By Isaac Hansen, Conservation Associate, Lands and Transactions
A small but significant 80-acre acquisition at our Ellsworth Creek Preserve in southwest Washington protects the headwaters of this 8,000-acre watershed where we’ve been working for more than 20 years.
The new property was harvested about five years ago, leaving our Preserve vulnerable to high winds on its boundary that blew down trees, and sediment runoff into Ellsworth Creek. With the acquisition, made possible by generous private donors, we’ll be able to restore it.
I visited the site with the Conservancy’s Washington Forest Manager Kyle Smith a few months ago, before travel restrictions, and saw an example of this blow down in the form of a Sitka spruce that had fallen over onto the roadway. I took this selfie as Kyle cleared the road with a deftness of a seasoned sawyer.
It’s been about five years since the site was harvested. Even in its disturbed state, we can see the potential for the future. The ridge provides a diversity of unique topographic variability with multiple aspects, slopes, and soil types found within a relatively small area.
Saplings are emerging that will improve wildlife habitat and forage for a diversity of species, including elk, deer, bear, cougar, and bobcats, as well as nesting songbirds, marbled murrelets, owls, macroinvertebrates, and amphibians.
This tract will be incorporated into the Ellsworth Creek Preserve, which serves as an important research site where we are learning how to restore the conditions of a temperate old-growth rainforest.
Banner photo © Chris Crisman
New research out of the Ellsworth Creek Preserve offers insights into how we can accelerate the development of the old-growth traits that help forests persevere through the most severe impacts of climate change.
A new video promotes the hard work and commitment of Nature Conservancy scientists and collaborators who everyday provide the knowledge crucial for a future where people, lands, and waters thrive in balance.
Drones have emerged as a groundbreaking tool extending our reach beyond the limits of human exploration. While many are familiar with seeing the possibilities in adventure photography or package delivery, the use of drones in conservation has become increasingly creative for those both out in the field and in the lab.
This summer, two University of Washington students joined The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC’s) Science Team as conservation science interns. Alex Crabtree and Katie Thomas spent nine weeks with TNC WA through UW’s EarthLab Summer Internship Program.
The Nature Conservancy’s Ellsworth Creek Preserve, which occupies the ancestral homelands of the Willapa and Lower Chinook people has and continues to be a host of hundreds of teachers.
Nature Conservancy and University of Washington researchers are monitoring seedling growth and mortality along with local climate to evaluate climate resilience in the face of a changing climate at Ellsworth Creek Preserve.
In the depths of the Ellsworth Creek Preserve forest we found over 1000 different species, across 10 phylum and scientific kingdoms. From Annelids (worms) to Basidiomycetes (fungus) from Arthropods (bees) to Chordates (humans)! Multiple species have either lurked or lived in the soils of Ellsworth.
Justin Urresti is the Conservation Forester for TNC’s Western Washington forests, covering the Hoh, Clearwater, and Ellsworth ecosystems.
It’s in the spirit of joy and delight that we would like to share a look back at some of the conservation success stories, innovation and fun in 2022, shared with gratitude for the support of you and many others that makes this work possible.
To compare how old-growth and secondary-growth tree stands can weather drought conditions, TNC scientist Michael Case uses a drone to collect samples from tree tops at Ellsworth Creek Preserve.