Columbia Land Trust acquiring land

The Columbia Land Trust’s (CLT) success at acquiring land in Wahkiakum County has been a balance of moving in on the tail-end of a disaster, as in the case of the Grays River flooding, or acquiring land that has taxable value but little sales value, as in the case of the 200 acres it recently acquired east of the Elochoman Bridge near the DeBriae Logging equipment yard.

The CLT was established in 1990 and today promotes itself as a nonprofit land trust and land conservancy organization. It owns land and holds land in trust for both large and small private land owners.

The trust currently owns 6000 acres, and manages another 1400 acres of land in 13 different counties throughout SW Washington and NW Oregon.

“We work to conserve farm timber lands and urban spaces,” said Columbia Land Trust Stewardship Manager Ian Sinks. “Our most recent acquisition in Wahkiakum County would probably be what we’re calling the ‘Crazy Johnson’ project.”

The Crazy Johnson project is a 305-acre plot of land above Gorley Lane on Grays River and Crazy Johnson Creek.

The trust’s management plan for the Crazy Johnson Creek project is in its infancy, but Sinks said he expects the project’s team leaders to adopt a wait and see approach to any restoration activities until after winter.

There is another conservation and restoration project wrapping up downstream from the Crazy Johnson site, and the CLT says it wants to wait and see how the CREST project at the end of Gorley Lane turns out.

The CLT acquired the Crazy Johnson Creek property using Bonneville Power salmon mitigation funds, and money from the Salmon Recovery Board after the area suffered flooding in 2005-‘06.

Sinks said the plan for the Crazy Johnson Creek site is to develop both a robust forest management plan and a habit restoration plan for the site. He said the CLT will have about 6000 feet of riverbank to work with and part of their plan is to restore a portion of the streambed and then let “Mother Nature” do the rest.

“Winter is coming and we want to see how the CREST project works out downstream,” Sinks said. “After that we’ll have a better idea on what to do with our area.”

The CLT owns and manages about 1200 acres in the Grays River watershed. The land came from eight different landowners. Sinks said that often the landowners will approach the trust and offer to sell the organization their land, and other times the land is simply donated as a preservation site.

“We also have several properties across from the white-tail deer refuge,” Sinks said.

The Columbia Land Trust acquired 210 acres recently along Nelson Creek and another 200 acres along the Elochoman River.

“It’s (the land) next to the Elochoman Bridge and runs almost over to the DeBriae Logging yard,” said Sinks.

The acreage is a lowland spruce marsh, and the CLT just closed on the property so they haven’t had time to develop a stewardship program for the area.

Sinks said the land trust promotes land restoration and stewardship through volunteerism, land sales, donations, legal easements and leasing contracts. The trust also tries to work exclusively with landowners who want to conserve forever the scenic and natural values of their land and water.

Landowners who donate the development rights or full ownership of their land to the CLT must adhere to the any policy agreed to between them and the CLT. The trust controls the property rights to these lands, and in the case of leased land, the lease is either renegotiated, or not, when the lease expires.

Sinks said the Columbia Land Trust tries to identify priority conservation lands and to purchase them using financial contributions from private donors, corporate sponsors and grant proposals.

The organization also targets valuable lands based on their significant scenic, recreation or habitat qualities. Most of the lands are then held in perpetuity.

When the land trust considers a section of land for protection, it chooses from several legal options on how to hold its interest in the property--conservation easements, land-gifts and trade properties are the usual methods of acceptance.

Sinks said that after a parcel is acquired a stewardship fund and conservation easement is established. The fund is used for that property to cover future expenses, including restoration, monitoring, enforcing easement restrictions, and underwriting legal defense protections.

The CLT also supervises public uses of their private properties and monitors the property to ensure adequate protection. In the case of rivers, streams or creek beds the CLT can restrict usage.