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Rader cabin near Diobsud Creek, burned in 1980. |
Skagit Update
Winter 2003
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Rader cabin near Diobsud Creek, burned in 1980. |
Skagit Land Trust and The Nature Conservancy have again teamed up to successfully protect a key parcel of land. In December, the two organizations completed the purchase of 23 acres near Diobsud Creek from Harold and Elsie Rader of Woodland Park, Colorado. This is the fourth parcel protected by Trust actions in Diobsud Creek area.
Diobsud Creek (pronounced “Die-awb-sud, or
“Die-op-see” depending on who you ask) flows out of remote federally designated wilderness in the North Cascade Mountains. This quiet rainy part of the valley is northeast of Marblemount – the tiny and easternmost town in Skagit County.
High quality, relatively intact habitat still exists on private land in
the Diobsud Creek area providing an essential lowland link between
the mountains and the Skagit River. While remote, this is an area that is seeing increasing pressure from subdivision and development for recreation and residential uses. Because land parcels are relatively small and expensive and landowner goals vary widely, it is also the kind of area where land protection faces its greatest challenges.
For several years the Trust has been working with private landowners, The Nature Conservancy and the U.S. Forest Service to protect key parcels near Diobsud Creek. It was fortuitous when the Raders called us last summer. The Raders were looking for a way to sell their beloved 23 acres on the west side of the creek, but they were worried about the future of the parcel if they sold it to a private party.
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Diobsud Buttes loom over Diobsud Creek. |
The Raders bought the property in 1961 when they were raising their young family ‘downriver’ in Burlington. Many happy family vacations were spent on the creek, and they took very good care of their land. They never cut any of the big trees that grace it, and when the old cabin burned down, they cleaned up every trace of it, choosing to camp-out rather than re-build. Now the Raders live in Colorado and their children are raising families of their own. When they contacted the Trust, medical bills needed to be paid, and they needed to sell quickly.
The Trust wanted to help, but was not in a financial position to purchase the land without a clear funding source. The Forest Service recognized the importance of the parcel, but needed years to appropriate acquisition funds. The Nature Conservancy wanted to help, but did not have the staff time to complete the transaction quickly enough. This kind of situation often creates dead-end gridlock for land protection. But the successful purchase of this property is testimony to what can be accomplished with hard work and good working relationships between organizations.
Skagit Land Trust (SLT) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) quickly reached an agreement whereby SLT would do the work necessary to purchase the property, and would then ‘assign’ purchasers rights to TNC. Once the appraisal work, sale negotiations and title research were completed by SLT, TNC stepped in to purchase the property for $90,000. The deadline was Dec 31, 2002. The Raders and TNC signed the closing documents on December 15th. TNC will now hold and manage the property until the Forest Service can appropriate necessary funds.
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Andrea Xaver |
Happy New Year everyone! Last year brought Skagit Land Trust many challenges and rewards. And, we ended the year with an open house to celebrate two special events; our move to a much-needed larger office (a whole block away) – and the introduction of our new and most welcome Executive Director, Molly Doran (drop in sometime and say hello, she’d love to meet you).
Well – time flies, doesn’t it? Just a few years ago, I read where Washington State would increase in population from about 5.4 million in 1995 to 8,365,171 bythe year 2020. It seems that the new millennium was just yesterday, but here we are in 2003 already! If the future continues to approach at the rate I feel it is, 17 years is coming way too fast. What will these 17 years bring us? I can only imagine, and it leaves me with a sense of urgency.
We will see a dramatic increase in population in this county. Mount Vernon alone has tripled in size in the last 30 years. We are squeezed between Vancouver and Seattle, and this special area of natural gifts and wonderful diversity beckons those weary of concrete and chaos. The pressures to change the landscape here will only increase. Skagit Land Trust knows that lands protected now will safeguard the future. To that end, the Trust has had a very successful year, indeed a successful history. We are prepared to do our best and will continue to be a leader in seeking positive solutions to protect land and other natural resources within the community.
If you would like to know more about what we do, look us up on our website www.skagitlandtrust.org, or call our office. Thank you for your continuing support – as ever and always, I am most grateful.
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In November 2002, Molly Doran, formerly Associate Operations Director of the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS), began her role as Executive Director for the Trust.
Molly comes to the Trust with over 20 years of non-profit management experience in conservation education, business operations, and leadership training. With NOLS, Molly oversaw operations in Latin America, Africa, Australia, India and several regions of North America including a Pacific Northwest school headquartered in Conway, Washington.
