BEAVER LAKE LAND SALE COMPLETED

By Chris Cook Forks Forum Editor

A parcel of about 424 acres in the Beaver Lake area has been acquired by the USDA Forest Service from the Western Rivers Conservancy for $1.312 million.

The parcel includes all of Beaver Lake, parts of Beaver Creek and Beaver Marsh plus part of Cold Creek. Nearby Beaver Falls is located on private property, and is not part of the sale.

Apparently the land sale won’t restrict public fishing on the lake. A primitive boat ramp is located along State Route 113 (Burnt Mountain Road).

The parcel was bought by Western Rivers from Rayonier for $1.284 million in Dec. 2006.

Funds for the USDA purchase came from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund, which was initiated in the 1960s. A Western Rivers’ report shows that U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Washington) helped facilitate the sale.

An excise tax payment of $23,358 was made by Western Rivers to Clallam County for the sale on Jan. 12, according to Clallam County Title Company documents.

A statement on the land purchase that appears on Olympic National Park’s Web page reads: “Acquisition provides immediate public benefits through improved access, long-term management for fisheries and a wide variety of other aquatic, riparian, and upland resources (especially water quality). Acquisition also provides opportunities for human uses such as hiking, fishing, educational programs and fish viewing.”

A call seeking comment from the USDA Forest Service office in Olympia was unreturned at press time.
In December, 1996 Western Rivers bought a piece to the north of the recent sale for $500,000, and then sold it to the USDA for $650,000 in Feb. 1997, according to the Western Rivers’ Web site.

The report states: “The first purchase was 213 acres of wetlands and forest from Crown Pacific, Ltd., a Northwest forest products company that Western Rivers Conservancy has partnered with over the years. The property is now owned by the Olympic National Forest, which manages the area for fish and wildlife values.”

Western Rivers calls the property “?one of the last remaining undisturbed privately owned tracts in the area. The proposed acquisition is the second of three phases in an effort to consolidate public ownership within this ecologically important corner of the Olympic National Forest.”

The actual sale occurred on Jan. 9 in Multnomah County, Ore., where the regional National Forest office is located.
A statement on the Western Rivers’ Web site describes the wildlife hoped to be protected by the sale: “This provides protection for the entire marsh, which is also habitat for bald eagles, trumpeter swans, wood ducks, harlequin ducks and other waterfowl, herons, otter, beaver, numerous reptiles and amphibians, as well as countless other plant and animal species, many of them on the federal and state endangered, threatened or sensitive list.

On the Web: www.westernrivers.org/pages/beaverCreek.html, www.fs.fed.us/land/staff/LWCF/purchases08/PNWstreams_project_fy08.shtml.