Hikers on the PCT in the Plum Creek checkerboard, south of Snoqualmie Pass. The Forest Service has allocated funding to buy private land along the trail here.
PCT thru-hiker Troglodyte King
The Forest Service has announced 2012 funding for land purchases in Oregon’s Hell’s Canyon National Recreation Area, along the Pacific Crest Trail in Washington, and in Idaho's Clearwater and Sawtooth National Forests.
The money for the land deals comes from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which provides money for land acquisitions to a state and federal recreation and conservation agencies.
Congress established the fund in 1964 to offset the impact of offshore oil and gas leases. The fund is authorized to receive 900 million dollars a year from oil and gas royalties, but conservation groups say congress generally appropriates far less. The Forest Service announced 40.6 million dollars of funding for land acquisition projects nationally in 2012; about 10 million is directed to the Pacific and Inland Northwest.
Debbie Okholm manages the land acquisition program for the Pacific Northwest Region of the Forest service. She says more than 15 percent of the land inside national forest boundaries in the region is actually owned by other people, and the focus is on purchasing those lands.
“You can pick up a strategic parcel from a willing seller, internal to the national forest, inside of all the rest of that green if you will, and you’ll create efficiencies" Okholm says.
One of the public resources that will benefit this year is the Pacific Crest trail. The Forest Service is planing to purchase land the trail crosses in the Washington Cascades, currently owned by the Plumb Creek Timber Company.
Mike Dawson coordinates trail maintenance and management for the Pacific Crest Trail association. He says that in the area around Snoqualmie pass, the PCT passes through a checkerboard of privately owned timber land intermixed with federal forestland.
"For many years now, the Forest Service has been purchasing that private land. Generally, they only have enough funds for 1 or 2 years." he says. "We're very glad they're going to do this. It will protect about a mile of the PCT."
Dawson says that in total, the PCT crosses about 250 miles of privately owned land on easements, and he'd like to see the acquisition process move more quickly.
In addition to protecting the PCT, the Forest Service has received 2012 funding to acquire land in the northwest to improve wildlife migration corridors, protect fish habitat, and improve access for recreation and hunting. Here's a list of the land acquisition projects the Forest Service funded in 2012. We've excerpted the northwest projects below:
California/Oregon/Washington
Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail, multiple national forests: The area was one of first two congressionally designated national scenic trials. The acquisition will help protect critical portions of the 2650 mile trail system that stretches from Mexico into Canada. The land will help protect key wildlife corridors that support the migration of the grey wolf, grizzly bear, elk, deer, coyote and moose as well as protecting the trail from encroaching development. $1 million
Idaho
Salmon-Selway Initiative Area, Salmon-Challis and Sawtooth National Forests: The Morgan Ranch is an old homestead that lies upstream from the Middle Fork of the Salmon River within the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness Area. The 18 miles of Sulphur Creek, a tributary of the Middle Fork, provides significant spawning and rearing habitat for three species of fish listed under the Endangered Species Act: Chinook salmon, steelhead trout and bull trout. $3.5 million
Upper Lochsa, Clearwater National Forest: The parcel includes habitat for threatened steelhead and bull trout, denning and foraging habitat for Canada lynx, critical elk winter range and portions of the Nez Perce National Historic Trail. The Nez Perce Tribe has contributed more than $7 million in non-federal monies toward aquatic habitat restoration in the Upper Lochsa drainage area and proposes to continue funding of roughly $1 million per year. $1 million
Oregon
Hells Canyon National Recreation Area, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest: One of America's most treasured landscapes, Hell's Canyon is renowned for its natural, historical, archaeological and recreational values. The properties will serve as public gateways to thousands of acres of public lands and are home to 14 key fish and wildlife species, including Oregon's largest Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep herd. The land also contains habitat for rare plants and at-risk bird species including the yellow breasted chat, mountain quail, Lewis' woodpecker and willow flycatcher. $1.4 million
Oregon/Washington
Pacific North West Streams, multiple national forests: Lands selected for acquisition include key habitat for at-risk fish stocks. Immediate public benefits will be secured public access, increased recreation opportunities and more efficient long-term management and restoration of key stream, riparian areas, tidal marsh and estuary needed for bird and wildlife recovery. $1.1 million
Washington
Washington Cascade Ecosystem, Wenatchee National Forest: The acquisition is part of a larger, landscape-scale effort to resolve the fragmented land ownership pattern blanketing Washington's Central Cascades. Threading through the area are several significant north-south wildlife corridors that need to be protected and restored to preserve healthy wildlife populations. $1.5 million