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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2016
Photos by Damian Mulinix/For EO Media group
Private groups and public agencies have acquired tens of thousands of acres of forests and other natural habitats in Pacific County.
3DFL¿F&RXQW\ Public agencies have major conservation holdings
River estuary. It was recently in the news, work-
ing to acquire wetlands located just north of the
In the 1980s and early 1990s, these resi- town of Chinook. Columbia Land Trust also
dents — concentrated in the county’s north owns 1,626 acres in the Grays River watershed,
half — went by the name Concrete Use. (The which is mostly in Western Wahkiakum County.
In third place is Seattle-based Forterra, also
group’s name was a long acronym: Citizens
Opposed to New Code Restrictions Exceeding known as Cascade Land Trust, which owns 953
Tolerable Extremes Using Selective Enforce- acres with a taxable market value of $137,800;
ment.) Though no longer in existence, Concrete and 396 acres exempt from taxes, market value
Use’s spirit lives on, for example turning back of $427,500. Forterra has been buying land
efforts to create a National Heritage Area in por- around the mouth of the Naselle River, Cedar
tions of south 3aci¿c and north Clatsop coun- River and North Rivers on north side of Wil-
ties in 2010. The heritage area would not have lapa Bay and then giving it to the Washington
increased federal ownership of land here, how- Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Without taking a position on conservation
ever opponents feared it would bring increased
purchases, County Assessor Walker noted they
interference with the use of private property.
do impact tax collections.
“The shift per year isn’t that great but the loss
Tide of humanity coming
For conservation groups and their support- comes in because most of these acres are in timber,
ers, setting aside land in 3aci¿c County and which will probably never be harvested and there-
fore the harvest tax (used to help
neighboring areas of southwest
pay bonds and school M&Os) is
Washington offers the pros-
pect of preserving a slice of the ‘... I know it’s always lost,” Walker said.
3aci¿c Northwest’s wild side
before population growth and only a matter
Context
development consume it.
Sixteen square miles of
of time. In
Between 2010 and 2040,
private conservation land
Washington’s population is 20 years, I’ll sounds like a lot, but is it? In
expected to grow by about
all, Paci¿c County has a land
2.25 million people, reaching
be gone and area of 933 square miles, so
8,970,500 in 2040, according
conservation group ownership
it will be up amounts to slightly more than
to an estimate published this
month by the state Of¿ce of
percent of the total.
to the next 1.7 Public
Financial Management. This is
agencies also have
the equivalent of adding more generation to major conservation holdings
than three additional Seat-
in Paci¿c County. The fed-
tles-worth of residents, primar-
care enough eral government — primarily
ily west of the Cascades.
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser-
to leave our vice — owns more than 25.6
Last fall, an anonymous
square miles here, according to
benefactor told Columbia Land
Trust’s Fieldbook magazine his natural places the Washington Public Lands
Inventory (http://publiclands-
reasons for making a donation
intact.’
inventory.wa.gov). The Wash-
of 80 acres of forest in 3aci¿c
ington State Parks Department
County’s West Fork Grays
an anonymous
owns about 7.4 square miles
River watershed.
benefactor’s
and the Department of Fish and
“I’m amazed that so few
message to
Wildlife owns 8.4 square miles.
people have discovered 3aci¿c
In addition, the Department
and Wahkiakum counties,
Columbia Land
of
Natural Resources owns
despite their being only two
Trust’s Fieldbook
136 square miles of uplands
hours from both Portland and
magazine
(mostly forest) and 219 square
Seattle,” said the landowner.
miles of aquatic lands, primar-
“But I know it’s only a matter
of time. In 20 years, I’ll be gone and it will be ily in Willapa Bay. Some DNR forestlands in
up to the next generation to care enough to leave the county are exclusively managed for conser-
vation, including the roughly four-square mile
our natural places intact.”
South Nemah Natural Resources Conservation
Area, a nesting site for endangered marbled
Private efforts
There are three major private entities murrelets. In all, Natural Resources designates
involved in acquiring and managing land in about 11.7 square miles of its land in Paci¿c
Paci¿c County for wildlife habitat, open space County for conservation; some fraction of this
or other purposes. Together, they own 10,342 is likely to be aquatic in character. The bulk of
acres, or 1.1 square miles of Paci¿c County Natural Resources’ land is managed for timber
land with a market value of about $8 million, income.
Finally, cities and Paci¿c County agencies
according to an analysis Paci¿c County Asses-
sor Bruce Walker conducted at the Chinook own 8 square miles of the county’s land sur-
Observer’s request. Most of the property is face. An undetermined portion of this consists of
parks, open spaces, wetlands and other classi¿-
forestland.
The largest conservation landowner in the cations of land that serve conservation functions.
The county’s 16.16 miles of private conser-
county is The Nature Conservancy, whose larg-
est block of land centers on the Ellsworth Creek vation preserves compare with the city of Seat-
watershed off Parpala Road near Naselle, adja- tle’s 9.7 miles of parks, Portland’s 18.3 miles
cent to Willapa National Wildlife Refuge’s and San Francisco’s 6.4 miles. New York City’s
Headquarters Unit. Countywide, the Seat- Central Park is less than 1/12th as large as the
tle-based conservancy owns 8,107 tax-exempt Paci¿c County acreage owned by the conserva-
tion groups.
acres valued at $4.9 million.
In contrast, the various public agencies own a
In second place is Vancouver, Washing-
ton-based Columbia Land Trust with 984 total of roughly 50 to 55 square miles of land in
tax-exempt acres valued at $2.4 million, plus Paci¿c County designated for conservation, wild-
another 298 acres with a value of $75,000 that life habitat and recreation functions — approxi-
are still subject to tax, according to the asses- mately 1/20th of the county’s land surface.
Public and private conservation land owner-
sor’s of¿ce. (Its website places its Paci¿c
County land holdings at 1,032 acres.) The trust ship pales in comparison to industrial forestry in
has conserved tracts in the Long Beach Penin- Paci¿c County. As of 2013, industry giant Wey-
sula’s central lands region, along with a number erhaeuser owned more than 225 square miles and
of parcels along Baker Bay and the Columbia second-place Rayonier owned 130 square miles.
Continued from Page 1A
ABOVE LEFT: Twisted roots are among many scenic wonders in the Teal Slough Natural
Resources Conservation Area. ABOVE RIGHT: An old-growth tree towers into the sky in the
Teal Slough Natural Resources Conservation Area on the shore of Willapa Bay. The 8.5-acre
site features a nature trail and is a small part of the Washington State Department of Natural
Resources’ large inventory of Pacific County forestlands held in conservation status.
Humans leave signs of our presence, even
in areas treasured as examples of how wild
all the Pacific Northwest once was.
Bird feathers litter the forest floor in one
of many conservation areas set aside in
Pacific County.