Daily Journal of Commerce

By Journal Staff

December 30th, 2008

The Cascade Land Conservancy has been engaged in a number of year-end transactions that cover a range of conservation efforts. The properties include salmon habitat, farmland and forested lands.

Gene Duvernoy, CLC president, said conservation transactions are the core of the group's work.

CLC is a regional land trust, land stewardship provider and policy center operating in Washington state. Often, it will acquire a property and turn the land over to public ownership. To date, it has protected nearly 150,000 acres of space.

Duvernoy said conserving significant land is an economic insulator as well. “As we advance our mission in these complex and challenging economic times, clearly regions that have a strong sense of themselves and clear path for their future will best weather this storm and be in the position to flourish when it passes.”

CLC said the smallest transaction was one of the most important. The final piece of the Maury Island Conservation Initiative involved conserving an additional .41 acres and 80 feet of shoreline along Neil Point of Vashon Island. The property was an inholding to the 52-acre Neil Point shoreline preserve that the conservancy helped King County acquire in 2007. An inholding is a portion of privately owned land within a larger publicly owned, protected space. CLC is part of the conservation initiative.

In Pierce County, the conservancy recently completed negotiations on three properties totaling nearly 48 acres along South Prairie Creek. The properties will be added to four previously acquired properties, creating a single block of land that is important for salmon and agriculture.

In Kittitas County, the conservancy acquired 142 acres of riparian habitat that support several threatened and endangered species. Close to Easton, the Big Creek property is an important buffer to public lands, has an historic horse trail and is bisected by Big Creek, a tributary to the Yakima River. The property will be transferred to public ownership in the next few months.

In the conservancy's estuary program, about 180 acres in the Palix River Confluence on the Palix River in Grays Harbor County were acquired. When combined with an adjacent 240-acre Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife preserve, this creates a high quality natural area on the lower Palix River. The Wildlife Forever Fund and a grant from the Peach Foundation helped buy the land.

In Snohomish County, the conservancy helped the town of Darrington buy 11 acres of forest land along the Sauk River. This site will become the town's largest park and provide additional public access to the river, while protecting one of the most diverse salmon habitat streams in the region.

The conservancy also transferred 164 acres in the Upper Wallace Falls area to the U.S. Forest Service. This is a critical inholding within the Wild Sky Wilderness. The property is the smaller of two acquisitions from Longview Fiber this year. The conservancy will transfer them to public ownership.