None The Nature Conservancy in Washington Press Releases Search All Press Releases Leslie Brown (206) 343-4345 ext. 379 leslie_brown@tnc.org Betsy Bloomfield (509)248-6672 bbloomfield@tnc.org

Nature Conservancy purchases 2,000 acres at Tieton River Canyon

Yakima—January 26, 2005—The Nature Conservancy just purchased an additional 2,000 acres of the Tieton River Canyon from Plum Creek Timber Co., bringing the campaign to protect this ecologically rich landscape halfway to completion, the organization announced Thursday.

Protected in the latest transaction are low-elevation lands that straddle the river, beautiful uplands that overlook the canyon, and forested parcels supporting old-growth ponderosa pine. Coupled with parcels the Conservancy has already purchased in the Tieton corridor, the latest acquisition means that more than three miles of the river and some 5,270 acres—more than one-half of the 10,400-acre project area—have been conserved.

"This is truly a milestone in what is turning out to be an extraordinary campaign," said Betsy Bloomfield, the Conservancy’s South Central Washington program manager. "I’m grateful for the considerable support this project continues to receive. The Tieton Canyon is a spectacular place, and its protection is a gift to all of us."

The Conservancy and several partners began their campaign to protect the Tieton River Canyon, 20 miles west of Yakima, two years ago. A broad coalition of supporters, including the Yakima County Commissioners, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and local conservation groups, has helped the project secure more than $3 million from state and federal sources. Several private individuals have also supported the campaign.

The Conservancy plans to transfer most of this newly acquired land to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife for addition to the state-owned Oak Creek Wildlife Area and use the funds it receives in that transaction to purchase additional property within the canyon. The Conservancy will make no net profit in these transfers.

Once completed, the public/private campaign will conserve a place of remarkable diversity—an ecological richness due in part to the expanse of this landscape, 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 rare and imperiled, are found here, including golden eagles, bighorn sheep, spotted owls, pine martens, 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.

Plum Creek and the U.S. 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. The Oak Creek Wildlife Area is adjacent to the project area. 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.