Two miles of Siebert Creek, starting with its estuary at the point it enters the Strait of Juan de Fuca between Port Angeles and Carlsborg, are now under the protection of the North Olympic Land Trust.
Robyn and John Miletich signed papers earlier this month for a conservation agreement with the land trust, which is based in Port Angeles.
The agreement means the couple still own their 21.14 acres and can sell or give it to others. The conservation agreement protects the land from development.
Through that agreement and another with Verna Adolphsen to purchase 4.36 acres of her land along Siebert Creek, land trust Conservation Director Michele d’Hemecourt said the organization has achieved a decade-long goal to give the stream protection for two miles from its mouth.
She said that goal was set after the land trust received 37.5 acres that had been purchased by Pacific Woodrush, a nonprofit organization, with state and federal salmon restoration funds.
When Pacific Woodrush dissolved, its leaders arranged to transfer the property’s ownership to the land trust.
“Siebert Creek has ideal fish habitat throughout,” d’Hemecourt said.
It has strong potential for restoration, she added.
The Miletich property contains 1,500 feet of Siebert Creek, and the land purchased from the Adolphsens has 1,300 feet.
Siebert Creek begins in the mountains of Olympic National Park at 2,800 feet elevation and enters the Strait of Juan de Fuca at Green Point, known for nearby halibut fishing.
Its length, counting tributaries, is 31 miles.
Although studies show fish runs below historic levels, they also say the stream currently possesses healthy populations of winter steelhead trout and coho salmon.
The stream is described as historically supporting chum salmon and several other species of trout, including cutthroat, rainbow and Dolly Varden.
Estuary
The land trust already protects the Siebert Creek estuary, which d’Hemecourt said has been called the best of its kind, providing critical rearing and feeding areas for juvenile salmonids and possible habitat for bull trout, chum and Chinook salmon.
The Miletichs’ land was purchased by Robyn Miletich’s parents, Eloise Johnson and the late George K. Johnson, in 1955.
Robyn and John Miletich have lived on it for 20 years, d’Hemecourt said.
Robyn is a lifelong Clallam County resident and owner of Country Aire Natural Foods in Port Angeles.
Land trust protection of Siebert Creek began in 2002 with a conservation easement agreement with the Wood family that protected wetlands draining into the stream from their five acres south of U.S. Highway 101.
The Ostlund family was next with a 41-acre conservation easement agreement. Its forests above the stream help maintain the quality of its waters for fish habitat, d’Hemecourt said.
The first protection for the watershed and stream north of Highway 101 came in 2006 when heirs of the late Evelyn Plant followed desires the owner had expressed, and 39 acres were included in a conservation easement.
That same year, Cheryl Smith and Judy Winthrop completed an agreement protecting 11 acres in the watershed and next to the Olympic Discovery Trail.
Robyn Miletich’s brother, Steve Johnson, and their mother completed an agreement with the land trust in 2007, protecting 19 acres of their Lazy J Tree Farm.
Johnson grows Christmas trees on part of the Miletich property as well as his own land, continuing the 40-year operation their father started and permitted as agricultural uses by the conservation easement agreements on those lands.
The Miletich, Johnson and Smith-Winthrop properties are all near the Olympic Discovery Trail, d’Hemecourt said.
For more information about the land trust — which has offices at 104 N. Laurel St., Suite 104, Port Angeles — visit www.nolt.org or phone 360-417-1815.
