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For the entirety of Columbia Land Trust’s more than 35-year history, the organization has worked closely with local governments to conserve nature close to home and improve access to nearby outdoor spaces. In the City of Camas, if you’ve ever walked the bustling Lacamas Heritage Trail or paddled at Fallen Leaf Lake you’ve enjoyed a park that Columbia Land Trust helped create! 

As part of this longstanding tradition of partnership, in June the Land Trust transferred a 13.5-acre parcel along the Lacamas Heritage Trail to the City of Camas, as the final step in the property’s conservation journey. The land buffers the beloved trail for nearly a half mile and provides the public with direct access to Lacamas Lake. The Land Trust acquired the parcel in 1999 under a formal agreement with the City of Camas stating that the Land Trust would hold the property on behalf of the city, and support with monitoring, until the city was ready to take ownership. For the next 27 years, Land Trust stewardship staff managed the property in cooperation with the city and Clark County to preserve its public access and natural values. The parcel has already been functioning as part of the popular Lacamas Heritage Trail corridor and now will continue to be maintained for open space, conservation, and recreation. 

The Lacamas Heritage Trail is a wide gravel trail, about 3.5 miles long in one direction (seven miles round trip). It runs from Goodwin Drive near Camas Meadows Golf Club to Lacamas Lake along the south and west side of the lake, offering scenic nature views and multiple points of water access. South of the trail sits Fallen Leaf Lake which Columbia Land Trust helped conserve and transferred to the City of Camas in 2025. The trail is also adjacent to 250-acre Camp Currie, which was one of Columbia Land Trust’s earliest conservation projects. 

The Lacamas Heritage Trail property was originally donated to the Land Trust for conservation by the late Tom Shipler, as part of his vision for a public trail along Lacamas Creek and the south shore of Lacamas Lake. Why did the Land Trust hold it for so long, you might be wondering? Existing conserved lands can often be used to leverage funding for new parks and open space. In this case, the City of Camas strategically deferred taking on ownership to maximize opportunities to obtain grant funding for other conservation projects. 

Founded in Clark County in 1990, Columbia Land Trust serves a diverse region that stretches from east of the Cascade Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, in both Oregon and Washington. To date the Land Trust has conserved about 1,800 acres in Clark County, including portions of beloved Clark County regional parks like Whipple Creek, Daybreak, and Lewisville. Fostering access to nature is a core part of our conservation mission, and projects like these in rapidly developing areas like Clark County work in tandem with our landscape-scale conservation work taking place in more remote areas of the Columbia River region. 

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Wading through shin-deep water, a small team of scientists, volunteers, and Columbia Land Trust staff spread out across the wetlands of Columbia Stock Ranch in search of a rare plant.

Located in Columbia County, Oregon, the 900-acre site is home to a diverse mosaic of wetlands, forests, and open prairie habitats. Beneath the tall grasses, sedges, and shallow wetland waters, this group was searching for Water Howellia (Howellia aquatilis), a species so rare it was once thought to be extirpated from Oregon. Hidden among dense vegetation, the delicate aquatic plant is easy to overlook, making its discovery feel something like a treasure hunt.

One year after Water Howellia was first discovered on the property, Columbia Land Trust staff joined biologist Jason Clinch of Three Creeks Consulting and volunteers Rick Shory and Larissa Huson in a series of return visits to continue a botanical inventory funded by the Coalition of Oregon Land Trusts (COLT).

Over three spring days, the team revisited known Water Howellia locations, surveyed areas that had not yet been inventoried, and set out to better understand the rare plant’s distribution and habitat preferences.

These surveys documented Water Howellia growing in several locations beyond where it was initially discovered in 2025. Observations suggest that the population likely includes thousands of individual plants.

“This is exciting because it tells us the population is more widespread than we initially realized,” said Jason.

The discovery of Water Howellia in the first place remains remarkable because the site doesn’t fit the image you might imagine when picturing rare plant habitat. “It’s a surprising location, not what I would consider traditional habitat for the species,” Jason explained.

Before a majority of the site was conserved by Columbia Land Trust in 2012, it was diked and managed as cattle pasture and hay fields. Much of the site lies within the Columbia River floodplain, and today the property includes a rich mosaic of wetlands, forests, prairie habitats, and seasonal grazing areas that support a growing diversity of wildlife and native plants.

Also surprising was the abundance of Water Howellia blooming among dense stands of reed canarygrass, an aggressive non-native species that Land Trust stewardship staff are actively working to control.

