Getting people out on the land – to see, feel, and hear the impact of our members’ work – is the best part of my job. You can talk about conservation funding and easements in a meeting room, but something changes when you’re standing in a field, hearing the wind move through native grasses, or tributaries flow once again.
That’s when the work comes alive.
Every year, COLT organizes legislative land tours with our members and partners to visit land trust projects and highlight the state and federal programs that make them possible. This October, our team and partners hit the road for three tours across Oregon.
From the farm fields of the Willamette Valley, to the rugged ranchlands of the South Coast, and finally to the misty forests of the North Coast. Each stop told a different story of people and place, united by a shared commitment to conservation.
Sweeney Farm: Keeping Working Lands Working
Our first tour of the year brought us to the Sweeney Farm outside of Dayton, Oregon, where four generations of the Sweeney family have farmed and improved habitat on their 495-acre property for more than a century. Abutting Dayton’s urban growth boundary, the farm faces increasing development pressure—a challenge shared by many Oregon farmers.
Our tour attendees learned about the development pressures facing Oregon farmers and how programs like the Oregon Agricultural Heritage Program (OAHP) can protect farmland in perpetuity and keep our working lands working. In partnership with the Oregon Agricultural Trust (OAT), 304- acres of the Sweeney farm is now protected forever through funding from OAHP and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS).
Wahl Ranch: Conservation and Ranching Hand in Hand
Our next stop took us south to Port Orford, where we joined Wild Rivers Land Trust to celebrate the permanent protection of the Wahl Ranch. A fourth-generation family ranch in the lower Elk River watershed, the Wahl Ranch encompasses 2,000 acres of productive rangeland and vital fish and wildlife habitat.
With the support of the Oregon Agricultural Heritage Program and NRCS’s Agricultural Conservation Easement Program (ACEP), 775 acres of the ranch are now permanently protected through a working lands conservation easement. The easement ensures the property will remain a working ranch while safeguarding the family’s ongoing habitat restoration work and contributions to the local economy. Standing on the ranch, surrounded by restored wetlands and thriving grasslands, we saw firsthand how conservation and production can work together to sustain both people and nature.
Jetty Creek: Protecting Community Water at Its Source
For our last tour stop, COLT collaborated with North Coast Land Conservancy, Sustainable Northwest, the City of Rockaway Beach, Nuveen Natural Capital, Tillamook Estuary Partnership, and the Nehalem Bay Watershed Council to bring more than 40 attendees to tour the Jetty Creek Watershed! The City of Rockaway Beach’s primary water supply comes from Jetty Creek, a stream originating in the 1,300-acre forested watershed north of the City.
Thanks to funding from the Drinking Water Source Protection Grant Program (DWSP), the City has acquired 800-acres of priority forestland they can now manage to provide secure and resilient community drinking water. Tour attendees learned about the importance of programs like DWSP supporting communities across Oregon to manage their drinking watersheds, heard from partners at Nuveen Natural Capital about their partnership in the project, and saw the restoration work completed by Tillamook Estuary Partnership to restore fish habitat on the property.
Many thanks to all of our tour attendees and partners this season, and special thanks to our partners at the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board (OWEB) for supporting our tours and educating our attendees on OWEB’s programs!
