Skagit Update
Winter 2002
Our 900 acre acquisition includes
three properties in the middle reach of the Skagit River, just east of
Sedro-Woolley (660 acres), and two farmland parcels - one in the Samish
River / Butler Flats area (148 acres) and one in the Nookachamps
River / Francis Road area (88 acres).Trust Purchases Nine-Hundred Acres of Key Habitat
In the largest land transaction it has yet conducted, Skagit Land Trust has purchased approximately 900 acres of Skagit River bottomlands once slated for pulpwood production. The purchase was made from Kimberly-Clark Corporation for $1,111,000, and increases by almost fifty percent the amount of land protected by the Trust. Last spring, Trust board member and realtor Ray Taipale of La Conner heard that the land might come on the market and alerted the Trust to the conservation possibilities.
The land is in five separate parcels (see map below). Combined, the parcels include 5.3 miles of freshwater shoreline, 389 acres of forest and 44.5 acres of wetlands. Also included are 235 acres of prime farmland, which the Trust hopes to keep in agricultural production. In addition to fish habitat, this productive lowland habitat supports an abundance of wildlife including bear, deer, elk, river otter, beaver, as well as bald eagles, large populations of wintering waterfowl and migratory songbirds.
Most of the property is located within the floodplain of the Skagit River east of Sedro-Woolley. This part of the river has been identified by biologists and fishery experts as important for all salmon species, and critical to juvenile coho salmon. Restoring the native vegetation here and keeping it undeveloped allows the natural flooding and shifting of river channels that provides important side channel habitat.
The project was made possible with the assistance of The Nature Conservancy of Washington, which provided a "bridge" loan of $800,000 at 5% interest to allow the Trust to acquire the land and hold it. The remaining $311,000 came directly from Trust’s land acquisition fund that has been built-up over the years through generous contributions of Trust members. This is an example of conservation partnerships at their best—the Trust is building its capacity to do large, complex transactions, and the Conservancy is able to draw upon its broader financial and political strength to help.
The Trust has two years to raise the necessary funds to pay back the Conservancy and replenish the Trust’s Land Acquisition Fund. The Trust intends to sell the parcels located on the Skagit River, approximately 660 acres, to the U.S. Forest Service. Appropriations from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund will be used for acquisition of the land by Mount Baker/Snoqualmie National Forest. The land will then be managed under the federal Wild and Scenic Rivers program.
The Trust is seeking additional funding through other agencies to help repay the loan and defray project costs. It is also possible that some of the farmland parcels will be sold to local farmers willing to accept Conservation Easements to keep the land in agricultural use.
 |
 |
|
This side channel is adjacent to Deadman Island. This riparian area teams with wildlife and is key habitat for juvenile coho salmon. |
This parcel is adjacent to the Skagit River near West Gilligan Creek Road. Most of it is planted with hybrid cottonwood. This area is important for salmon and includes wetlands that support beaver, waterfowl and other wildlife. |
 |
|
|
Shown above is Deadman Island, dominated by native cottonwood. To the left side of the pohoto is Skiyou Island, about half of which is currently farmed. |
- top -
In December George and Sue Mehler donated their second Conservation Easement on 10.8 acres in Anacortes. Watch for more information about this important easement in the next issue of the UPDATE.
- top -
This year's annual meeting of Skagit Land Trust will be held at Maple Hall in LaConner on March 21, 2002 starting at 6PM.
If a Trust member would like to be considered for election to the Trust board of directors, he/she should submit a petition, endorsed by at least 5 other members, to the nominating committee by February 21, 2002. Petitions should be mailed to director John Osborn at the Trust office, PO Box 1017, Mount Vernon, WA 98273
Look for our complete annual meeting announcement and invitation, which will be mailed early in March.
- top -
MacGregor Publishing Company, a Skagit Land Trust corporate supporter for the past three years, started in 1981 as a one-person graphics-design firm. Four years later it moved into the directory business and now publishes directories covering five counties in northwest Washington, distributing 335,000 directories and 275,000 newcomers’ and visitors’ guides a year.
According to Vice President and CEO Bob Taylor, MacGregor Publishing Company
donates annually to Skagit Land Trust because the firm supports the Trust’s
land-conservation mission and considers it a "quality organization."
Under the leadership of owners "Mac" and Linda MacGregor, the firm has led its industry through such innovations as printing its yellow-page sections in color and adding community maps, health care and public service sections and large easy-to-ready type. In 1994 it added the MacGregor Clan tartan to all its publications, becoming known as the "Plaid Book" publisher. Three years later it created "PlaidNet.com" as a Northwest Washington internet portal.
Several years ago, working through county elementary schools, MacGregor began a phone-book recycling program. In cooperation with several local businesses, including Skagit River Steel and Recycling Company, another Skagit Land Trust corporate sponsor, some 61,000 used directories were recycled last year, converted into cellulose insulation worth $16,000 and given to Habitat for Humanity for use in its houses.
The company has been honored by the Association of Directory Publishers by naming it "Publisher of the Year" for 4 of the past 7 years.
Skagit Land Trust is proud to have MacGregor Publishing Company as one of its corporate supporters.
- top -
The Mount Baker/Snoqualmie National Forest recently purchased the
77-acre Ann Wolford Park from Skagit County. Acquisition of this park,
adjacent to the Trust’s Hurn Property, completes years of effort on the part
of many community members to ensure long-term protection of this unique area.
Over 150 acres along this important reach of the Skagit River are now
permanently protected under the contiguous ownership of the U.S. Forest Service,
Washington State and Skagit Land Trust.
