Kirk Hoy visits a favorite spot on the bank of the middle Skagit River at Iron Mountain Ranch. Hoy’s father, Richard Hoy, bought the ranch in 1985. The family sold it to Seattle City Light this year. Skagit Land Trust, the utility and the Hoy family worked together to protect the property and the two-mile stretch of river that borders it from future development. Frank Varga / Skagit Valley Herald

Deal with Seattle City Light will preserve Iron Mountain Ranch

Good timing and lots of talking brought together a public utility, a private property owner and a land conservation organization to permanently protect 236 acres of pristine riverfront on the middle Skagit River from development.

The parcel on the south side of the river just east of Hamilton was purchased from the Hoy family by Seattle City Light, and it’s protected by a conservation easement administered by Skagit Land Trust.

The two-mile stretch of river that runs along the property is prime spawning habitat for fall chinook salmon, said Denise Krownbell, an environmental analyst for Seattle City Light.

Richard “Dick” Hoy had dreamed of living on a ranch before he purchased the 280-acre “Iron Mountain Ranch” in 1985, his son Kirk Hoy said.

“He loved this property,” Hoy said.

Skagit River chinook love it, too. The speed and depth of the river as it runs past the ranch and the size of cobble in the riverbed make it the perfect environment for the large fish to build their nests, or redds, said Ed Connor, an aquatic biologist for Seattle City Light.

The population that spawns in the area in the fall is one of six genetically unique populations of chinook in the Skagit watershed, and it is the population that has seen the greatest decline recently, Connor said.

A survey by Skagit Land Trust of privately-held land along the Skagit River between Sedro-Woolley and Concrete ranked the preservation of Hoy’s ranch as a high priority for salmon habitat preservation.

The nonprofit land trust, established in 1992, works with willing land owners to preserve land for habitat and agriculture.

Land trust representatives approached Richard Hoy several years ago about protecting his land permanently. Hoy liked the idea, said Martha Bray, conservation director for Skagit Land Trust.

When Hoy died unexpectedly in 2003, his heirs wanted to protect the property their father loved, and Kirk Hoy and his daughter hoped to be able to live in Richard Hoy’s house.

The pasture in the foreground along the Skagit River is part of the 236-acre Iron Mountain Ranch property recently purchased by Seattle City Light. With the help of Skagit Land Trust, the publicly-owned utility established a conservation easement on the property, a legal arrangement that permanently blocks development along the south bank of a two-mile stretch of the river. Courtesy Skagit Land Trust

But the land was worth around $700,000 because of its development potential, and Hoy’s heirs felt they couldn’t afford not to sell the property.

The ranch is zoned for agriculture, with a 40-acre minimum lot size. That means it could potentially have been divided into five or six “ranchettes,” Bray said.

“We couldn’t keep the whole property, but we didn’t want to see it developed,” Kirk Hoy said.

Meanwhile, Seattle City Light was on the hunt for high quality riverfront land along the Skagit as part of Seattle’s Salmon Recovery Early Action Program.

The program was created by a resolution of Seattle City Council after the 1999 decision to list Puget Sound chinook as threatened under the federal Endangered Species Act.

Three upper Skagit River dams produced 19 percent of the utility’s power supply for Seattle-area customers in 2004, according to an annual report.

The utility’s federal license to operate the dams includes requirements that it mitigate the impact of hydropower production on threatened fish populations.

The “early action” program is something different, though. It is a voluntary effort to encourage recovery of threatened fish populations.

Seattle City Light took an interest in the Hoy property because protecting the land from development and enhancing the riparian-zone vegetation along the bank could improve salmon habitat. Erosion from increased development could threaten the excellent spawning grounds in that part of the river by smothering the redds in soil, Krownbell said.

With the help of Skagit Land Trust, Hoy’s heirs and the publicly-owned utility were all able to get what they wanted.

Seattle City Light purchased the ranch at market value from the Hoys and established a conservation easement, a permanent legal agreement that allows owners to protect their land for public benefit while maintaining some of their property rights.

The land trust has about 30 such agreements in Skagit County. Restrictions can be tailored to each property, Bray said.

In the case of Iron Mountain Ranch, the easement prohibits subdivision and future building but allows continued agricultural use.

Seattle City Light is working out an agreement with a farmer who has grazed cattle and grown hay on the land to continue doing so, Krownbell said. Grazing helps cut down on maintenance costs by making mowing unnecessary, she said.

The utility also obtained a variance from the zoning regulations allowing it to sell a 16-acre section of the property and the family home back to Kirk Hoy, who lives there with his daughter.

Now, Skagit City Light has recruited Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group to restore parts of the riparian zone that were damaged by clearing for agriculture and grazing.

While large trees and other vegetation along some parts of the bank have helped keep soil from washing into the river, other sections are bare all the way up to the bank. The edge of the property in these sections drops steeply into the river, which has undercut the bank.

Volunteer work parties planted about 500 native trees and shrubs along those areas, said Perry Welch, a project manager for Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group.

The 150- to 200-foot riparian zone along the bank will not only help stabilize the soil, but trees that do fall into the river will also provide shelter for juvenile chinook and habitat for the aquatic insects they eat, Welch said.

A new fence will keep cattle out of the riparian zone.

For the Hoy family, the “early action” program and conservation easement have provided peace of mind that Richard Hoy’s ranch is protected forever.

“Everything worked out for everybody...” Kirk Hoy said. “We got an opportunity to get everything Dad wanted to happen.”

Jennifer Carter can be reached at 360-416-2147 or at jcarter@skagitvalleyherald.com.