Duckabush Riparian Forest Preserve
Duckabush Riparian Forest Preserve
Acres Preserved:
159
Year Conserved:
2015
Category:
Land Trust Preserve
Natural Features:
Working closely with our project partners in these waterways, we tend to focus on salmon habitat. But we’ve also seen many animal tracks and signs of other wildlife on the property. For me, it illustrates the fact that these projects go far beyond salmon, enhancing entire natural areas.
– Sarah Spaeth, Director of Conservation and Strategic Partnerships
A Birds-Eye View
Rising along the south side of the Duckabush River, 165-acre Duckabush Riparian Forest Preserve is a key link in a habitat corridor that reaches from the Duckabush River on up to Olympic National Park.
Nearly 8,000 feet of the Duckabush River runs through Duckabush Riparian Forest Preserve, containing prime salmon spawning habitat. The preserve includes the Duckabush River and shoreline as well as floodplains, small side channels, and tributaries that support habitat for salmon including coho, summer chum, pink, and chinook.
The evergreen and hardwood forests, creeks, and wetlands of this large preserve also support wildlife like Pileated Woodpeckers, Bald Eagles, bears, elk, mink, bobcats, coyotes, and cougars.
The Preservation Story
In 2015, when the Land Trust purchased the 140-acre property and established it as Duckabush Riparian Forest Preserve, it represented our first large-acre property acquisition on the south side of the Duckabush River. The acquisition was funded by a Salmon Recovery Funding Board grant, donation of project management time and certain hard costs by the Trust for Public Land, and purchase of development rights by the US Navy through the Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) program.
The project was even more exciting because our purchase and permanent protection of Duckabush Riparian Forest Preserve served as the matching funds that allowed our long-time partner The Trust for Public Land to facilitate the purchase and termination of development rights on an additional 2,557 acres of working forestland along the Duckabush River.
In 2020, with continued support from the US Navy, as well as generous salmon recovery funding, the Land Trust was able to work with a neighboring landowner to add 25 additional acres of riverbank and forest to Duckabush Riparian Forest Preserve.
The Protected Property Today and Tomorrow
The river and forests of Duckabush Riparian Forest Preserve are now protected forever. And thanks to a monumental effort in 2017, they’re much cleaner.
Prior to our ownership of the land, a portion of the property had been used to dump a substantial amount of appliances, car parts, and other trash, so in the winter of 2017, the Land Trust led a huge cleanup through a series of volunteer work parties, which eventually necessitated hiring a Washington Conservation Corps (WCC) crew, a dump truck, and an excavator. Finally, our summer interns conducted a thorough assessment of the property and declared the trash cleanup complete. It was a heroic effort by many volunteers and contractors from our community.
Our stewardship staff, with the help of committed preserve stewards and other volunteers, regularly care for the land, monitor wildlife, and keep improving habitat conditions by removing harmful weeds.
Every 5-10 years, the Land Trust also conducts habitat health assessments on the property. These assessments, carried out with the help of volunteers, allow us to evaluate the ecological integrity and functions of forests and streams within the preserve and track the progress of our land management goals.
