The new 81-acre forest addition (pink box, on left) to the Tarboo Wildlife Preserve (green box, on right), photo by John Gussman. Photo courtesy of the Northwest Watershed Institute.
Jefferson Land Trust and the Northwest Watershed Institute are celebrating the recent permanent protection of 81 acres of forest and wetlands in the Tarboo-Dabob Bay Watershed area!
This large and ecologically rich property was permanently protected with a restrictive easement held by the U.S. Navy, facilitated by the Jefferson Land Trust, after its recent purchase by our longtime partner, Northwest Watershed Institute (NWI). NWI will add it to the 500+ acre Tarboo Wildlife Preserve, near Quilcene, which they own and manage — and which is permanently protected with a Land Trust conservation easement.
“The Tarboo-Dabob Bay Watershed is a pristine and beautiful jewel in the Hood Canal,” says Sarah Spaeth, Jefferson Land Trust’s Director of Conservation and Strategic Partnerships. “We support and applaud all the efforts by NWI, the Department of Natural Resources, and the many other people and organizations who’ve participated in a large-scale effort over the last two decades to ensure that the lands in that watershed and around the bay are preserved.”
A view of the protected forest. Photo courtesy of the Northwest Watershed Institute.
“The recently protected property is part of a wildlife corridor that reaches from the headwaters of Tarboo Creek to Dabob Bay. It contains forests and wetlands that are critical wildlife habitat for many species of local plants and animals,” said Peter Bahls, NWI’s Director and an aquatic ecologist.
Streams on the property’s steep forested slopes run downstream into Tarboo Creek. Tarboo Creek is a significant habitat area for numerous federally listed fish species, including coho and steelhead salmon. It’s also the largest freshwater source feeding into Tarboo-Dabob Bay, where Indigenous peoples have gathered shellfish since time immemorial, and where commercially significant, nationally renowned shellfish production operates today. The bay is also valued by the local community for its recreational opportunities and scenic beauty.
Sarah says, “It’s really important to preserve the forestlands, the water quality, and the wildlife habitat values in this project area. We’re grateful to have played a significant role in the partnerships with NWI, private willing landowners, local tribes, and many others that make projects like this one possible.”
With funding from the U.S. Navy and many others, NWI and Jefferson Land Trust have worked together with willing landowners to protect more than 1,300 acres of land in the Tarboo-Dabob Bay area through dozens of conservation easements on private properties.
NWI purchased the 81-acre property from former landowner Rayonier, and worked with the Land Trust to place a restrictive easement on the land to permanently protect it against development, even if it someday changes hands.
The acquisition was funded through a $995,000 National Coastal Wetlands Conservation program grant award to NWI by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, secured through the Washington Department of Ecology.
Aerial view of Dabob Bay by John Gussman.
The terms of this grant require matching funds, so the Land Trust helped facilitate the protection of the property by working with the Navy’s Readiness and Environmental Preparedness Integration (REPI) program to secure the necessary matching funds for the grant.
“The Tarboo-Dabob Bay Watershed is a project area that NWI has taken a big lead in advocating for and facilitating grant funding and acquisitions,” Sarah explains. “They rely on the Land Trust to help with the permanent protection of some of these properties, particularly when we can bring additional sources of funding to protection. In particular, through our connection with the REPI program, we can work with the Navy to facilitate their purchase of development rights through that program. That can provide the necessary match funds required by many of the grants that organizations like NWI, the Department of Natural Resources, and the Land Trust itself use to protect land.”
NWI raised additional matching funds necessary to complete the acquisition from the Jefferson County Conservation Futures Program, Taylor Shellfish Company, the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe, and local citizens.
Now that the property is permanently protected, it can continue to bring benefits to our plant, animal, and human communities forever — providing key wildlife habitat, supporting water quality, aiding climate resilience, and keeping the Olympic Peninsula wild and beautiful.
