We just completed our 7^th year of successful operation. It’s time to look back on our accomplishments and ahead to the future.

During our just ended 2015-2016 fiscal year (July 1, 2015 through June 30, 2016), we raised $13,905 for the Capitol Land Trust (CLT). This is $1095 below our annual goal of raising $15,000. Over the seven years of our existence, we have raised $113,382 for the CLT, which is $8382 above our goal of $105,000 for that period. We should all be very proud of generating these funds to ensure that many of our natural areas will be available to our children, grandchildren and beyond.

Since the SCP was formed in 2009, with our help, CLT has been able to add several areas to its bank of conserved properties within the Partnership boundaries, including:

• The Adams Cove Preserve, 35 acres and a pocket estuary in Totten Inlet.
• The Lower Eld Estuary Preserve, 55 acres along southern Eld Inlet.
• The Schmidt Conservation Easement addition, 5.5 acres near Hunter Point, adding to 29 acres already conserved.
• A stewardship fund established to protect the remaining 175 acres of the Wynne Tree Farm that was conserved last year. The 530 acre Wynne farm has now been conserved. This jewel of a farm is located in the Schneider Creek Valley with the headwaters of the creek.

These properties join many other properties in our area conserved in prior years:

Wynne Tree Farm. Image credit: Capitol Land Trust. Click for a larger image.

• Triple Creek Farm
• Randall Preserve
• Willits Tree Farm
• Allison Springs

The SCP has three committees: 1) Fund raising; 2) planning or technical committee; and 3) general operations. We are always seeking members to serve on these committees. Let us know if you are interested.

The fund raising committee solicits continuing, monthly contributions, as well as periodic contributions, including end of the calendar year contributions in December and hosts tables at the annual Capitol Land Trust Conservation Breakfast every February.

The planning committee is our most active committee and, with the assistance of CLT staff, researches properties within the Steamboat Peninsula region that would be appropriate for long-term conservation. Contacts are made with property owners explaining the SCP and our relations with CLT, and inquiring if these property owners are interested in conserving or preserving their properties. As you know, all conservation or preservation efforts are entirely voluntary with the property owners. Through these efforts, CLT is in discussions with several property owners who may seek to conserve their property.

The general committee consists of all members of the fund raising committee and planning committee. This committee basically runs the SCP.

We thank our past contributors to the Partnership. Please once again make an annual contribution to ensure natural areas continue to be conserved. While many of you like to make your donations at this time, the beginning of our program year, others donate at the end of the calendar year or at the Annual Capitol Land Trust Breakfast in early February.

If you have never made a donation to the Steamboat Conservation Partnership before, we hope you will remember us when planning your tax deductible donations for the year. Donations are welcome in any amount and at any time convenient to you.

We are currently embarking on an effort to further publicize SCP and solicit additional members. The July 16^th bike ride on the Steamboat Peninsula and notices on Nextdoor are part of this effort.

You are invited to attend Capitol Land Trust’s annual summer gala and auction at Ralph Munro’s home on Saturday, August 13, from 5-9 pm. General admission tickets are available at $85 per person as well as deluxe tickets at $175 per person. Click here for more details.  This is a great event and an opportunity to meet many other contributors to CLT.

Thank you for your past support,

Peter Reid 360-259-3591

Steve Lundin 360-866-1214

Co-Chairs, Steamboat Conservation Partnership

Click here for more information regarding the Steamboat Conservation Partnership.

Capitol Land Trust (CLT) and our many partners play a key role in protecting natural marine shorelines of Puget Sound by identifying productive and sensitive habitats, and by working with willing landowners to protect these areas using methods such as purchase, conservation easements, and restoration. We strive to maintain our shoreline heritage so that future generations will also be able to enjoy a meal of fresh salmon and shellfish, a day of clam digging and beachcombing, and see a great blue heron stalking fish along the water line, or glimpse an otter scampering down the beach.

