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Seattle group adds habitat protection
Doug Norberg, right, a leader of the Seattle-based Dungeness Habitat LLC, shows North Olympic Land Trust Conservation Director Allison Lutz and president Ken Sweeney some of the bird habitat areas an agreement with the Land Trust now protects permanently.
Habitat for birds, shellfish, salmon and trout is getting help from a Seattle group and North Olympic Land Trust.
Dungeness Habitat LLC (Limited Liability Company) has signed an agreement with the Land Trust protecting 21 acres the organization owns, including wetlands, marshlands, seasonal ponds and a portion of Meadowbrook Creek near the mouth of the Dungeness River.
The stream’s inhabitants include silver salmon, sea run cutthroat trout and steelhead, said John Willits, Land Trust Conservation Committee chairman.
“This is an outstanding addition to habitat land protection in the area,” Willits said. “It fits well with several other properties along Meadowbrook Creek that the Land Trust already protects, and it is near the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge and lands owned by Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife.”
Scenic qualities, visible from Three Crabs Road, next to Dungeness Bay, also will benefit the public, according to the legal agreement.
Willits said that the agreement will accompany the land’s title regardless of who owns the property in the future. The Land Trust’s responsibility will be to make sure the agreement is upheld, he explained.
Doug Norberg, a leader of the Seattle-based organization, said the primary purpose of Dungeness Habitat LLC is to promote protection of habitat for fish and birds. The agreement with the Land Trust reserves the rights for members and guests to hunt waterfowl.
Matt Heins, the local property manager, said members of the LLC and their predecessors have been coming to an adjacent property to hunt waterfowl since 1892. In recent years, he said LLC members who were coming to that property became concerned about water quality problems in Meadowbrook Creek and thought greater protection of the land could improve them.
“We can already see benefits to the stream,” Heins said.
Norberg said he and the other property owners also want to get rid of invasive non-native grasses and replace them with more trees and barley that will enhance habitat and food sources for birds.
Heins said he has provided permits to organizations like the Audubon Society for its bird counts at appropriate times of the year, but most of the time Dungeness River Audubon Center Director Bob Boekelheide recommends staying on Three Crabs Road instead of using the Dungeness Habitat property..
“It’s important not to disturb areas where the birds nest,” Heins said.
Permits also are available for reaching adjacent tidelands for crabbing and clamming.
Information about getting permits is available from Heins, 360-683-5618.
In addition to providing better bird habitat, Heins said he believes the protected land will contribute significantly to efforts to restore Dungeness Bay.
“If wetlands are improved, that helps clean the water going into the Bay,” he said.
Water quality as well as scenic values also got a big boost, Heins said, because the organization gave up six homesites as part of the agreement with the Land Trust.
“Three of those sites are in Rural Village Zoning, which permits limited commercial use,” he said.
“This is an example of how much value people from outside the North Olympic Peninsula place on well-protected scenic and habitat lands,” Willits said. “We are fortunate that these visitors have joined together to create a permanent legal agreement. Their manager, Matt Heins, has an outstanding reputation as a good steward for conservation.”
The 21 Dungeness Habitat LLC acres are among more than 650 acres expected to receive protection through agreements with North Olympic Land Trust in approximately one year, according to Allison Lutz, the organization’s Conservation Director. Within a few months, she expects the previous total of about 1,300 acres to increase by more than 50 percent. Agreements recently completed or nearing completion are protecting farmland, sustainable timberland and cultural heritage, in addition to the habitat, clean water and air and scenic qualities the LLC property protects.
More information about North Olympic Land Trust is available from northolympiclandtrust.org or its office, in Port Angeles, 360-417-1815.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 9th, 2007 at 3:20 pm and is filed under Latest News.