The Trust is excited to have Molly’s extensive experience in developing, training and leading organizations and teams. In her career she has also initiated many programs encouraging a more diverse population to enjoy and protect wildlands. Molly holds a master’s degree in managing and consulting from the Leadership Institute of Seattle (LIOS) and a degree in Environmental Studies.
“The Maasai of East Africa say about themselves, ‘We are not a people who eat the soil until it is finished.’ I am thrilled to be part of a regional organization and community with this same motto around voluntary land preservation. My plans for the Trust are simple -- get the word out to as many people as possible, preserve and steward important landscapes and habitats at the increased pace the Trust has worked towards, and continue to strengthen the Trust. I was fortunate to join a solid non-profit with excellent staff, volunteer and board resources and a dedicated membership. With this stunning and diverse region as incentive, we have and will continue to save a lot of soil from being ‘finished’!”
“We’re very excited by Molly’s appointment,” says Andrea Xaver, President of Skagit Land Trust Board of Directors. “We know she’ll do a great job for the Trust and land conservation in Skagit County.”
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This spring five acres of Anacortes Community Forest Lands (ACFL) will be protected with a conservation easement funded by Friends of the ACFL in honor of Gene Murphy, a founding board member of Skagit Land Trust and former member of the Friends’ board of directors. Gene was instrumental in developing the Conservation Easement Program with the City of Anacortes and has continued to work on its behalf, benefiting the Forest Lands, Skagit Land Trust and the citizens of Anacortes.
The Conservation Easement Program with ACFL has been very successful. In 2002 ninety acres of the Forest Lands were added to the protection program with conservation easements. This spring another 50 acres will be protected. That will bring the total to 520 acres permanently protected from commercial logging, mining or any commercial use in the Anacortes Community Forest Lands. Each easement is held by Skagit Land Trust, which becomes responsible for insuring that the easement’s terms are adhered to.
Under the Conservation Easement Program, the City places an easement on one ACFL acre for every $1,000 donated to its Forest Lands Endowment Fund. Donations of $5,000 entitle the donor to select a specific 5-acre “grove” to be protected. Three new groves are in the current Forest Ridge “focus area” and will be protected in easements this spring. One grove was protected in easements this spring. One grove was donated by Shell’s Puget Sound Refining Company and another by John and Doris Tursi, who in 1997 donated to the Trust an easement protecting 12 acres of their property overlooking Fidalgo Bay. The third five-acre grove was donated by Friends of the Anacortes Community Forest Lands in honor of Gene Murphy.
For more information about the ACFL Conservation Easement Program visit the Friends of the Forest website at:
www.friendsoftheacfl.org or call the Anacortes Parks and Recreation Department at
(360) 299-1953.
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There are many different ways members can contribute to Skagit Land Trust. Members can volunteer their time and energy as land stewards or office help, volunteer on work projects, give in-kind donations of equipment or professional services, and of course, give annual or gift Memberships or simply tell someone about the Trust.
Robert and Emma Schroder decided to do something different for Skagit Land Trust. In honor of their wedding on May 4, 2002 they requested that guests donate to the Trust instead of giving gifts. Robert and Emma’s friends and family graciously contributed approximately $700 in their honor to the Trust.
We wish the Schroders all the happiness in their future together, and thank them for their generosity enabling lands to be protected for the future.
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Catherine Dostart (right) joined Skagit Land Trust Board to help protect some of the many unique features of Skagit Valley and to help important areas in the county remain in their natural state as it grows.
Born and educated in Skagit County, Catherine Dostart has been a realtor with A.R.E. Realty in Sedro-Woolley for the past seven years. Catherine, her husband Tom, and their daughter and son, live in the Conway area. Tom is regional sales manager for the western United States for Siemens Nuclear Medical Systems. Before becoming a realtor with A.R.E. Realty in 1996, Catherine had been Planning Coordinator for Skagit Valley Hospital for over ten years.
Jeanne Glick (left) has a strong personal commitment to preserve land and the natural features of Skagit County, and it was with this commitment that she recently joined the SLT Board. Jeanne is also an active volunteer with The Nature Conservancy and North Cascades Institute.
Jeanne has owned and operated Printwise, Inc. for the past 14 years. Printwise, with its two locations in Mount Vernon and Anacortes, serves customers throughout the Northwest. Before starting Printwise, Jeanne was a nurse and served as Director of Surgical Services at Everett General Hospital.
