The Nature Conservancy. Protecting nature. Preserving life.™

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Moses Coulee, Washington. © Nancy Carlson

Open to the Public

Yes

Things To Do

Look for wildflowers, visit Dutch Henry Falls, listen for bats, and more. View All

Plan Your Visit

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Get Directions

The Nature Conservancy’s largest preserves in Washington are on the spectacular Columbia Plateau. Here we are protecting and restoring the fabled sagebrush country of wide-open skies, dramatic geology and amazing desert species.

With its Ice Age floodcarved, steep-walled coulees, its pothole lakes, dunes, haystack boulders, waterfalls and scablands—this area is home to a rich and fragile mosaic of rare living things. Between the shrubs and grasses grow a profusion of wildflowers, including sulfur lupine and the vibrant bitterroot, long a favorite food harvested by native peoples. Totaling more than 30,000 acres, The Nature Conservancy’s Moses Coulee/Beezley Hills Preserve is an especially rich and diverse example of Washington’s shrub-steppe.

Conservation Actions:

Nearly a third of Washington’s entire land mass was historically comprised of the shrub-steppe. Today, more than two-thirds of our shrub-steppe has been lost to agriculture or urban development. The Conservancy is taking the following actions to ensure the long-term conservation of this habitat and its resident species:

• Partnering with public and private landowners to advance the long-term conservation of 400,000 acres of functional shrub-steppe by identifying lands that connect existing shrub-steppe.
• Collaborating with management and regulatory agencies, farmers and ranchers to ensure that appropriate habitat, knowledge and management capacity are available to support viable populations of sage grouse, Columbia sharp-tailed grouse and pygmy rabbits.
• Providing habitat for 14 of the 15 bat species reported in Washington, the Moses Coulee Preserve is known as the single most important location for this key group of animals in the state. We're working with partners, researchers and volunteers to create an inventory and monitoring program to gain the knowledge needed to ensure that appropriate conditions exist and support the long-term conservation of Washington’s bat species. Learn more.
• Partnering with ranchers and scientists at Washington State University to test new ways of beating back cheatgrass, an invasive weed that threatens more than 100 million acres of the West’s sage and grassland and the creatures that depend on this habitat. Learn more.
• Tracking populations of migrating birds at McCartney Creek Preserve, a former pasture being restored back to its natural habitat. 

Visiting Moses Coulee and the Beezley Hills

Moses Coulee and the Beezley Hills offer visitors great opportunities to explore year-round.

Things To Do

View wildflowers on the Monument Hill Trail in Beezley Hills in April and May. Quick eyes might spot a short-horned lizard along the trail. Download directions.

Listen and look for bats at Dutch Henry Falls during summer evenings.  Pacifiic treefrogs, Great Basin spadefoots, coyotes, great horned owls, poorwills, and canyon wrens are just a few of the other animals to listen for. Daytime visits may have western rattlesnake, gopher snake, and common garter snake sightings. Download directions.

Go birding at McCartney Creek Meadow. A photo monitoring trail open for drive-through access April through August. Lucky visitors might spot a badger or mule deer here as well. Because of locked gates, this can only be accessed by foot in months outside of spring and summer. Download directions.

Winter visits to any preserve, when the ground is covered in snow, provides a nice display of animal tracks we often miss in the drier months.

Visitors, help us keep this beautiful region safe. Please never take or move anything (plant or animal) from the preserve.

Plan Your Visit

Directions

• Download a detailed Moses Coulee/Beezley Hills visitors guide (.pdf, 123 kb). Visit the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust to see other natural history and land use events going on in the area.

Please be gentle! Shrub-steppe may look tough, but its fragile soil crust is easily damaged, so be sure to stay on trails when you visit the area.

Discussion

Have you been to this preserve? Are you thinking of visiting? See what others are saying about their experiences and add your comments below.

Add Your Comments

Time for you to join the discussion. Tell us about your experience at this preserve. What plants and animals did you see? When did you go? You can help others plan their visit when you share your thoughts. And thank you for visiting one of our nature preserves!

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