Land Trust volunteer Ruth recently enjoyed a sunny afternoon at Snow Creek, a salmon-bearing stream that flows into Discovery Bay.
Here in Jefferson County, we have the best of both worlds. Our corner of the globe still has vast undeveloped forests, open spaces and wildlands, while also being home to vibrant urban and rural communities. Our land conservation goals vary according to these different contexts. Sometimes success is measured in hundreds or thousands of acres, and sometimes, a fraction of an acre can connect and preserve trails, neighborhood green spaces and habitat corridors.
Thanks to all the community supporters who make local land conservation a priority, together we can celebrate small but significant springtime successes on two local long-time conservation priorities.
Nearly nine more acres on Snow Creek are protected forever through a combination of community support and funds from the Salmon Recovery Funding Board!
This land is right next to Snow Creek Uncas Preserve, (which our stewardship staff and volunteers affectionately call “SCUP”) and is a part of an enormous long-term salmon habitat conservation effort in the Discover Bay watershed. (And a fun side note – just a stone’s throw from the two SCUP properties is Snow Creek Estuary Preserve, or “SCEP”. And when the Port Townsend School District’s eighth graders come out for their annual field trip, this is exactly what they sound like tromping through the mud: “scup…scep…scup…scep…” Coincidence?)
Thank you so much! Community donations have served as the funding match we needed to purchase four more lots, totaling almost 1/2 an acre, in the Quimper Wildlife Corridor!
This greenbelt, threaded with Cappy’s Trails, connects a series of wetlands from Chinese Gardens in Port Townsend to Middlepoint, just outside the city limits. This area was platted for heavy development in the 1800’s, but its wetlands and floodplains aren’t conducive to development, and are important to preserve in a natural state for the natural stormwater drainage and filtration they provide. The small privately owned lots in this area can make conservation here a slow process. In fact, our community has been working to save this greenspace, which provides habitat for migrating newts and songbirds, for over 20 years. And it’s paying off: small success by small success, over 225 acres in Port Townsend’s wildlife corridor are protected forever.
