View the Future and its supporters urge Oregon parks commission to buy 950-acre Yachats Ridge property

 

BY GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews

NEWPORT – Twenty years of trying to end decades of clearcuts and neglect of the ridge that serves as a backdrop to Yachats and instead restore and preserve it found fertile ground Wednesday.

Yachats non-profit View the Future, along with a big contingent of supporters, made a pitch to the Oregon Parks and Recreation Commission during its meeting Wednesday in Newport to have the agency buy the 950-acre parcel.

View co-chairs Joanne Kittel and John Theilacker showed a video of the property referred to as Yachats Ridge and touted its qualities — panoramic views, likely endangered marbled murrelet habitat, eight creeks that flow into the Yachats River and ocean, and recreation connections to the Cape Perpetua Scenic Area.

“Finally, View the Future pledges to the parks and recreation department … to help with application for grants and the search for funding for restoration and management of this property,” Theilacker told the commission. “We also have a number of volunteers, many of which are represented here today, to help take care of the property.”

The property on the south side of the Yachats River has had 11 owners in 37 years. View the Future attempted to purchase the property from three of the last four owners but negotiations stalled because of ownership changes and differences over appraisals and asking prices.

The ridge property borders the Siuslaw National Forest, Weyerhaeuser-owned forestland, private residential property, and has an island of Bureau of Land Management forest. It was heavily logged starting in the 1940s, again in the 1960s and resumed on portions during the 1980s, according to Kittel. It was last logged in 2016.

The property’s current owner, Manulife Insurance of Canada, has expressed an interest in selling. That has View the Future raising funds in order to restore and manage the land and pitching public agencies to buy it.

On Wednesday, the nonprofit’s presentation was followed by testimony from several supporters, including Yachats mayor Craig Berdie, who provided a letter from the city council.

“It is an important viewshed,” Berdie said. “And if it were to be threatened it would change city property values.”

He went on to say that it would enhance visitors’ experience, and that visitors are the backbone of the town’s economy.

“Having this degraded forest property has been a problem for us for many years so we would love to see it become a valuable ecological resource,” Berdie said. “Also, as it is above the tsunami zone, it could serve as an emergency preparation area.”

Margaret Treadwell of the McKenzie River Trust, which has been a partner in helping to secure the property for preservation, also made an appeal to commissioners.

“As a longtime partner to View the Future and as a regular collaborator with OPRD, McKenzie River Trust stands ready to assist with the properties transition to state parks ownership if that’s the route you go, in whatever way we can,” Treadwell said.

Business owner Caroline Bauman emphasized how the property fits with the department’s mission to educate current and future generations.

“This an opportunity to educate young people on restoration forestry,” Bauman said. “I think it’s going to be a big field of endeavor in the future. This could be a laboratory. Yachats might be old, but we have access to young people.”

The last line drew big laughs as Bauman highlighted Angell Job Corps and a South Beach summer camp for Portland-area youth.

Yachats resident John Purcell, the retired executive director of the California-based land trust Friends of the Desert Mountains, urged commissioners to seize the opportunity.

“Perhaps the most enduring lesson I learned while in conservation is when the stars align and an opportunity occurs, it’s really necessary to grab it at that time,” Purcell said. “Yachats Ridge’s time has come.”

Commissioners voice support

While the meeting was strictly to gather information and not to make a decision, commissioners — some of whom have visited the property — voiced support of acquisition if the department’s due diligence checks out.

“I’ve seen this property, it’s spectacular, it’s unique,” said commissioner Vicki Berger of Salem. “It’s beautiful.”

It also has elements that will save the agency a lot of time and effort, she said, noting the stockpile of gravel and access roads. Another plus is that using it as a ‘soft recreation’ area aimed at tent campers is balanced with the fact that there are “intensive use parks” nearby for other park users.

Oregon State Parks director Lisa Sumption noted that usually when acquisition comes up there’s not such a show of overwhelming support.

“The mayor made a lot of good points,” Sumption said. “The ability to partner is something that can’t be lost on this transaction because we’ve had these conversations about cost and maintenance and ongoing ability to provide what the property will need over time. And I don’t think in any case of my 17 years that I’ve actually seen a partner who is going to do it and if anybody would it’s this group of individuals. We’ve seen it on the Amanda Trail and we’ve seen it now on this property.”

Commissioner Doug Deur of Arch Cape said he was struck by the breadth and depth of support from the community and others, which include the Lincoln County commissioners who were unable to attend the meeting, and Rep. David Gomberg, D-Otis, who did address the commission to voice his support.

More land available?

In a surprise announcement that drew cheers from the audience, OPRD property agent Lad Whitcomb, who has been speaking with Manulife, announced that Weyerhaeuser would also be willing to sell its two adjacent parcels.

“They are open to selling the little 40-acre piece toward the south end of their western border and the 142-acre piece towards the east end of their southern border,” Whitcomb said. “So Weyerhaeuser is in that discussion. And where we were talking about approximately 950 acres, with the Weyerhaeuser property, if we were able to move forward with that, we’re looking at closer to 1,100 acres.”

Sumption thanked Whitcomb for the information before she reiterated that while the department is “not ready to say this is an acquisition” the Yachats property differs from other acquisitions because of the community support and “other opportunities” the land offers.

• Garret Jaros is YachatsNews’ full-time reporter and can be reached at GJaros@YachatsNews.com