Clark County

Clark County

East Fork Lewis River. Photo by Rollin Bannow.
  • Number of Projects:12
  • Acreage: 2260
  • Fact: In the 1920s, Clark County was considered the prune capital of the world, which was then the nation’s most popular breakfast fruit. Today Sutter County, California claims the title.
  • Experience: Southwest Washington's population center, Clark County is nonetheless rich in wild splendor. The county includes two wildlife refuges, as well as great Columbia River tributaries such as the East Fork Lewis and Salmon Rivers.
  • What We’re Doing: Columbia Land Trust got its start in Clark County; today we're focusing our conservation work along the East Fork Lewis and Washougal Rivers—some of the best remaining habitat in the area.
Contact Us About This Project

The Big Picture

Columbia Land Trust got its start in Vancouver, and almost 30 years later we’re still working to conserve the natural places here. Over the years, we’ve developed deep and lasting partnerships with people, communities, and elected leaders. Those relationships helped us play a leading role in conserving places like Camp Curry—a 100-year-old children’s camp on Lacamas Lake that was going to be sold for development. Clark County also boasts places where you can get your toes into the Columbia River: The wide sand beaches of Vancouver’s Frenchman’s Bar Park as well as Washougal’s William Clark Park are two waterfront parks where you can get to the water’s edge.

Why It Matters

For 20-plus years, Clark County was the fastest-growing county in Washington, but natural wonder remains abundant. Places such as Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge and the Lacamas Lake north of Camas are strongholds for wildlife and natural beauty. Salmon Creek, which flows west through Vancouver; and East Fork Lewis River, which flows through Clark County, are two of the most important waterways for Columbia River salmon. With the population slated for continued growth, our challenge is providing for more people while also addressing the needs of native fish, wildlife, and plants.

Harvesting at Cranes' Landing
Featured Story

Cranes, Cows, and Crops

Columbia Land Trust works with a local dairy to harvest crops in the Vancouver Lake Lowlands while preparing for the arrival of sandhill cranes

As the crisp fall season makes its way through the Northwest, Columbia Land Trust prepares for the arrival of an abundance of sandhill cranes to its experimental farmed crops in the Vancouver Lake Lowlands, a site also known as Cranes’ Landing. The Land Trust has been farming the property every year since the Port of Vancouver donated the 527-acre property in…

Read More
Updates from the Field
View All
Volunteer Opportunity: Spring Weeding at the Optimist Club
Help us remove invasive Scots broom at the Optimist Club Youth Camp in Battleground, WA

Join Columbia Land Trust for a morning of volunteer land stewardship at the Optimist Club Youth Camp near Battleground, WA. We will be removing invasive Scots broom and other weeds and monitoring plantings of Western redcedar at this beautiful site near the East Fork Lewis River. A conservation easement on this 46-acre property was finalized…

Read More
[Virtual Event] Urban Wild: Columbia River Chum Salmon
Our Chum Salmon live event has ended, but you can view the full recording below!

Chum salmon once thrived in the Columbia River, with around 1.4 million chum returning each year from the Pacific Ocean to particular spawning locations to lay their eggs and complete their life cycle. Today, the river’s chum salmon population is one of only two U.S. runs listed as threatened. We heard from Columbia Land Trust Executive Director…

Read More
Answers in the Trees
Understanding the role of Northwest forests in tackling climate change

More and more, we’re reading about how trees can be a solution to climate change. (We wrote about it in the previous issue of Fieldbook, in fact.) The topic has generated a number of questions about what trees can do, what they can’t do, and how we can best go about working with forests as a climate solution strategy. To answer these questions, let’s start with the…

Read More