« Jan. 18 deadline set for Courthouse list Winter 2008 Newsletter »
Land Trust agreement adds protection for Ennis Creek
Ennis Creek, a prominent Port Angeles stream that is home to steelhead trout listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, is getting additional protection from North Olympic Land Trust.
The private, nonprofit organization recently completed an agreement with Jim and Robbie Mantooth to extend protection of the salmon stream and adjacent wildlife habitat to 17 more acres south of Hwy. 101. The legal agreement, which will accompany the land’s title in perpetuity, expands a 1998 agreement that covered an adjacent 30 acres.
The Land Trust is protecting approximately twice as much of Ennis Creek as it was in the previous agreement, bringing the total to about a half mile of the stream and 47 acres.
The entire half-mile reach of the stream has received extensive restoration work in recent years from the fisheries department of the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe. Ennis Creek’s name comes from Y’innis, the name of an important Klallam village at the stream’s mouth before disease killed many of its inhabitants.
The Tribe’s habitat biologist, Mike McHenry, said he believes the new agreement will contribute to continuing efforts to rebuild fish populations in the stream.
“This agreement is hugely important because it adds to a corridor that provides habitat for fish and wildlife from Olympic National Park to the Strait of Juan de Fuca,” McHenry said. “Through protection and restoration, we have a chance with this stream now. Hopefully, we can link what is happening in this portion of Ennis Creek with future restoration in its lower portion, including the former Rayonier mill site, where it enters the saltwater.”
Culvert barriers, channelization and lack of an estuary now keep Ennis Creek from reaching its potential, he said. On the Rayonier property north of Hwy. 101, the stream’s natural channel has been narrowed and straightened, and the salt marsh that provided its estuarine environment was filled to provide more land for mill operations through the years.
“The donors of the conservation agreement are real visionaries and advocates for Ennis Creek,” he said. “It’s hard to imagine anyone being able to take this kind of action 100 years from now.”
Although the City of Port Angeles already had categorized the land that the new agreement with the Land Trust protects as too sensitive for development, McHenry said the additional protection and advocacy are important, noting that the Land Trust will uphold the agreement even if City zoning should change sometime in the future.
“Laws can change, especially when development pressures intensify,” McHenry said.
McHenry said he also hopes the dual protection from the City and Land Trust will help prevent damage to the fish and wildlife habitat that occurred earlier this year when trespassers cut down seven large maple trees that had grown near the stream for as long as a century. Six of the trees were cut on the 17 acres then owned by developers of the adjacent residential area, who live in Texas. Another destroyed tree was within the original 30 acres and near the border with the land the Mantooths have added to their conservation agreement.
Jim Mantooth said they were able to obtain title to the 17 acres by agreeing to buy enough land from the developer so the Mantooths’ home and two other homes could replace their septic tanks with City sewer.
“We think the sewer hookup with the City and the expanded agreement with the Land Trust are two important steps in our efforts to contribute to Ennis Creek’s restoration,” he said.
He said the main public benefit of the 47-acre protected property will be restoring the stream’s once-abundant populations of steelhead, Coho salmon and cutthroat trout.
“People who worked at the Rayonier mill talk about watching the steelhead and salmon leaping from the saltwater into the stream,” he said.
The stream’s steelhead are included in listings of threatened and endangered species under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, announced last May. Plans for species recovery are being developed by federal, state, County and Tribal specialists, Mantooth said.
Mantooth said he and his wife are working with numerous individuals and organizations so the stream’s habitat can be restored from its origins in the snowfields below Mt. Angeles in Olympic National Park to its entry into the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the former Rayonier mill site and marine areas that impact the fish. In 2004, Friends of Ennis Creek partnered with state departments of Transportation and Fish and Wildlife to improve Ennis Creek fish passage under Hwy. 101. In 2006, Clallam Conservation District helped build two ponds on the Mantooths’ property as a stormwater management demonstration project that helps filter and slow water from nearby developments and Peninsula Golf Club to protect the stream. In addition to the Land Trust, conservation and fisheries specialists, the couple is working with StreamFest volunteers, Port Angeles Business Association, Elwha to Morse Creek Management Team, Friends of Ennis Creek and Rayonier officials, he said.
“We were encouraged last spring to see several large steelhead in the stream below our home and receive reports from fisheries specialists of more steelhead and spawning nests in the part of the stream we’ve added to our conservation agreement,” Mantooth said.
But he emphasized that the stream’s fish populations are much too fragile for fishing and slopes surrounding the stream are much too steep even for much foot traffic. Access to the stream on their property is permitted only with approved interpretive guides.
The original 30 protected acres includes the site for the Land Trust’s annual September StreamFest at Ennis Arbor Farm, an event that offers guided nature walks to the stream and other opportunities for enjoying the protected land and learning about the work of the Land Trust and partner organizations. Students from Peninsula College, Western Washington University’s Huxley Program, Wild Salmon Center, and Port Angeles public schools also have obtained the Mantooths’ permission to use the property for field studies.
“The land we recently acquired was severely damanged by illegal trespassing and camping,” Mantooth said. “Many people seem to think they can cut down trees, camp and hike in sensitive watersheds and fish in fragile streams. If we are going to prevent continuing damage to the forest and erosion that destroys spawning gravels, we’ll need public support.”
The Mantooths said they are working with the Land Trust to organize public events later this winter to help with tree and other planting and restoration work on the newly protected land, where trespassers cut down trees and caused other damage.In addition to protecting wildlife habitat, North Olympic Land Trust focuses on protecting such special qualities of the area as farmland, sustainable commercial timberland, clean water and air, scenic vistas, open space and cultural heritage, said Allison Lutz, the organization’s Conservation Director.She said the Mantooths’ agreement brings the Land Trust’s total permanently protected acres to 1,524, with 1,429 protected through agreements and 95 through ownership. Most property owners contribute development rights as part of their agreements and can receive federal tax deductions for donations, which are considered charitable donations. Since City regulations do not allow development on any of the 17 acres included in the new Ennis Creek agreement, no charitable donation deductions were involved.
This entry was posted on Monday, January 7th, 2008 at 4:41 pm and is filed under Latest News.