Jeanne just recently purchased 33 acres of land along South Skagit Highway southeast of Sedro-Woolley, after living in the Arlington area for many years.
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In Summer 2003 Whatcom Land Trust was awarded a Paul G. Allen Forest Protection Foundation grant to develop a “Cascade-to-Chuckanut” Conservation Strategy. The purpose of the project is to document and analyze the important ecological characteristics of this unique greenbelt that stretches from the North Cascades to Chuckanut Bay straddling the Skagit - Whatcom County border, and to develop strategies for science-based land protection. The results of the analysis will also be used to demonstrate the significance of this area to potential funding sources. Whatcom Land Trust is the proponent of this project, but has generously allowed Skagit Land Trust to participate in the development of the scope of work and in the hiring of a conservation biology consultant. Skagit Land Trust will also help protect key lands that are in the Cascades-to-Chuckanut coridor located in Skagit County.
This winter Conservation Biology Institute (CBI) was retained to gather and improve the existing information about the resources in this area and to produce an iterative tool for prioritizing land protection projects. CBI is a non-profit organization that provides technical assistance for land protection throughout the world. The first steps in the project were taken in early January when staff from CBI met with local biologists to discuss what is known about the area and the quality of the existing data. This meeting was highly productive, bringing together local knowledge from many different fields of interest. The following day, staff from Whatcom and Skagit Land Trusts accompanied CBI biologists on a tour of the Chuckanut Mountains and surrounding valleys. We are looking forward to the results of this project and protecting more land in this unique area.
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photo: Herold Christenson |
Nick Names: Big cranky, blue crane, crane, gray crane, long john, poor joe, Treganza’s heron.
Scientific name: Ardea herodias. Pronounced ARE-dee-ah her-ODE-ih-as. What does it mean? “Heron heron.” (Ardea means “heron” in Latin. Herodios means “heron” in Greek).
Size: Great blue herons are between 38 and 54 inches in length. They have a wingspread of up to 6 feet and weigh between 5 and 8 pounds.
Flight Speed: Two separate studies measured a cruising speed between 19 and 29 miles per hour.
Eat: Fish, frogs, salamanders, snakes, small mammals, land insects, birds, and some plants.
Great blue herons nest together in colonies, otherwise known as a heronry. In Puget Sound they congregate in the heronry between February and August to mate, lay eggs and rear chicks. At other times of the year they are scattered throughout the area but do not congregate.
The great blue heron hunts for fish by day as well as by night and employs two methods, “Standing” and “Walking Slowly.” When “Standing” it will stand motionless in a shallow pool of water, waiting patiently until a fish comes close enough to pluck it from the water. When “Walking Slowly” it carefully treads its way through the water, keeping its neck stretched outward and forward. If it catches a small fish it will immediately swallow it. If the fish is too large the heron will take it onto the shore, kill it first by beating it into the ground, then pick it apart by biting off bits and pieces (Bent 1926; Hancock and Kushlan 1984).
A heron colony, of varying sizes, has nested on the March Point site for at least 50 years. It is estimated there has been a four-fold size increase between 1992 and 2001. In December of this year, 494 nests were counted. March Point is a contender for the largest heronry in Puget Sound and thus, Western North America.
The colony is located on approximately 3.5 acres of land on March Point and immediately adjacent to Padilla Bay. The land was donated to Skagit Land Trust in 1994 by Bud and Vera Kinney in order to protect the heronry. The Kinneys had owned the land for 20 years.
The eelgrass habitat in the Fidalgo-Padilla-Samish Bay area is thought to have played a significant role in the growth of this heronry. A positive factor is that the March Point site -- perched on a hill -- is relatively inaccessible to humans. Heron nesting habitat in the greater Puget Sound - Vancouver Island area has been declining in recent years. Other herons may have moved to the March Point site. It is possible that part of the Samish Island heronry, whose numbers have declined may have moved to this site.
Concerns and discussions with officials about how to protect the March Point Heronry go back to the mid 1990’s.
Much of the land surrounding the heronry was annexed into the Anacortes city limits in 1999. The land on which the heronry is located is in Skagit County. All of the area (city and county) is zoned for a mixture of heavy industrial and light manufacturing use.
The typical reasons believed to cause herons to abandon their colonies include excessive and sudden disturbance close to the colony, loss of separating buffers, loss of nearby food sources and human disturbance in the colony, especially in the nesting season.
