Nature Conservancy purchases 2,600 acres at Tieton River Canyon

Acquisition means one-third of project is protected for future generations

Ellensburg, WA—June 15, 2004 – In its biggest step yet since announcing its campaign to save the Tieton River Canyon, the Nature Conservancy of Washington has purchased more than 2,600 acres of this dramatic landscape west of Yakima, the conservation organization announced Tuesday.

Coupled with the 695 acres the Conservancy purchased last year, the latest acquisition means that some 3,300 acres—nearly one-third of the 10,400-acre project area—are protected. In making the purchase from Plum Creek Timber Co., the Conservancy also signed a new option to buy the remainder of Plum Creek’s holdings within the canyon, another 7,100 acres.

The Conservancy and several partners began their campaign to purchase these critical lands within the Tieton River Canyon only a little more than a year ago. That one-third of the project area is now in conservation-ownership is significant progress, said Betsy Bloomfield, the Conservancy’s South Central Washington program manager.

"The Tieton Canyon is ecologically important. It’s beautiful. And it’s a place where we can deepen our connection to nature," Bloomfield said. "I think that’s why support for this project has been so strong."

A broad coalition of Tieton supporters, including the Yakima County Commissioners and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, has helped the project secure $2.5 million from the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program and $1 million from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund. Significant private contributions have also provided considerable support, making the protection effort a true private/public venture.

The Conservancy plans to transfer most of this newly acquired land to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife for addition to the Oak Creek Wildlife Area and the remainder to the U.S. Forest Service for addition to the Wenatchee National Forest. The funds the Conservancy receives from these two agencies will be used to purchase additional property within the canyon. The Conservancy will make no net profit in these transactions.

Plum Creek and the Forest Service own alternating square miles within the Tieton basin, a checkerboard-ownership pattern that has been a bane to both private and public land managers. Completion of the project will put an end to the checkerboard and will mean that more than 20,000 acres of now fragmented lands will be knit into a contiguous landscape of protected habitat.

Once completed, the public/private campaign will conserve nearly eight miles of the river and all of the adjacent uplands, a place of remarkable ecological diversity because it extends from the forested flanks of the East Cascades to the sage-dotted hills of the Columbia Basin. Mature Ponderosa pine forests give way to oak woodlands, which give way to cobble floodplains and dense streamside stands of willow and cottonwood.

Several animals, some of which are listed as threatened or endangered, are found here, including golden eagles, bighorn sheep, spotted owls, pine martins, and river otters. The canyon also harbors the state’s largest herd of Rocky Mountain elk and provides their major migration route from their wintering grounds near the river to their summer highlands.

The Conservancy will host an event celebrating the Tieton landscape and the people who are helping to conserve it. The event will be held:

Saturday, June 19^th at Clemans View Park in Naches
Public gathering, cook-out, slide show, and more
from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The day is an opportunity for the Conservancy and its partners to recognize the contributions they have already made to this great project and look forward to another year of making a difference for the long-term health of the Tieton River.

For more information on the Tieton celebration, please visit nature.org/washington or call the Conservancy’s main office at 206-343-4344.