Chimacum Ridge is a community forest that will provide public access and ecological, social, and economic benefits to our region forever.
This aerial view showcases the Chimacum Ridge forest and Center Valley in the background. Photo by John Gussman.
Rising between Center and Beaver Valleys in East Jefferson County, Chimacum Ridge is an 917-acre forested landmark. Nineteen headwater tributaries flow from the ridge into the mainstem and east fork of Chimacum Creek — home to one of the most successful community-based salmon recovery efforts in our region.
Chimacum Creek is fed by 19 tributaries from the forested ridge above. Photo from Beaver Valley by Robert Tognoli.
The ridge stands prominently in the heart of the Chimacum watershed, two miles from the center of Chimacum and surrounded by 2,000 acres of Land Trust-protected farms, forests, and salmon habitat.
The land is forested with mixed stands of mostly 40-year-old Douglas-fir, and naturally regenerated western red cedar, western hemlock, and Sitka spruce. Broadleaf trees like big-leaf maple, red alder, bitter cherry, and willow species are also scattered among the conifers. Additionally, the forest contains food and medicinal species like salal, mushrooms, serviceberry, evergreen huckleberry, Oregon grape, and elderberry. About 27 acres of freshwater forested wetlands are on the property, and it features about 10 miles of logging roads, ideal for recreational use.
Chimacum Ridge forest. Photo by Tim Lawson/LEO.
The Land Trust has worked to protect this forest since 2010. Thanks to the success of the Look to the Land fundraising campaign, and the support of hundreds of community members, foundations, and state and national public funding agencies, the Land Trust was able to purchase the forest in 2023. Chimacum Ridge is now a community forest providing public access and ecological, social, and economic benefits forever.
Chimacum Ridge Community Forest provides renewable resources that are made available to local nonprofit and entrepreneurial endeavors. Everything from custom timber products for carpentry, woodworking, and wooden boat building, to harvest of annual botanical and berry growth, to guided experiences on the land, are available. Traditional food and tree harvests by local tribes are important cultural and economic activities that this forest supports.
A forester answers guest questions on a public tour. Photo by Chris Jones.
In 2010, Jefferson Land Trust learned that Chicacum Ridge was being prepared for sale to a residential developer. For four years, the Land Trust worked in cooperation with Rayonier, the commercial owner, to find ways to conserve the forest. Then in 2015, the Trust for Public Land introduced the opportunity to EFM, a conservation-oriented private equity firm; EFM became the bridge owner in 2015 with the intention of selling the forest to Jefferson Land Trust by 2023. Two easements were placed on the ridge during their ownership. The first was a restrictive easement acquired by the Navy that permanently removed development rights on the entire property. The second was a conservation easement held by the Land Trust that protects forest ecology values.
Since the project’s inception in 2010, the Land Trust has sought community involvement in all phases of the Chimacum Ridge Community Forest project.
A 2015 tour of Chimacum Ridge with Congressman Derek Kilmer and County Commissioner Kate Dean.
In early 2020, with a grant from the National Park Service’s Rivers, Trails, and Conservation Assistance (RTCA) program, Jefferson Land Trust convened a Project Team — made up of 12 community leaders with a strong sense of place and skills relevant to the community forest vision — to lead the planning effort.
This team helped define what our community forest could be through a series of 10 meetings. To ensure that the diverse needs and interests from local communities were represented in defining a strategic vision for the forest, they recruited a broad group of stakeholders — the Stakeholder Advisory Group (SAG) — including elected officials and neighbors as well as members from local tribes, woodworking and boatbuilding businesses, forestry, economic development organizations, tourism-focused businesses, black and indigenous communities of color, disability advocacy organizations, schools, farms, the arts, and recreational groups.
Together, this large working group crafted a Strategic Vision Framework for the Chimacum Ridge Community Forest that guides all planning activities.
In 2021, Jefferson Land Trust was awarded another grant from the National Park Service’s RCTA program to begin the planning for future recreational uses of the community forest. The work continued through 2023 with the input of a 20+ member Community Advisory Team, and resulted in a first draft of the Access, Recreation, and Education Plan for the community forest.
Also in 2023, Jefferson Land Trust’s Board of Directors approved a governance model for the Chimacum Ridge Community Forest and began recruiting members to join the seven-member, volunteer Chimacum Ridge Community Forest Board of Managers. And in early 2024, we recruited members for three Chimacum Ridge Community Forest Advisory Groups.
In 2022, the Land Trust launched the Look to the Land campaign to support the purchase of Chimacum Ridge and other organizational priorities — a crucial step towards realizing our community forest vision. Hundreds of community members, foundations, and public agencies joined together to raise the funds needed to purchase Chimacum Ridge from EFM, and the Land Trust completed the purchase in December 2023.
Since then, the Board of Managers and staff have been preparing the community forest for its public opening in September 2025; laying trails, finalizing policies, and adding infrastructure, all with the ongoing help and generosity of volunteers and donors.
The community forest is a living entity, supported by the participation and expertise of hundreds of community members. There are many ways to get involved, and we need your voice at the table.
Community support or partnership commitments for this project include North Olympic Development Council, North Olympic Salmon Coalition, Port Townsend School of Woodworking, WSU-Extension, CedarRoot Folk School, Black Lives Matter Jefferson County, Finnriver Farm & Cidery, Chimacum School District, Jefferson County Conservation District, Northwestern School of Wooden Boatbuilding, Jamestown and Port Gamble S’Klallam tribes, and others.
Thank you for your interest in the Chimacum Ridge Community Forest. Jefferson Land Trust is looking for feedback on how the forest can best serve our community’s diverse economic, ecological, and social needs. If you have any suggestions for us to consider, please let us know using the form below.
