Wildlife, original Sauk Mountain Trailhead to be protected

The Skagit Land Trust has acquired 45 acres near Sauk Mountain that will be protected for generations to come.

Called the Barr Creek Conservation Area, the property will protect the original Sauk Mountain Trailhead as well as forest land and a creek that serves as prime habitat for potentially threatened wildlife.

Skagit Land Trust is a non-profit organization that works to protect open space and wildlife habitat in Skagit County for current and future generations.

The organization has spent about five years working with the former land owners and various government agencies to acquire the 45 acres, said Molly Doran, Skagit Land Trust executive director. The property was purchased in July for $583,000.

The Johnson family of Silvana, who owned the property for many years prior, were patient to permit such a lengthy timeline for the Trust to purchase the property, she said.

“That was quite a huge gift to us,” Doran said. “We consider them a very significant partner in this.”

Other partners include the Washington state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) which helped the Trust acquire funding through a grant with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

In addition to the funding, the Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife and DNR are matching a piece of land near the Barr Creek Conservation Area. The land will serve a similar purpose as the Trust’s newly acquired conservation area.

Skagit Land Trust is the sole owner of the Barr Creek Conservation area. DNR has written a conservation easement stating that regardless of who owns the land in the future, the property must serve the purpose of conservation.

Private land owners and non-profit, state and federal organizations worked together to make the project happen, said Omroa Bhagwandin, a conservation land buyer for DNR. That’s a relatively new model for acquiring land, he said.

Aside from its historic value of the former Sauk Mountain Trailhead, the organization was interested in the property because of its pristine habitat, Doran said. The 45 acres connects to protected lands in higher and lower elevations, creating a corridor for wildlife to migrate through.

“It feels wonderful to protect an inholding of land on Sauk Mountain,” Doran said.

A combination of prime habitat and connectivity on the Barr Creek Conservation Area will allow close to 22 species of concern — plant and animal species at risk of being threatened or endangered — to be restored.

Some of those species include the marbled murrelet, bull trout and bald eagle.

A portion of the property serves as a night roost for wintering bald eagles that migrate to the Skagit River to feed on chum salmon. It is also a part of the 9,000 acres of the Skagit River Bald Eagle Natural Area — private and public land along the Skagit River that serves as wintering bald eagle habitat.

Bhagwandin said Barr Creek is also a significant tributary to the Skagit River, which could contribute to healthy salmon habitat in the river.

“It’s all connected and I think it’s the kind of thing people want to see,” he said.

Skagit Land Trust officials also plan to open the area up to low-impact day use recreation and guided tours. Two well-established trails are located on the property.

Conserving the land is not only good for wildlife, but for the people, Bhagwandin said. People still appreciate the icons of the Pacific Northwest such as large forests and wild, scenic rivers, he said.

Skagit County is an iconic area of the state with its large rivers and forests, complimented with the traditional uses of the area, Bhagwandin said.

The Barr Creek Conservation area looks like it did when people first settled in Skagit County, he said. Conserving that tract of land will “keep that way of life alive.”