Our extensive marine shorelines are a special feature of the southern end of Puget Sound. They formed when, during past ice ages, huge glaciers from the north plowed through lowlands between the Cascade and Olympic mountains, carving out a series of narrow fiords (inlets) separated by higher peninsulas. When the glaciers retreated, the low areas were connected with the Pacific Ocean, creating the complex of inlets and marine shorelines we see today.

Our shorelines provide inspiring views of glistening mountains across sparkling water. We enjoy and share many recreational and educational pursuits such as clam digging, fishing, crabbing, boating, bird watching, beach combing, and nature study made possible by access to shorelines and beaches.

Twin Rivers Ranch Preserve on Oakland Bay in Mason County. Photo by Bonnie Liberty.

Natural shorelines consist of beaches of sand and gravel, which are replenished by erosion of adjacent banks and bluffs. These beaches provide spawning habitat for small fish such as surf smelt, sand lance, and herring. They also provide productive habitat for shellfish such as littleneck clams and Olympia oysters, as well as other intertidal organisms like sand dollars and moon snails. Steep banks and high bluffs adjacent to the water provide habitat for kingfishers and pigeon guillemots that nest in burrows in the bluffs. Trees leaning out from the shoreline provide cover for fish and perching sites for kingfishers, bald eagles, and crows. Near-shore waters adjacent to the shoreline are used by salmon, sea-run cutthroat trout, and seals, as well as diving ducks such as goldeneyes and buffleheads while they over-winter in Puget Sound.

In estuaries, fresh water from rivers and streams mix with salt water, producing a rich environment for fish and wildlife. Estuaries range in size from small coves or “pocket estuaries” like Allison Springs, where CLT has done extensive restoration, to those associated with large rivers and streams, like the Nisqually River. Regardless of size, estuaries and their associated salt marsh and mudflat habitats are important rearing areas for young salmon leaving our rivers and streams. Here they acclimate to salt water and put on rapid growth, feeding in the rich salt marsh sloughs and shallow waters. Estuaries are also important stopovers for shorebirds on their migrations, where they rest and feed on invertebrates to replenish the fat that will fuel their long flights to northern breeding areas in the spring, and back south in the fall.

The abundant fish and shellfish available in our inlets were key to supporting Native American communities along the shores of Puget Sound, and the linkage between salmon, shellfish, and Native American culture remains strong today. The shellfish and salmon were also a foundation for the economy of the pioneers and settlers. Totten and Little Skookum Inlets, and Oakland Bay are still some of the most productive shellfish-producing areas in the country.

Our shorelines provide many important ecological, economic, social and aesthetic values.

Triple Creek Farm Conservation Easement on Eld Inlet. Photo by Capitol Land Trust.

Ecologically, shorelines provide diverse habitats, including estuaries, mudflats, and beaches. These are dynamic places, where the land meets and interacts with the sea. Our attraction to the many wonders of shorelines can also be a threat – we are in danger of loving them too much. Shoreline home sites are highly valued because of the beautiful views, natural setting, and ready access to the water. Consequently, many of our shorelines have been overtaken by residential development. The combined impacts of bulkheads, tree and native vegetation removal, and runoff from driveways and yards, can reduce and alter beach habitat.

That is why Capitol Land Trust, with your help, has been protecting these vital places. While proper planning and stewardship can reduce the impact of development, it is critical to maintain natural areas with highly functioning habitat if we are to ensure shoreline health and productivity. We have protected over 14 miles of Puget Sound shoreline and continue to work with private landowners, public agencies and others to ensure we have shorelines abounding with life into the future.

By Dave and Joanne Schuett-Hames

Text reprinted with permission from Capitol Land Trust News, issue 61, Spring/Summer 2016.

In 2009, the Capitol Land Trust and Griffin Neighborhood Association formed the Steamboat Conservation Partnership. Since this collaboration took effect, we have been able to protect more than 300 acres in the Steamboat Peninsula region. Click here to learn more about this first-in-the-nation partnership between a neighborhood group and land trust.