10 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
NORTH COAST LAND CONSERVANCY:
30
years of success
THE SEASIDE-BASED LAND TRUST CELEBRATES ITS ACHIEVEMENTS
AND ANNIVERSARY WITH A PUBLIC SUMMER PICNIC AUG. 25
By DAN HAAG
Whether you live on the North
Oregon Coast or just visit from time to
time, it’s easy to take the area’s natural
beauty for granted. Surrounded as we are
by pristine beaches, swaths of forest and
mountain vistas, we often assume it has
always been and will always be this way.
But without attention to conservation
and action by passionate local advocates,
forests and ields could be covered in
housing developments, high rises and
clear cuts.
As the North Coast Land Conservan-
cy prepares to celebrate 30 years of con-
serving natural landscapes on the Oregon
Coast, the nonproit land trust knows its
best works are yet to come.
TIME TO CELEBRATE
PHOTO BY DANNY MILLER
Jon Wickersham, associate director of North Coast
Land Conservancy, poses for a portrait at a trail-
head on NCLC’s Circle Creek Habitat Reserve prop-
erty in Seaside.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
NCLC and volunteers planted 10,000 early blue vi-
olets in the Clatsop Plains in November 2015. The
native lower is essential to the survival of the Or-
egon silverspot butterly.
For three decades, North Coast
Land Conservancy’s focus has been on
stewardship actions with a mission of
conservation at its core. It’s a mission
with multiple facets: land acquisition
projects, facilitating habitat develop-
ment, and participating in community
outreach programs.
The goal of all of this has always
been a fully functioning coastal land-
scape where people, plants and wildlife
thrive.
From its grassroots beginnings,
NCLC has evolved into an organization
that is responsible for coastal property
from Astoria to Lincoln City.
Jon Wicksersham, associate director
of NCLC, says the organization now
manages over 3,000 acres north to south,
from the tip of the coast range into the
ocean.
That includes the newly enhanced
365-acre Circle Creek Habitat Reserve
property in Seaside and the recently
acquired 340-acre Boneyard Ridge on
Tillamook Head, which shares a mile-
long border with Circle Creek.
With those projects coinciding with
the 30-year anniversary of NCLC, the
SUMMER PICNIC
4 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 25
Circle Creek Habitat Reserve,
end of Rippet Road, Seaside
Bring a potluck dish to share, a
blanket or chair
503-738-9126
time seemed right to share the celebra-
tion.
From 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 25,
friends and supporters of NCLC and its
mission are invited to the Circle Creek
Conservation Center to toast the past and
the future.
The anniversary event will feature a
ribbon-cutting for a legacy loop trail and
boardwalk trail through wetlands at Cir-
cle Creek, guided trail walks, and music
by Cannon Beach’s Wes Wahrmund.
People are encouraged to bring a pot-
luck item and chairs to make the event a
picnic for all.
“We have a lot to celebrate,” Wicker-
sham says.
‘RIGHT PATH FORWARD’
NCLC is especially proud of the
Boneyard Ridge property and with good
reason; it is the culmination of nearly
ive years of work by staff and volun-
teers.
“We’re all very excited about this
one,” Wickersham says. “The sweet spot
is usually about three years or so to do
a project, depending on complexity and
the price tag.”
Not only was Boneyard Ridge one of
the most time-consuming projects NCLC
has tackled, it was also the most expen-
sive, coming in at $1.3 million.
“As you can imagine, it took us
awhile to igure out the right path for-
ward,” Wickersham says.
The land was purchased from Green-
wood Resources, and monetary support
was garnered from more than 120 private
donations and a $524,000 grant from the
Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board,
the funding agency for acquisitions and
protection of watersheds in the state.
“There’s no way we could have done
this without private donations or the help
of Greenwood,” Wickersham says.
While the huge time and effort spent
on the acquisition of Boneyard Ridge
is more exception than rule, any project
NCLC invests in has multiple moving
parts.
Wickersham says that matching a
project with NCLC’s priorities is key.
“One thing we really look at is con-
nectivity and proximity to other con-
served land,” he says.
The irst step usually involves NCLC
personnel getting out onto a potential
acquisition and conducting an ecological
assessment. From there, a conservation
committee and the NCLC board of
directors take a close look to ensure the
organization’s mission is being met.
Wickersham says all of the normal
stages of any property purchase are
combed through, including appraisals,
environmental assessments, drafting
easements, and lots of title research.
“The whole process runs the gamut
of anything you can imagine,” he says,
adding that great detail is also given to
potential granting partners.
While many of us might feel bogged
down in frustration of such tedium,
Wickersham says the payoff is worth the
effort.
“We don’t get too frustrated, because
the work is always rewarding,” he says.
Wickersham adds that his favorite
part of the job is working with landown-
ers and people who are passionate about
land conservation and sharing the NCLC
vision.
Plans for Boneyard Ridge are simple:
Let it grow into a mature rain forest,
something that is in rather short supply
on the Oregon Coast.
With its proximity to Ecola State Park