Along with the location and abundance of Water Howellia, the survey team recorded associated plant species, water conditions, flowering activity, and seed capsule development to better understand the ecological conditions that support the species here. Numerous flowering plants and developing seed capsules were observed, evidence that the population is reproducing successfully and continuing its life cycle across the site. Data collected will help guide future stewardship decisions at the site and contribute to a broader understanding of one of Oregon’s rarest plants. “The more we know about our properties, the better we can care for them,” said Columbia Land Trust Coast Region Stewardship Manager Austin Tomlinson.

You might have rare plants, but you’re not going to know unless someone goes out and looks for them.”
-Jason Clinch, Three Creeks Consulting

These plant inventories also help fill an important knowledge gap for Columbia County, Oregon, where much of the landscape is privately owned and relatively little botanical survey work has been conducted. Survey data collected through the project is shared with organizations including the Oregon Biodiversity Information Center (ORBIC), Oregon Flora, and other researchers working to better understand plant communities across the state.

As part of this year’s effort, the team collected Water Howellia specimens for preservation at the Oregon State University and Portland State University Herbarium. These samples will help researchers study the species and provide future botanists with valuable records from one of Oregon’s few known current populations.

“They only have a handful of collections, and most of them are 100 years old or more,” said Jason.

This ongoing botanical inventory work was made possible through funding from the Coalition of Oregon Land Trusts with support from longtime conservation advocate Jane Hartline. In a fitting twist, Water Howellia was first documented by botanists on Sauvie Island in 1878—the same island where Jane’s native plant nursery operates today.

For Columbia Land Trust, the discovery of Water Howellia at Columbia Stock Ranch serves as both a conservation success story and reminder that nature still has surprises to offer. Last year’s discovery showed us that this rare species had found a foothold in an unexpected place. This year’s surveys suggest that Water Howellia may be more resilient than anyone realized.

The post Rediscovery of Water Howellia: Part II appeared first on Columbia Land Trust.

“Behrens Woods may only be 2.34 acres, but this small forest plays an important role in the community,” said Hailey Heath, the City of Vancouver Volunteer Coordinator. “This site is a beautiful example of a Douglas-fir and western hemlock forest, an ecosystem that once covered much of the land west of the Cascades. Healthy urban forests like this are increasingly rare, which makes places like Behrens Woods especially valuable.” 

Since 2022, dedicated neighborhood stewards have coordinated volunteer work parties twice a month. Together they have contributed nearly 2,500 hours working towards Backyard Habitat certification. Certification is achieved by conserving or planting native species, removing noxious species, implementing wildlife stewardship and stormwater management measures, and reducing or eliminating pesticides. So far Behrens Woods volunteers have planted more than 330 native plants, and removed over 325 cubic yards of non-native species that crowd out important natives. Beneath an overstory of Douglas fir, big leaf maple, Oregon ash, and Western red cedar, the park is home to smaller native tree species including vine maple and cascara, tall shrubs such as osoberry and tall Oregon grape, small shrubs such as Cascade Oregon grape and snowberry, and groundcovers like fringecup, inside-out flower, and trillium. 

One of the volunteer stewards leading the restoration effort is Karen Garmine, who works alongside her husband, Fred, to help transform the forest. “Behrens Woods is a great model for what can be done,” said Karen. “Every single tree used to be covered in ivy. The transformation is remarkable, and the park really healed itself. Once the non-native plants were out of the way, the native species came back on their own for the most part.” 

The Backyard Habitat Certification Program is co-managed by Columbia Land Trust and Bird Alliance of Oregon, and in addition to residential yards, the program certifies public community spaces, including parks, natural areas, schoolyards, places of worship, and apartment complexes. Certification criteria are slightly different for these public ‘demonstration sites’, which foster access to nature and inspire visitors by providing accessible examples of naturescaping. At Behrens Woods, there are interpretive plant identification signs and compacted gravel paths that meet U.S. Forest Service Trail Accessibility standards. 

In December 2024, Behrens Woods achieved Backyard Habitat’s Silver certification. Then in June 2026, with a final push from Columbia Land Trust staff ,the park reached Gold certification. And it doesn’t stop there, community stewards and city staff are excited to keep working towards Platinum certification for the entire park! 

The City of Vancouver’s Naturespaces program has been instrumental in supporting the restoration here. “Behrens Woods became part of the city’s Naturespaces program because of its value to nearby residents,” said Hailey, explaining how the park improves air quality and cools temperatures near Highway 14, and provides access to nature close to multifamily housing. Across Vancouver, the goal of Naturespaces is to build environmental stewardship and community engagement, while fostering healthier ecosystems, healthier neighborhoods, and stronger connections between people and nature. 

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