Columbia Quiet Waters 
Wild Ace Lake
Type of Project: Facilitated
In the late fall of 2012, North Coast Land Conservancy was pleased to complete the acquisition of the first 11 acres of an eventual 78-acre parcel of forested wetland in Warrenton from Robert and Jennifer White.
NCLC worked with the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of State Lands to help facilitate the ownership transfer of the property,
which is known as Pacific Ridge Habitat Reserve.
The Oregon Natural Heritage Program considers habitats like the Sitka spruce-red alder forested wetland found at Pacific Ridge to be critically imperiled because of their extreme rarity. Wetlands provide key ecological support to low-lying communities like Warrenton, absorbing high rain water flows and filtering run-off from surrounding properties before water reaches vulnerable estuaries.
Preservation of the Pacific Ridge is part of NCLC’s ongoing efforts protect similar rare habitat throughout the Warrenton wetland network as part of our Columbia Quiet Waters Initiative.
The dynamic freshwater scrub-shrub and forested wetland contains lots of large downed wood and tree snags that provide healthy habitat for wildlife species such as Roosevelt elk, red-legged frogs, cavity-nesting birds, great blue herons and bald eagles.
It’s not every day that we get the opportunity to conserve habitat types that are rare not just on the Oregon coast, but globally.
Jon Wickersham, NCLC associate director