The herons at March Point have become accustomed to the daytime noise of a nearby sawmill, March Point Road and an adjacent railway. However, the size and importance of this heron colony requires that the Trust continually assess additional development in the area. Immediate concerns, which are limited to the breeding season from February to August, include:
Under current plans, the forested and currently undeveloped land in the vicinity of the colony has been or will be cut by almost 50%.
The Port of Anacortes owns land adjacent to the heronry. The Port land is located within the City of Anacortes. In 2002, T Bailey Inc entered into a lease/purchase agreement with the Port of Anacortes to buy the land and
move its operations to this site. The Port was required to determine if there would be a significant environmental impact due to the proposed development. Significance is defined as “a
reasonable likelihood of more than a moderate adverse impact
on environmental quality.” In the case of March Point, thePort of Anacortes issued a “Mitigated Determination of Nonsignificance (MDNS)” for this industrial development on the property. This means that the proposed development can proceed if a list of mitigated conditions are met. In this case the conditions largely have to do with the timing of construction and operations.
Skagit Land Trust and other groups were concerned that the conditions outlined were either not extensive enough and/or not easy to enforce. The Trust was concernd that there had been inadequate provision of a public hearing process given the importance of this heronry. In addition, not all the facts were available at the time of assesment about the location of roads and buildings, noise levels or hours of operations. The Trust appealed the clearing and grading permit in order to assure its concerns were considered. Unfortunately, the appeal was denied. The appeal was considered untimely, even thought the Trust had not been properly notified of issuance of the grading permit, and was then given the
incorrect permit date in error. The Trust then appealed this decision.
In the meantime, we at the Trust were busy as heron ambassadors. We begain to negotiate with T Bailey and Port officials, looking for solutions in a collaborative way. We believed that if T Bailey and the Port understood the importance of this heronry and the biology of heron nesting, and if we maintained an open mind regarding possible solutions for co-existence, the heronry stood the best chance of surviving. The Trust’s bottom line is that the heronry has adequate protection in an increasingly developed area, and that activities during nesting season not adversely affect the herons. We are pleased that we have good relationships with all parties and that negotiations are proceeding in a positive way. The owners of T Bailey, along with some of their family members and employees, helped Trust stewards in our annual heron nest count in late December. We had a record high count of 494 nests in the heronry.
We believe that together, the Trust and T Bailey, have outlined a monitoring plan and mitigation agreement that both parties can live with. As we go to press, this agreement is near its final stages of discussion and preparation.
As protectors of the heronry, the Trust needs to assure that the March Point colony has the best chance to remain productive and healthy as the area develops.
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| Near the barn at Tope Ryan Natural Area, portions of the property have been tilled in preparation for planting trees and shrubs in the riparian areas of Swede Creek and the Samish River. |
Managing the growing number of conservation easements held by Skagit Land Trust is the job of the Trust’s Stewardship Committee. This group of dedicated board members, volunteers and staff are entrusted with the responsibility of determining whether the conditions of each easement continue to be met.
The Stewardship Committee is also the main contact most landowners have with the Trust, meeting with committee members once a year to tour their properties and to talk about their hopes and plans for it. As those on the committee will tell you, meeting the landowners, the stewards of the land, is always an encouraging experience.
Most monitoring visits to the easements take place in the late summer and early fall. The Trust currently holds 35 easements throughout the county. Because of the number of easements and the distance between them, site visits can take nearly a week to complete. Most of our visits in 2002 were completed in August. The landowners continue to be excellent stewards, demonstrating the ability of the individual to make a difference in our world.
The Trust’s Stewardship Committee also has responsibility for managing the property that Skagit Land Trust owns outright. The Trust owns 19 properties throughout the county. Two properties are currently enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP), which provides federal funds for restoration of wildlife habitat. Many have seen some of the over 4,000 trees planted at Hurn Property near Concrete. This coming spring approximately 8 acres will be planted with trees and shrubs at Tope Ryan Natural Area along the Samish River and Swede Creek. It is hoped that these projects will benefit a wide range of species, including salmon and songbirds.
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In April 2002, Skagit Land Trust received a $998,750 grant from the Salmon Recovery Funding Board (SRFB) to use in acquisition of important fish habitat along the Skagit River between Sedro-Woolley and Concrete. The Trust used a previous grant from SRFB to identify the important fish habitat remaining in this reach of the Skagit. Assistance from our partners in the conservation community enabled us to develop an objective standard for prioritizing the fish habitat in need of protection, and most effectively using this grant.
