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Reconnecting Our Land and People

Wildlife doesn’t recognize boundaries. Animals need room to roam, migrate, and forage. Habitat that is uninterrupted from summit to sea enhances survival of all species and helps them adapt to a changing world.

People also thrive when we are connected to place. Our relationships with each other and the environment make us whole and healthy. The Rainforest Reserve will create a vast conservation corridor joining summit and sea—linking the nearshore ocean of Cape Falcon Marine Reserve and shoreline of Oswald West State Park to the summits and headwaters above. This will help ensure all of us thrive—people, plants, and wildlife.

CAPE FALCON MARINE RESERVE

At Cape Falcon the seafloor is dominated by sand providing ideal habitat for crabs and other animals that like soft bottom habitats. In shallower waters, the reserve has small isolated patches of rock where we find black rockfish, lingcod, kelp greenling, and buffalo sculpins. Along the shore, you’ll find rocky intertidal habitats to the north and south of Short Sand Beach where you can spot mussels and sea anemones attached to the rocks.

Learn about Cape Falcon Marine Reserve

COASTAL EDGE INITIATIVE

The spectacular region we call the Coastal Edge stretches from Tillamook Head to Nehalem Bay, where the mountains rise sharply from the sea. Much of this landscape has been repeatedly logged. But it is also home to state parks, an offshore marine reserve, and other conserved lands. NCLCs Coastal Edge Initiative seeks to link these pockets of conservation into large, connected corridors. Our goal is to support a coastal edge where both people and wildlife thrive.

Learn about NCLC’s Coastal Edge Conservation Strategy
Black Bear

As hungry black bears search for grubs to eat, they break up fallen logs. This encourages the process of decay in the forest and helps return nutrients to the soil.

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