Columbia Land Trust acquires Willapa Bay property

Columbia Land Trust announced today that it has purchased 81 acres along the North Nemah River, whose waters flow directly into Willapa Bay.

Columbia Land Trust purchased the land from Hancock Timberland, Inc, which had historically logged much of the forested areas on the property’s upper elevations. Those forests now will be managed as wildlife habitat. The salt and brackish marshes on the property are valuable habitat for shorebirds and waterfowl, which forage here in large numbers in the winter. The North Nemah River hosts the most important run of chum salmon around Willapa Bay as well as Chinook, coho and steelhead.

The property also contains some 12 acres of mature Sitka spruce swamp, which has declined by an estimated 70 percent in the Lower Columbia River Estuary region. Spruce swamps containing very old trees can provide habitat for marbled murrelets, bald eagles and many cavity-nesting birds.