Clark County’s Legacy Lands turn 30

The 26 Legacy Lands properties available to the public boast a range of trails and amenities. Below are five suggested areas to visit.

Burnt Bridge Creek Greenway

Accessible from Bernie Drive and Fruit Valley Road, Leverich Park, Devine Road, and NE 19th Street.

Features: Lush greenway along Burnt Bridge Creek, 8 miles of paved trails, parking, restrooms, picnic areas and garbage cans.

East Biddle Lake

Accessible from Columbia Springs Environmental Education Center.

Features: Unpaved trails throughout, forest areas and meadows surrounding the lake, wildlife viewing and parking and amenities at education center.

Fallen Leaf Lake Park

2911 NE Everett St., Camas.

Features: Picnic shelter for up to 150 people, access to lake and nonmotorized boats, forested areas with nature trails.

Frenchmen’s Bar Regional Park and Trail

9612 NW Lower River Road, Vancouver.

Features: Unpaved and paved trails, access to Columbia River Shoreline, picnic shelters, grills, picnic tables, restrooms and playground equipment.

Salmon-Morgan Creeks Natural Area

NE 183rd Street and NE 161 Avenue, Battle Ground.

Features: Unpaved trails, scenic views of Salmon and Morgan creeks with wildlife viewing.

See a full list of Legacy Lands properties at www.clark.wa.gov/legacylands

Wandering through the Salmon-Morgan Creeks Natural Area southeast of Battle Ground, Patrick Lee points out the towering red cedar trees, the place where both creeks meet and the mottled sunlight falling on the dirt trail.

Places like these are Lee’s office. Lee is the program coordinator for Clark County’s Legacy Lands program, which protects the county’s natural resources from development. More than 5,000 acres of land have been conserved through the program, which is operated by the county’s Environmental Services Department.

“These are things that are remarkable to have in a somewhat urban area,” Lee said.

This year, the program will celebrate another landmark: its 30-year anniversary.

Since 1985, Clark County — along with partners in the cities, the Columbia Land Trust and teams of volunteers — has been identifying, purchasing and maintaining wetlands, habitats, farms, riparian areas, forests and other natural spaces to protect.

The program is funded through the county’s Conservation Futures program, which placed a 6.25-cent property tax per thousand dollars of assessed valued. The county and cities are then able to seek matching state and federal grants for those funds.

Of the 54 protected properties, 26 are open to the public, including the popular Frenchman’s Bar and Moulton Falls trails.

The office is also working to identify new properties to protect, and improving public access to other conservation lands in the county.

Lee said the county is among the leaders in the state for preserving natural resources.

“It’s been a very successful program,” Lee said.

A range of benefits

Independent consultant Bill Dygert has been a leader in the Legacy Lands program since the beginning.

Dygert helped Clark County’s parks department fight to start the program in 1985, and has since helped the county identify what lands to preserve and recruit volunteers, such as the Boy Scouts of America, to do projects on the property.

The program was born out of a need to protect natural resources as the county’s population was booming, he said.

“Back in the ’80s, and still going on today, our growth rate was so fast,” Dygert said. “We were losing some of our key open spaces.”

The program has created many benefits for the county, as well, Dygert said. The Legacy Lands have preserved recreational activity, improved habitat for threatened and endangered species, and helped with flood control in riparian areas.

“There’s not a narrow range of reasons,” Dygert said.

Though he now lives in Oregon, Dygert still has a vested interest in the program and does contract work with the county.

“I just hope we all have the good sense to keep this program going for years,” Dygert said.

Green infrastructure

Glenn Lamb, executive director of the Columbia Land Trust, said the program is “protecting green infrastructure”— clean air, clean water, working farms and working forests.

“We’ll have more people in their natural habitat,” Lamb said.

Lamb also recalled a time when a boy who had participated in programs at the J.D. Currie Youth Camp, whose facilities are designated Legacy Lands, attended a Board of County Commissioners meeting to testify to the importance of the program.

The boy, Lamb said, brought a turtle with him to that meeting, and told the commissioners about the times he’d watched turtles lay eggs on the shore of Lacamas Lake.

“For me, it was such a really telling moment,” Lamb said. “This program is ensuring that lands are available so the young people can be inspired, so their curiosity can be stoked to discover the nature of the Northwest.”

To celebrate the anniversary, the Environmental Services Department and its partners will host a series of free activities and volunteer opportunities throughout the summer and fall. The next opportunity to help is 9 a.m. June 20 at Whipple Creek Hollow, Northeast 22nd Avenue at Northeast 164th Street. Volunteers will remove invasive species and repair nature trails in the area.

The county council will also celebrate the program with a proclamation at a meeting in October, though the date is still to be finalized.

For a full list of upcoming events and more information on the program, visit clark.wa.gov/environment/properties.