Nature Conservancy to Protect Entire Coastal Watershed in Southwest Washington
Date: 09/27/00
The Nature Conservancy of Washington has launched an ambitious campaign to protect an entire coastal watershed in Southwest Washington, a move that will safeguard some of the rarest and most biologically diverse forestlands remaining in the Northwest.
If the Conservancy is successful, the 5,000-acre Ellsworth Creek drainage will be the only fully protected coastal watershed between the Canadian boarder and central Oregon. Included in the watershed are more than 300 acres of rare, old-growth lowland forest, where some of the trees are more than 800 years old and measure 35 feet or more in circumference.
The purchase will ensure the health and future of Ellsworth Creek, a stream that teems with some of the only wild and native salmon runs remaining in Willapa Bay. The forest also supports a significant population of the federally threatened marbled murrelet as well as one of the most diverse assemblages of amphibians found in the state.
The watershed is located in Pacific County, about 10 miles east of the Long Beach Peninsula, and feeds into the Naselle River, a major tributary of Willapa Bay. The Conservancy, a nonprofit conservation group, purchased 117 acres in the watershed earlier this month and just signed a purchase agreement for another 1,500 acres - the first steps towards protecting the entire watershed. Portions of the pending 1,500-acre purchase include merchantable timber.
The watershed is managed by The Campbell Group, a timber investment management firm headquartered in the Pacific Northwest and founded in 1981 to acquire and manage timberland for individuals, trusts and institutional investors. The Campbell Group currently manages 529,000 acres representing $1.1 billion of timberland in the United States.
The Conservancy's project is dependent upon an ambitious fundraising campaign. All told, land acquisition will cost approximately $20 million, the largest campaign ever undertaken by the Conservancy's Washington state chapter.
One donor has already given the Conservancy a $1 million anonymous gift and has pledged another $1 million.
"The Ellsworth acquisition gives us a chance to protect a kind of forest that once typified this state, and which has almost entirely been turned into commercial timber lands," said Terry Cook, the Conservancy's science director. "It's a remarkable opportunity."
Watershed part of rare coastal rainforest
The watershed is part of the coastal temperate rainforest of North America, a globally rare and threatened forest type that once extended from Northern California to Alaska. These lowland coastal forests are extremely productive, due to the unique coincidence of mild temperatures, substantial rainfall and limited snowfall. Scientists believe such forests produce the greatest accumulations of biomass - or organic materials - in the world, making them particularly rich in both habitat and biologic diversity.
Today, due largely to commercial logging practices, only remnants of the original forests remain. As a result, coastal temperate rain forests have become a high priority for conservation worldwide. The original forests of the Willapa Hills, where Ellsworth Creek is found, are especially rare. Only about one-half of one percent of Willapa's old-growth forests still stand.
"There is no higher priority for forest conservation in Washington state than protection and restoration of a forested watershed in the Willapa Hills," said Dr. Jerry F. Franklin, professor of ecosystem analysis at the University of Washington's College of Forest Resources. "Essentially, all of this extremely productive and diversity-rich landscape has been devoted to intensive forest management, leaving an entire geographic region of the state without any significant forest conservation reserve."
The watershed also contains 350 acres of healthy estuarine wetlands at the mouth of Ellsworth Creek, which provide habitat for salmon, trout, birds and other animals. This, too, is critical habitat in the state, which has lost more than 70 percent of its coastal wetlands to development and other human manipulations.
The Conservancy is already working with local landowners, community leaders and local citizens to ensure that the project is an asset to the community.
The watershed is a favorite site for elk and deer hunting. The Conservancy plans to allow hunting to continue, although occasional closures may be necessary to accommodate other uses. The watershed will also remain open to hikers, fishermen, birdwatchers and others.
The Conservancy also plans to hire locally whenever possible on several restoration projects envisioned for the watershed, including tree thinning, planting, selective road removal and culvert removal.
Watershed protection good for Willapa Bay
Because protection of the watershed can help maintain healthy water in Willapa Bay, oyster growers have already come out in support of the project. Willapa Bay is a leading producer of oysters. One out of six oysters consumed in the country grows in the Willapa tideflats.
"We live and die by clean water," said John Herrold, a third-generation oyster grower who lives near the mouth of the Naselle River. "Oysters are filter feeders; they are what they eat. If the water's degraded in any way, the oyster's quality is degraded.
"Anytime you can protect a stream like Ellsworth for future generations, it's got to be good for water quality. This is one stream feeding into the bay that I now know will remain clean for centuries."
Willapa Bay - considered the cleanest large estuary in the continental United States - is also of enormous ecological importance. During spring and fall migrations, more than 100,000 shorebirds feed at Willapa, making it one of the top 10 coastal habitats for shorebirds between the Copper River Delta in Alaska and Mexico.
Protection of Ellsworth helps to buffer the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge, a 13,600-acre refuge that brings in nearly 11,000 visitors each year.
A laboratory for forest ecology and restoration
The Ellsworth Creek watershed will also provide an excellent outdoor laboratory for long-term scientific research on forest ecology and restoration methods.
The Conservancy is assembling a science advisory board that will help the Conservancy develop a management plan for those portions of the watershed that have been harvested in the past. The goal is to use a variety of restoration techniques, including various thinning techniques and tree-planting, to hasten old-growth characteristics in the second-growth forest.
The Conservancy also hopes to work local high school teachers and students interested in natural processes, restoration and forest ecology.
"At Ellsworth, all the pieces are there," said the Conservancy's Cook. "This landscape is large enough to allow natural processes to work, though they may need some help at first. We're looking forward to working with a wide range of scientists, teachers and students, and to export some of what we learn."
Campbell Group an "excellent partner"
The Conservancy and the Campbell Group have developed a strong and positive working relationship since negotiations over the watershed began. Pat Powell, the Conservancy's director of protection, said the firm has been "excellent partner." Campbell Group manages nearly the entire watershed.
"They're open to working with us, have been responsive to our needs and have worked quickly and efficiently on this transaction," Powell said. "We're looking forward to continuing this positive relationship with them as we work to protect the entire watershed."
The Campbell Group recognizes the resources it manages and has a history of cooperative efforts with organizations such as the Conservancy.
"Our company has worked with the Conservancy on several projects and appreciates its approach and professionalism," said Mark Oergel, local manager of the Ellsworth Creek property. "We recognize that public resources such as recreational facilities, water, wildlife and fish are an important part of the business of managing timber as a resource."
The Nature Conservancy of Washington
The Nature Conservancy of Washington is committed to protecting the state's rich diversity of plants, animals and ecosystems. Using a science-based, cooperative approach, the Conservancy works to protect natural lands throughout the state, often through direct purchase from willing sellers. The Conservancy owns and manages 40 preserves in Washington and has more than 34,000 members, making it the largest membership-based conservation group in the state.
Contact Name: Leslie Brown
Contact Phone: (206) 343-4344, ext. 379
Contact email:leslie_brown@tnc.org
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