Cascade Land Conservancy and Wildlife Forever Fund Launch New $2 million Stewardship Initiative

 Seattle, WA October 10, 2007 -- The Cascade Land Conservancy and the Wildlife Forever Fund today announced a new partnership designed to assure the ecological stewardship of miles of coastline and thousands of coastal acres acquired under the fund’s Coastal and Estuary Program.

The partnership also raises to a new level of awareness the need to monitor and steward land.  As The Cascade Agenda moves forward with the conservation of significant lands in the region, the partnership will allow the Conservancy to bring stewardship to a “Cascade Agenda” level in the region.

The Cascade Agenda is a vision to conserve 1.3 million acres of working forests and farmlands, create livable communities and then steward the lands conserved.  The grant will be used first to develop stewardship best practices on CLC’s most sensitive lands in estuaries, and then apply it to The Cascade Agenda as it moves forward.

“This grant gets us the third leg of the Agenda,” said Gene Duvernoy, President, Cascade Land Conservancy, host of The Cascade Agenda.

Under the terms of the stewardship initiative, the Wildlife Forever Fund will match $1 million in contributions for a total of $2 million over the next three years.  The WFF has made an initial $100,000 grant to the CLC as seed money for the creation of the Stewardship Endowment Fund. 

Seven years ago the Cascade Land Conservancy and the Wildlife Forever Fund formed a quiet partnership to identify and preserve some of the major estuaries in Western Washington. Today that partnership has grown into one of the most successful estuary preservation programs in the region.

Over the past seven years, over 30 properties have been preserved along estuaries at rivers’ mouths and inlets ringing Washington’s coast from Willapa Bay to the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Puget Sound, in nine counties including Clallam, Jefferson, Grays Harbor, Pacific, Kitsap, Mason, Thurston and Pierce.  As a result, the CLC/WFF partnership has protected thousands of acres of prime wetlands and pristine uplands on Willapa Bay, Grays Harbor, Puget Sound and the Cedar, Cowlitz, Chehalis, Nemah, Queets, Pysht, Hoko, Quilcene and Union Rivers.

The Cascade Land Conservancy is one of the largest private owners of estuary lands in the state.

The partnership reflects the growing belief by the CLC and The Cascade Agenda that just buying and preserving land is not enough in this day.  It takes expertise, a vision of ecological stewardship and money to continue to steward the land.

When fully realized, the endowment challenge gift will provide the basis of a comprehensive effort by the Cascade Land Conservancy and the WFF to cooperate with other land trusts, private landowners and public agencies in order to raise the bar for coastal stewardship in Washington. It will advance sharing of best practices and exchanging on-the-ground support.

The gift also means the Cascade Land Conservancy’s network of land steward volunteers on the coast will become fully realized.  In the past, common belief held that lands could be conserved and then largely left alone:  Mother Nature would take over, returning the lands to a natural, sustainable condition.  According to John Floberg, VP of Stewardship for CLC, “…in the real world, introduced species, human impacts and climate change all combine to necessitate the helping hand of caring stewards to allow natural processes to remain intact.”

The Wildlife Forever Fund comes at the need for stewardship from a long regard for the land.

 “These areas are significantly ‘mud’ but they are keys to our region’s natural heritage.  They provide critical habitat for resident and migrating birds, fish and mammals,” said Richard Leeds, co-president of the Wildlife Fund.  “We needed quick action to prevent further development that would have destroyed these functioning ecosystems and deplete their biodiversity. Now we need consistent action to steward these lands, to care for them.

“We need to plant native species, remove invasive species, and restore and manage water flows that have been impacted by clear-cutting and development.  It will take a thousand years to reclaim the majesty of Washington’s ancient forests, rivers, birds and fish runs. The Wildlife Forever Fund recognizes the need to preserve and protect these precious lands forever.” 

“Forever begins today,” said Anne Kroeker, co-president of the Wildlife Forever Fund.

 “The Cascade Land Conservancy is honored to be working with the Wildlife Forever Fund and its vision for land conservation,” said Duvernoy.  “Stewardship is one of the foundation principles of The Cascade Agenda.  Whether it is a small urban park or tidal estuaries, we must care for the land if it is to make our cities livable and provide those precious areas like estuaries for generations to come.”

Estuaries, as defined in Barry Lopez’s new book, Home Ground, are “that part of the mouth of a river where the river’s current meets the sea’s tide, and where salt and fresh water mix,” making them some of the most diverse – and beautiful – habitats.

Joy Williams, an author and novelist who lives in Florida, goes on to describe an estuary this way:  “A pleasing word, lovelier than the brackish conditions it implies, for an estuary is defined by prosaic and precise measures of salinity.  The true estuarine nature is divine: estuaries are nurseries where nascent marine life is nurtured and protected.”

The announcement today of a stewardship program reflects the on-going work of the WFF and its partnership with the Cascade Land Conservancy.  Mark Johnsen, CLC’s estuary expert who handled most of the transactions, said the job is not done yet. “We have more fabulous areas still to conserve,” Johnsen said. Johnsen said he is currently working on projects that total about 5,000 acres.

Maryanne Tagney Jones, CLC Board chair, also has played a strong role in the estuary program.  “These are some of the most fragile of landscapes,” Tagney Jones said.  “I am proud to be a part of this effort and this historic model for funding the stewardship of the lands we conserve.”

"We have the opportunity to preserve for future generations the natural environment of Washington,” said Bob Blais, WFF Board Member and Chairman of the Hoh River Trust.  “This Stewardship Challenge Grant that we are announcing today brings reality to our objective of preserving the legacy that has been entrusted to us."
“CLC’s Stewardship Program manages all properties to fulfill or exceed current standards set by the national Land Trust Alliance,” said John Floberg, CLC Stewardship Vice President, “and to maximize ecological function to contribute to the region’s biodiversity and sustainability.”

In order to leverage the WFF gift, the Cascade Land Conservancy will pursue a one-to-one match of this $1 million over the next three years.

One of the most recent acquisitions through the CLC-WFF partnership will be dedicated Saturday (Oct. 13) at the Union River Preserve Stewardship Day and Preserve Dedication.

The property will be dedicated to the legacy of Irene Davis, a lifelong resident of the Union River valley and pioneer of the conservation effort in the watershed. She was devoted to maintaining the farms and forest of the valley.

The dedication will be from 1 pm to 3 pm at the preserve near Belfair. As well as a dedication ceremony, a work party will remove ivy and other invasive plants, pick up trash and plant new trees. The Washington State Department of Transportation is donating 100 trees and shrubs.

The Union River Preserve is a 57-acre site near the mouth of the Union River at Hood Canal. The property was purchased in 2006 with a grant from the Wildlife Forever Foundation.  Summer Chum, Coho and Steelhead are present in Union River. Forests of western red cedar, red alder, and lush herbs cover much of the property. Old pasture and orchards are a testament to the property’s agricultural history.

Much of the Union River Estuary is in conservation ownership by Washington state agencies and local groups like Theler Wetlands.  CLC’s sister land trust, Great Peninsula Conservancy, owns 18.5 acres known as Klingel Wetlands.