Through a donation from a generous landowner, North Coast Land Conservancy has added nearly 18 acres to its Blind Slough Habitat Reserve, a roughly 900-acre habitat reserve near Knappa dominated by now-rare Sitka-spruce swamp along the lower Columbia River.
On Dec. 24, the landowner donated a 17.78-acre property along Warren Slough to NCLC as part of a legacy gift. It will be merged into the adjacent Blind Slough Habitat Reserve, which The Nature Conservancy (TNC) transferred into NCLC’s care in 2019. The donor also provided long-term stewardship funding that will be used to help care for the property in perpetuity.
The Blind Slough area on the lower Columbia River currently cared for by NCLC is dominated by Sitka spruce trees—some more than 400 years old—with younger western redcedar and western hemlock also present, offering one of the best remaining examples in Oregon of this habitat type, once common in coastal estuaries from Tillamook to Alaska.
It is bordered by Columbia River sloughs and side channels and is adjacent to the Lewis and Clark National Wildlife Refuge, multiplying its conservation value.
The new Warren Slough property is made up of several separate pieces of land, separated from each other by the waterways of Warren Slough.
Its conservation was a longtime priority for NCLC, as it also contains one of the few remaining intact Sitka-spruce swamps and important off-channel habitat along the lower Columbia River that has been impacted by both development and a changing climate.
Dense thickets of coast willow, Sitka willow, twinberry, and Nootka rose line the channels along with abundant sedges, wildflowers, and bulrushes. The preserve provides habitat for an abundance of birds, fish, and other wildlife, including bald eagles, osprey, river otter, beaver, coho salmon, nesting yellow warblers, olive-sided flycatchers, and rufous hummingbirds.
Conserving this land plays an important role in ensuring habitat connectivity for salmonids and other species that utilize off-channel habitat along the river, adding protection to part of the largest Sitka-spruce swamp community in Oregon. Additionally, NCLC’s ownership will provide continued access for people to enjoy recreating on the waterways spiraling throughout the reserve and will ensure that the natural beauty of the property is protected in perpetuity.
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