Nature Conservancy Magazine: Spring 2005

The Nature Conservancy's Jacques White surveys Woodard Bay, site of a precedent-setting conservation lease. The site is intended to help launch leasing nationwide.
© Natalie Fobes

Defining Success
On a typically overcast day in Washington, Udelhoven and Jacques White, who oversees marine conservation programs for the Conservancy in the state, pull out maps of Woodard Bay and lay them across the trunk of White’s car, tracing the route they’ll walk along the shoreline.

When they get to the water, White points toward the bay and the pilings shooting above the surface. “The lease will be in that area,” he indicates. With the tide rolling in, the water laps against a shore that’s a mixture of mud and sand. “And the first thing we’ll need to do is survey and take core samples to make sure there’s nothing toxic under that parquet floor of logs lying on the bay’s bottom.”

According to White, at the same time that survey work is being done, experiments to determine the presence of native oysters in the bay will move into high gear. In one test, so-called shell necklaces will be suspended in the water in an effort to attract any naturally occurring native oyster larvae migrating to the site. In the best-case scenario, when the logs are removed, larvae will be looking for a new place to call home. More likely, native oysters from surrounding areas will have to be planted. Either way, new oysters should do much to improve the ecosystem. An adult oyster can filter as much as 60 gallons of water a day, eliminating harmful nutrients.

When the rain starts, the two men head back to the parking lot and then drive to a pub called the Fish Bowl, where they continue to talk shop. They agree that the Woodard Bay lease is a huge achievement for marine conservation. “But success will come only when more leases are signed on and the idea has taken hold,” says Udelhoven. “The conservation leasing program is the most important thing I’ll do in Washington.”

Alex Crevar is a freelance writer now living in Croatia and working on a book about that country’s islands. His work has appeared in National Geographic Traveler, Texas Monthly and The Miami Herald.

Photographer Natalie Fobes is the co-founder and past president of Blue Earth Alliance, an arts education nonprofit dedicated to helping photographers pursue projects that educate the public about endangered environments and threatened cultures. Her work has appeared in National Geographic, Smithsonian, Sunset, Newsweek and Audubon.

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