Building Climate Resilience at Nehalem Bay
How a Small Community Completed a Decades-Long Vision
On a rainy October afternoon, dozens of people gathered along a narrow dike trail on the north edge of Nehalem Bay in Oregon, next to a rare forested tidal wetland. They came to celebrate something years in the making: the protection of nearly 20 acres of land known as the Sitka Wetlands Addition.
For many locals, it was a joyful surprise. “A lot of people thought we already owned that land,” says Emily Akdedian, executive director of the Lower Nehalem Community Trust (LNCT). “Our existing holdings wrap around it, so it felt like part of the Trust already. But it wasn’t, until now.”
A COMMUNITY VISION, DECADES IN THE MAKING
The celebration carried echoes of the past. LNCT was founded more than two decades ago by seven community members who came together to protect a local property. That initial achievement grew into a lasting commitment to preserve land and nurture conservation values across the Lower Nehalem Watershed.
The first seven board members founded LNCT with a mix of determination, friendship and community spirit. They spent hours together in board meetings, cooking meals and even noting the day’s menu in their minutes, an indicator of how deeply they trusted and enjoyed one another. A few members pooled their own money to secure Alder Creek Farm, laying the groundwork for a place-based model that still shapes the LNCT today.
Today, that early vision continues to unfold on the shores of Nehalem Bay. The Sitka Wetlands Addition, located between Alder Creek and Nehalem Point, fills a key conservation gap along the bay’s shoreline. It completes a vision LNCT launched nearly 20 years ago to safeguard the remaining undeveloped stretches of Nehalem Bay’s north shore by connecting protected lands from Alder Creek all the way to Nehalem Bay State Park.
Nehalem Bay offers a variety of critical habitat types for wildlife, and as a result of the Sitka Wetland Addition these ecosystems are now more connected allowing wildlife to migrate and future climate migrations.
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Sign Up“When we first envisioned the 'Protect the Edge' campaign, we had no idea how long the journey would be. We just knew how special this place was and how fast things were changing,” says LNCT founder Doug Firstbrook. "It's great to see this community vision come true.”
The site is far more than scenic. It’s home to a mature stand of Sitka spruce, untouched since the 1930s, and rooted in a rare forested tidal wetland, a habitat type scientists estimate has declined by more than 90% along the Oregon Coast since European settlement.
Quote: Emily Akdedian
You don’t get opportunities to protect intact forested tidal wetlands very often, and there’s only so much estuary front left.
THE STRENGTH OF A LIVING ESTUARY
Estuaries, including forested tidal wetlands found in the Sitka Wetlands Addition, are vital transition zones where freshwater meets saltwater, serving as nutrient-dense nurseries for countless species. They support an extraordinary array of mammals, shellfish, migratory birds and fish including salmon and juvenile marine fish.
Forested tidal wetlands are one of the largest natural carbon storehouses on Earth. Thanks to the moist climate, woody vegetation on the Oregon Coast captures and stores massive amounts of carbon for a long time. Its outstanding carbon storage capacity is also attributed to its soils located on slightly higher ground so there is less disturbance from tides than lower elevation mud flats or marshes.
Safeguarding ecosystems like these is a powerful way to strengthen climate resilience. They filter pollution, buffer nearby communities from storms and rising seas, and provide room for coastal habitats to migrate inland as conditions change. Even small shifts, like a drift log offering a higher seedbed for young spruce, help shape resilience as sea level rises.
The ability of wetlands to shift inland may be critical for the survival of these habitats in the face of climate change. By securing this habitat now, LNCT and The Nature Conservancy are giving this ecosystem room to adapt and thrive even as conditions change.
CONNECTING LOCAL ACTION TO A REGIONAL EFFORT
The Sitka Wetlands Addition reinforces a climate-resilient network of coastal habitats that support both people and wildlife across the region. It’s a part of a landscape TNC refers to as the Emerald Edge, a 100-million-acre span of coastal temperate rainforest stretching along coastal Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and southeast Alaska. It’s the largest of its kind in the world, home to towering forests, salmon-rich rivers, vibrant estuaries, and hundreds of communities whose cultures and livelihoods are deeply connected to these lands and waters.
Through the Emerald Edge program, TNC and its Canadian affiliate, Nature United, partner with local communities, Tribal Nations, and organizations like LNCT to support community-rooted stewardship and protect climate-resilient habitats.
This Sitka Wetlands Addition fits directly into the Emerald Edge vision. By securing land that supports vital salmon habitat, stores carbon and maintains a connected estuary, the Sitka Wetlands Addition contributes to a shared, community-centered effort to keep the Emerald Edge healthy and resilient.
People explore an uprooted tree within the Sitka Wetland Addition.
THE NEXT CHAPTER BEGINS
LNCT had a longstanding relationship with the landowner, and when the chance to purchase the property emerged in 2024, TNC provided technical assistance and flexible funding to help the Trust bring the acquisition across the finish line.
With the land now protected, the focus shifts to long-term care. LNCT has established a stewardship reserve fund to support long-term care and invites community members to help sustain this legacy of conservation across the region.
In a place where rising seas and shifting coastal dynamics are already reshaping the edges of Nehalem Bay, long-term stewardship and adaptive management will keep this rare spruce swamp resilient for the future. Over the next year, LNCT will begin developing a comprehensive stewardship and management plan that responds to those changing conditions and protects the ecological integrity of the site.
As part of that work, LNCT will continue annual ecological monitoring, document habitat changes, remove non-native species such as holly, Himalayan blackberry and Scotch broom, and guide responsible public access. LNCT will also keep leaning on the strength of its community by partnering with local volunteers during weekly work parties to care for the land together.
“I think our volunteers would be helping steward this land even if our organization didn’t exist,” Akdedian says. “It’s a place the community cares about and interacts with in a lot of different ways.”
The Sitka Wetlands Addition represents a moment of transition from LNCT's founding generation to the next wave of community members ready to lead.
Quote: Emily Akdedian
“For those who started this work, it’s deeply meaningful to see a vision come to life. It’s motivation to keep asking what comes next and what the next 20 years could look like for our community.”
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