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Planet’s best land can use your hands

The Columbian
Published: March 31, 2010, 12:00am

Several years ago, friends Dave and Ceci Smith and I slipped out of Vancouver in pre-dawn darkness with my canoe tied atop the station wagon.

Our destination was the Naselle River, a short distance upstream from where it enters Willapa Bay on the Washington coast. At a predetermined point, we would rendezvous with Glenn Lamb, executive director of the Columbia Land Trust, and others, for a tour of an ancient earthquake and tsunami zone. The effects on the river are still visible after 500 years. It was a one-day doctorate-level lesson in geology, a course taught by Lamb. The director holds degrees in resource management and sociology from the University of Rochester, N.Y., and a masters in urban planning from the University of Oregon.

Using long-lines, we dropped our canoes over the steep bank to the river’s edge, launched and glided downstream on the ebbing tide. Three hours later, the incoming tide would ease the strain of paddling back to the take-out point.

This is one means Lamb uses to build appreciation for the beautiful land in which we live. Tours are free. Coming up are the “Mill Creek Ridge Hike & Wildflowers” tour in the Columbia River Gorge on May 7, and Great Blue Heron jaunt June 5 (information and reservations, 360-213-1201).

Lamb has been successful time and again. An organization that started as Columbia Land Trust and Three Rivers Land Conservancy is now reaching its 20th year. Working with more than 150 landowners, Columbia Land Trust can claim conservation of nearly 11,000 acres, and growing.

According to a 2009 Columbian story by Kathie Durbin: “A 20,000-acre swath of commercial forestland south of Mount St. Helens on both sides of Swift Reservoir will be protected from development under an agreement between the land’s owner, Pope Resources, and the Columbia Land Trust.”

Vast service area

Based on Officers Row in Vancouver, the Columbia Land Trust “works to conserve the best remaining natural habitat and scenic vistas on and around the Columbia River.” Its service area extends from the mouth of the Columbia River east into the desert-like Columbia Plateau and includes 26 counties and 153 counties and towns in Oregon and Washington.

The Trust also restores streams, rivers and creeks within this area as fish-rearing habitats, and to benefit elk, deer, bald eagles and other wild creatures.

Lamb, the executive director, said the Trust has the help of 150 to 200 volunteers. The next opportunity to invest some muscle power is April 9 for “Weed control at the Little White Salmon Biodiversity Reserve.” The sign-up telephone number is 360-213-1215. An added incentive is that this reserve includes a rare forest of Oregon white oak and ponderosa pine.

Lamb and his organization believe our Northwest lands “are the best on the planet,” and many are in desperate need of conservation. An ominous threat looming over this effort is the certainty that the population of this area will double in 50 years. “We can only succeed at this effort” of conservation if we join together, work together and “spread the word,” he said.

Writing in the current issue of “Trust Talk,” a house publication, staffer Dan Roix described restoration efforts that will benefit fish and wildlife on Germany Creek in Cowlitz County. It is one of three creeks ( including Abernethy/Abernathy and Mill) that flow into the Columbia River, and a place where salmon spawning has been “degraded by over a hundred years of resource extraction and development.” Active restoration of the creek has taken place since 2005. The objective is to return it to use as a homeplace for thousands of spawning salmon.

The best aspect of the Land Trust is its goal to permanently conserve the lands, including working farms, that it acquires. The Trust also is collaborating with other conservation organizations that have similar interests.

Columbia Land Trust will report on its conservation progress Sept. 10 at “Wild Splendor,” its annual dinner. As it pursues its goal, one need is constant: It can always use help.

Tom Koenninger is editor emeritus of The Columbian. His column of personal opinion appears on Wednesdays. Reach him at koenninger@comcast.net.

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