Many Trust members will recall our successful campaign in 1999 to purchase the 50-acre Hurn Property. At that time, Skagit County owned the adjacent undeveloped Ann Wolford Park and had decided to log it for revenue. This raised many concerns in the community.
The Forest Service agreed to seek funding to purchase the property from the County—if Skagit Land Trust was successful at acquiring the neighboring Hurn property. Skagit County agreed to postpone logging plans, but kept its Forest Practices Application active, and insisted that logging would commence if the parcel was not purchased.
When the Trust successfully raised $100,000 for the Hurn Property purchase from generous membership and foundation donations, the Forest Service notified the County of its intention to purchase the Ann Wolford Park property. With funds from the Federal Land and Water Conservation Fund appropriated last year, the purchase became a reality in December 2001. Community members can now be assured that this lovely riparian woodland—which shelters sometimes as many as 50 elk—will be managed as part of the Federal Wild and Scenic River Program.
- top -
This
spring, the Hurn Property will see some changes. Skagit Land Trust has enrolled
the property into the Federal Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP).
Over a 15-year period, this program will provide funding for restoration and
maintenance of this area. The program will help the Trust realize its goal of
increasing the riparian buffer along House Slough and House Creek by funding the
planting of native trees and shrubs.
In addition, as part of the overall management of the property, the Trust plans on mowing an abandoned pasture in the southeast corner of the property to increase forage for the elk in that area. This will also offset the pasture lost to the riparian buffer. At the same time, the riparian buffer will be reduced near the roadside, to allow continued observation of the elk from State Route 20.
This restoration project will benefit many species of wildlife, including the elk, salmon, songbirds and waterfowl. Volunteer steward Ed Gastellum has taken on the role of touring the property with planting contractors and overseeing the planting operations on site. The site map to the right shows where the new planting and the restored pasture are located.
- top -
Molly Smith joined the Trust staff in January 2002 as Administrative Assistant. Molly is a recent graduate of Skagit Valley College with a degree in Computer Information Systems. Molly will be responsible for membership services and providing office assistance to the staff and board.
- top -
Dr. Jay Ham, Trust board member since 1992, recently retired from the board. Our special thanks to him for his special help to the Trust and his donation of Conservation Easements of Fidalgo and Cypress Islands.
- top -
Wow!
What a year! Skagit Land Trust just increased its land protection by almost 50%!
A big thanks to the staff and the board for working so hard and effectively to
bring the Kimberly-Clark project to this major point. And, thanks to all of you
for supporting us in this journey. For more details, see our article on the
Kimberly-Clark property.
In the 119 years since Skagit county came into its own (prior to 1883, it was part of Whatcom county), it has made a lot of progress. By 1900, dikes had been built to create rich, delta farmland, logging was producing millions of board feet of lumber annually, the Baker River and Birdsview hatcheries were pumping out 20,000,000 fry each year, Anacortes canneries were processing over 3,000,000 salmon each season, and wildlife was abundant.
Now, things seem to be going in reverse. Productive farms and forests, and quantities of fish are in jeopardy from many directions. Are we still making progress? Naturally, people need places to live and work. But, I can’t figure out why more care and thoughtfulness aren’t used to carve out human habitat.
Skagit Land Trust is prepared to do its part to keep up the pace for additional land protection in Skagit County. This is why your continued help is so important to our organization. If you want to donate, or are interested in a voluntary conservation easement for your property, please give us a call. We’d love to hear from you. As always, thanks to all of you for helping in the effort to keep Skagit County a truly great place.
 |
|
Shown here is the Francis Road parcel, one of the farmland parcels of the recent Kimberly-Clark purchase. It includes wetlands important to wintering waterfowl, and is strategically located between the Trust's Barney Lake Natural Area and the Washington Dept. of Wildlife's DeBay Slough Reserve. |
- top -
Skagit Land Trust is fortunate to have Ray
Taipale as a member of its Board of Directors. Ray’s experience includes Navy
pilot, NATO planner, forester, realtor, appraiser and conservationist during the
past 42 years. A Washington native, Ray grew up in Ballard and Olympia and
graduated from Washington State University in Pullman in 1958 with a BS degree
in forestry.
In the Navy for 21 years, Ray flew the Lockheed Neptune on search and tracking missions all over the Pacific while stationed at Moffett and Whidbey Naval Air Stations. Later he was stationed in Stuttgart, Germany with NATO. Ray retired from the Navy as a Commander in 1979.
Ray then moved to Skagit County and became a realtor and appraiser, starting his own real estate company, Shorebird Properties, in 1981, located in La Conner.
Ray worked for Simpson Timber as an engineer and for Scott Paper Company as a forester doing timber cruising. Since his Navy days, he has taken many special classes at U/W to keep up with forest practices here and around the world. Currently, Ray is chairman of the North Puget Sound Chapter of the Society of American Foresters. Ray has long had a strong personal interest in reducing conflicts between
local communities and forest industries. He believes there are many ways to combine recently evolved forest management practices with good land conservation practices. He joined the Skagit Land Trust board of directors in 1992 to help build connections between the community and land conservation.
After all his travels around the world with the Navy, Ray believes "there is no place like Skagit County. The people here appreciate the overall ‘community’ of natural beauty and resources in the County and are willing to support the Trust’s work." Ray likes that combination.
Ray has contributed significantly to the Trust’s accomplishments, initiating our projects involving protection of South Fidalgo Bay, purchase of the Kimberly-Clark property and the donation of key property near the Skagit River.
- top -
Martha Bray, Brenda Cunningham, Marlene Moore, Gene Murphy, Molly
Smith, and Andrea Xaver
Editor: Jerry Haegele