Since April the Trust has contacted some landowners of the highest priority properties and initiated negotiations with those willing to sell all or portions of their land. We have also identified several properties for acquisition that are of interest to our conservation partners, such as Seattle City Light and the US Forest Service. Few properties in this reach of the Skagit are without some need of restoration for fish and wildlife habitat, whether in the form of culvert replacements or tree and shrub planting along the sloughs. Skagit System Cooperative has generously made a commitment to assist Skagit Land Trust in restoration efforts on several of the properties we are seeking to acquire. The SRFB grant will be available to the Trust for several more years and we hope in that time to secure permanent protection on over 300 acres of fish habitat.
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Skagit Land Trust received two grants in December for operational funds. We received $6,000 from the Burning Foundation of Seattle, along with $3,500 from the Dudley Foundation of Bellingham. Foundations have been forced to give less this year because of the current economic situation. We are extremely grateful to these two foundations for recognizing that our efforts and achievements at land conservation are worthy of funding.
During the past few months, board members Bill Dietrich, Lloyd Brown and Marty Loesch have retired from the Trust’s Board of Directors. Each has contributed significantly to the Trust’s development and growth during the last few years. Their assistance to the Trust is recognized and very much appreciated. Each continues as an active member of the Trust.
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In October 2002 Skagit Land Trust moved to a new office! The new office is still located at 325 Pine Street, Suite B, in downtown Mount Vernon, one block west of the Skagit County court house and within walking distance to many of our partner organizations. Our new office provides a more professional look while also providing much-needed workspace for the staff, board, and volunteers.
The Skagit Land Trust Board and Staff want to thank the 100 (or so) members and partners who came to our Open House in December to welcome Molly Doran to the Trust. It was exciting and reassuring to have so many people come to support the Trust’s efforts and growth. Thank you!
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Tools for use by volunteer land stewards and staff:
Help with mowing fields to control weeds and keep habitat open. Projects range from 2 to 20 acres, twice a year. If you own a tractor or have the skills to operate one and would be willing to take on one or two projects, please call Brenda Cunningham at our office (360) 428-7878.
Demolition of wooden barn with metal roof. The Trust is looking for someone to take down the barn at Tope Ryan Natural Area in exchange for the salvaged materials. If you have experience with such projects and are interested in the materials, please call Brenda Cunningham for more information at (360) 428-7878.
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Ed Gastellum and his wife Carolyn have been Volunteer Land Stewards for the Trust’s Hurn Field Conservation Area since it was purchased in 1999. Because of their deep concern for preserving The Hurn Property’s outstanding elk and salmon habitat for future generations, they contributed to the purchase of the property and then volunteered to be its land stewards.
Ed says, “Land protection, prudent use, and care of the environment are important because our future depends on it.” This is not an abstract philosophy to Ed. He is putting his energy where his heart tells him it needs to be. Not only is he a Volunteer Land Steward with the Trust, he is also the President of the Padilla Bay Foundation, which manages the Padilla Bay National Estuarine and Research Preserve.
In February 2002, the Trust embarked on a wildlife habitat project on the property. Over 4,000 trees and shrubs were planted to provide shade for salmon and habitat for other wildlife. The USDA’s Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program funded this project. Unfortunately, within a week or two of planting, elk had removed 20-30% of the blue plastic protective tubes from around the plants and ate, pulled out, or trampled many of the plants.
Luckily for the Trust, Ed had recently retired from being Assistant Superintendent at North Cascades National Park, just in time to take on his added elk patrol duties at Hurn Field. Ed was watching the property and sounded the alarm about the elk damage to the planting and the need for quick action to reinstall the protective tubes to save most of the shrubs and trees. Over the past year, Ed has visited the property every couple of weeks to reinstall the tubes removed by elk and has organized work parties when the job got too big for him alone. Additionally he has been active in organizing work parties to remove a barbed wire fence, install a culvert in a beaver dam, and remove alder encroaching on the field maintained for elk forage.
So, if you drive by The Hurn Property and see someone stooped over among the elk, it’s bound to be Ed replacing the blue tubes one more time. Thanks, Ed!
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Contributors to this issue: Martha Bray, Brenda Cunningham, Molly Doran, Jerry Haegele, Ralph Heft, Gene Murphy, Molly Smith, and Andrea Xaver
Managing Editor:
Molly Smith
Editor: Jerry Haegele