Protecting Land on the West's Outstanding Rivers

With backing from GlobalGiving donors, Western Rivers Conservancy is permanently protecting land along outstanding rivers across the western United States. Your gift supports the core costs of purchasing and conserving land for the benefit of fish, wildlife and people. Your contribution is dedicated to such efforts as preserving salmon and wildlife habitat, and creating new hiking trails, boating access and recreational opportunities.                                  

Thanks to your support, Western Rivers Conservancy is:   

• Completing a Preserve at the Mouth of Washington’s Chehalis River

• Delivering More Riverland Conservation and Outdoor Adventure on Oregon’s Sandy River

Washington’s Chehalis River:   

The Chehalis River drains a massive area of western Washington, forming the largest river basin in the state, after the Columbia. Fed by rivers and streams that flow from the Cascade foot­hills, Willapa Hills and Olympic Mountains, the Chehalis eventually drains into Grays Harbor on the Pacific, where it forms the largest, highest-quality tidal surge plain in Washington. Here, where salt water from the Pacific surges inland with the tide to meet the freshwater of the Chehalis River, a diverse and highly productive wetland ecosystem is formed.

In the surge plain, sheltered sloughs provide crucial habitat for spring and fall Chinook, coho, chum, steelhead, river otter, beaver and the endemic Olympic mudminnow. Dense stands of Sitka spruce and western red cedar, draped with mosses and lichens, are home to bald eagle, osprey and other birdlife. And throughout the year, hikers and paddlers visit the area to explore the tidal channels by foot, canoe and kayak.

In 1989, Washington Department of Natural Resources created the Chehalis River Surge Plain Natural Area Preserve to protect this important ecosystem. Yet, for nearly 30 years, the preserve has been incomplete, with 1,500 acres at the heart of it privately owned and unprotected. Western Rivers Conservancy, in partnership with Weyerhaeuser, has taken the first steps toward completing the preserve and ensuring the lasting integrity of this extraordinary place. This summer, WRC signed an agreement to purchase 1,472 acres of Weyerhaeuser forestlands, which will be permanently protected when conveyed to WDNR to complete the Natural Area Preserve.

WRC’s efforts will benefit the river, its wildlife and the thousands of people who visit each year by completing the original vision for the preserve and eliminating the threats of development and timber harvest. The project will conserve more than six miles of river frontage, including exceptional water-trail systems through three separate sloughs. Canoe and water trails will be joined to upland parcels, and both scientific and educational activities will be enhanced. And once WDNR acquires these lands, the Chehalis River Surge Plain will be protected not in fragments, but in its entirety.

Oregon’s Sandy River:

Western Rivers Conservancy’s most recent victory on Oregon’s Sandy River has delivered more riverland conservation and outdoor ad­venture on the flanks of Mount Hood. Near the town of Brightwood, we preserved 186 acres along North Boulder Creek, including some of the most important habitat in the entire basin for coho salmon and winter steelhead. Both coho and steelhead are threatened species, and habitat preservation is vital to their long-term survival.

The property also features the only public access to the Sandy Ridge Trail System, one of the best mountain biking trail systems ever de­signed on public lands. The project will ensure upwards of 150,000 annual visitors can contin­ue to enjoy this “roller coaster in the woods,” which has become a model for ecosystem-com­patible mountain biking trail design.

WRC purchased the property and con­veyed it to the Bureau of Land Management in September 2017. The land adjoins other protected BLM lands, including WRC’s recent acquisition along Little Joe Creek, another important fish-bearing tributary. Together these two projects protect over 300 acres, more than a mile of critical salmon habitat, and significant portions of the expanding Sandy Ridge Trail System. The bike trails, located away from the river, feature innovative designs that limit erosion and sedimentation, reduce pooling and ruts and minimize impact on the ecosystem.

Protection of the North Boulder Creek property comes at a celebratory moment. This year marks a decade since the Sandy became wild and free once again, after Portland Gener­al Electric (PGE) blew Marmot Dam into a cloud of dust and rubble. In partnership with PGE, WRC committed to conserving 4,500 acres of habitat—a goal we have now exceeded. The re­sult is a conservation corridor tracing 14 miles of the Sandy and its tributaries, protecting salmon, steelhead and wildlife habitat and en­suring public access to one of the Northwest’s favorite wild river playgrounds.

Conclusion

The Chehalis and Sandy River projects are two of our recent successes. WRC currently has over two dozen active projects in six states. With the support of GlobalGiving donors, Western Rivers Conservancy is expanding our efforts to protect riverlands for fish, wildlife and people.

We love to hear from our supporters. Please contact Anne Tattam at 503-241-0151, ext. 219 (or atattam@westernrivers.org) for further information. Thank you.

• Western Rivers Conservancy: Project Photos (PDF)