The Columbia Land Trust this week announced the purchase of more than 500 acres of land near the mouth of the Columbia River, which the Vancouver-based nonprofit plans to protect as natural habitat for fish and wildlife.
The land was purchased as three separate properties: 378 acres at Knappton Cove on the north side of the Columbia opposite Astoria, Ore., 117 acres at the mouth of the Wallicut River near Ilwaco, and 65 acres at the mouth of the Deep River near Grays Bay.
The purchases, totaling $1.1 million, were paid for mostly with ratepayer funds from the Bonneville Power Administration, a federal power marketing agency that also operates an extensive wildlife restoration program under federal rules. Additional money came from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the Washington Recreation & Conservation Office, according to the land trust.
The Columbia Land Trust now owns more than 5,300 acres of natural habitat in the Northwest.
