“This is a big victory for area conservation,” Kosa said, adding the sandhill crane’s population has dwindled in recent years and the land being conserved is a key pit stop on their migratory path.
The agreement also allows the Port of Vancouver to move forward with developing more than 400 acres of land marked for marine and industrial development.
“It’s the largest contiguous piece of property we can develop along the Columbia River in the port district,” Abbi Russell, with the Port of Vancouver said, calling it “really critical.”
It allows the port to respond to market demands in the manufacturing sectors, Russell said, adding the property could be developed to respond to agriculture or other industrial cargoes.
The Columbia Land Trust’s board of directors still needs to approve the deal, which is expected later this month.
“It’s hard to overstate the importance of the Columbia River lowlands as a stop on the Pacific Flyway,” Glenn Lamb, Columbia Land Trust’s executive director said in a statement. “We’re thrilled at the prospect of permanently protecting more than 500 acres that will support sandhill cranes and other migratory birds.”
Kosa said there won’t be any direct public access to the property, since humans could disrupt the resting patterns of the migratory birds. But officials will consider wildlife viewing points where birdwatchers could observe from nearby property.
The deal dates back to a 2003 agreement when a wealthy venture capitalist sued to block the port’s development efforts. Bird conservationist Paul King eventually agreed to quit pursuing the lawsuit to prevent the port from depending the Columbia River shipping channel if port officials ended their efforts to develop the 541 acres of industrial land.
King, former chairman of Vanalco, an aluminum plant near the port, is also the founder and president of the Columbia River Alliance for Nurturing the Environment, or CRANE, which focuses on protecting the sandhill crane. CRANE will continue to hold an easement on the land to ensure the land trust is a good steward of the property.
