It started when windstorms in 2007 and 2008 knocked down enough timber on Cal Thomas’ 161 acres between Port Angeles and Sequim to fill 78 log trucks.
Concerned that disease might make trees more vulnerable, Thomas hired consulting forester Kenneth D. Gilbertson to help him.
It wasn’t long before Thomas not only felt more comfortable about the health of his timber, but he also had found a permanent home for the land his late father had purchased in 1952.
Thomas said he told Gilbertson he was looking for a way to be sure the land he’d inherited would be cared for in a way that would honor the way his father felt about the land.
The forester suggested talking with representatives of North Olympic Land Trust.
Those conversations led not only to a signed legal agreement with the land trust to maintain the land as a working forest but also to Thomas deciding to update his will so that the nonprofit organization would become the land’s owner.
‘Found home for land’
“I’ve found a home for my dad’s land,” Thomas said. “And I also like the idea that the land trust could make some money from the timber.”
The agreement became official June 18.
Thomas will continue to own the land, but the agreement protecting it, called a conservation easement, will remain in effect regardless of who owns it in the future.
Michele d’Hemecourt, land trust conservation director, said the land is a rarity because of its size and the qualities Thomas and his late father have protected since acquiring it in 1952.
“Cal honestly loves that land, and now those qualities will be protected forever,” she said.
The agency’s management plan will permit timber harvesting or managing for carbon credits, while protecting old growth stands, the land trust said.
“It’s outstanding working forest land, but it is also a refuge for wildlife,” d’Hemecourt said.
Blue Mountain Road
The property, nearly six miles up Blue Mountain Road, is less than a mile from Olympic National Forest, Olympic National Park and Sweeneys’ Serenity Farm, which also is protected under a permanent land trust agreement.
It contains forested wetlands and approximately 2,000 feet of a tributary to McDonald Creek, which provides habitat for salmon, steelhead and bull trout.
Also protected are 3,600 feet of three intermittent streams, d’Hemecourt said.
Gilbertson said the hope is that stream-habitat restoration on Blue Mountain will encourage the American beaver to recolonize in the area.
Larger mammal wildlife species known to periodically use the site include blacktailed deer and Roosevelt elk, he said.
Other purposes of the agreement include protecting scenic views from public and private lands and water quality of McDonald Creek.
For about seven years, Thomas has lived several miles down Blue Mountain Road from his property.
After retiring from West Seattle, where he worked in sheet metal fabrication, he said he wanted to live where he could have easy access to the property.
He said he has no plans to move to there, but reserved the right for a cabin of as many as 600 square feet.
Minimum-impact educational, recreational and research activities are possibilities for the land someday.
The new easement brings the total acres the land trust has protected in 2010 to 179.5, and the total protected in the organization’s 20-year history to 2,238 acres.
For more information, see www.nolt.org or phone the land trust office at 360-417-1815.
The group also offers one-hour overviews of its services on the fourth Tuesday of each month from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at its office, 104 N. Laurel, Suite 104, in Port Angeles. Phone reservations are recommended.
