By GARRET JAROS/YachatsNews
YACHATS – Putting a price on a view is no simple thing but one Yachats non-profit is willing to give it a go. And they are not going anywhere as they wait for the price to be right.
View the Future has been looking at the ridge view southeast of Yachats for 20 years with an eye to buy and preserve it for future generations. In the past 37 years the 950-acre property now known as Yachats Ridge has had 11 owners.
“The primary interest is the fact that it provides such a dramatic backdrop to the city of Yachats looking to the southeast,” said View the Future co-chair John Theilacker. “It’s really the scenic viewshed.”
The non-profit group attempted to purchase the property from three of the last four owners – Boise Cascade, Forest Capital Partners and Hancock Timber. But negotiations always fell through, according to the nonprofit, due to owner buyouts and corporations wanting more money than the property’s appraised value.
However, the property’s new owner, Manulife Insurance company of Canada through its real estate investment trust, has expressed an interest in selling. That has View the Future raising funds in order to restore and manage the land and also pitching public agencies to purchase the property.
“View the Future would ultimately like to see a state or federal agency own the property,” Theilacker said. “And we have been in discussions with Oregon State Parks and Recreation Department who have expressed interest in the property and they are talking with Manulife to find out what it would take to purchase the property.”
While discussions between the nonprofit, state parks and Lincoln County officials have yet to move beyond the staff level, wheels are in motion and View the Future hopes the Oregon Parks and Recreation Commission will formerly review the property in November.
The state parks commission listened Thursday at its meeting in Hood River to an update on the property. Highlighted was the fact the land is adjacent to Cape Perpetua Scenic Area, and for recreation purposes provides “amazing vistas” and trails that could connect to established trails, including the Amanda Trail, according to a memo by agency property agent Ladd Whitcomb. There is also marbled murrelet — the federally endangered sea bird – habitat on the north side of the property.
The presentation did not call for immediate action but indicated staff would be studying the land’s environmental quality and market value — and should the land prove acceptable, would move toward an agreement to purchase it.
“When due diligence has been completed and a purchase and sale agreement is formalized, we will request commission approval to complete the acquisition of this property,” said the memo.
Who are best owners?
The ridge property borders Siuslaw National Forest, Weyerhaeuser-owned forestland, private residential property, and near its center 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 View the Future co-chair Joanne Kittel. It was last logged in 2016.
While the non-profit would prefer the parks department or even Siuslaw National Forest purchase the property, the group is arranging for contingency plans.
“If they don’t purchase it, we would look at other possible ultimate owners while either McKenzie River Trust or View the Future held the property,” Theilacker said.
View the Future has been partnering with McKenzie River Trust, a Eugene-based regional land trust, as well as Coalition of Oregon Land Trusts and the national Land Trust Alliance. The nonprofit’s immediate goal is to raise money through donations and grants in order to restore the property and then provide long-term stewardship of the land.
“If we raise $200,000 in the next six months, from what we understand then McKenzie River Trust would begin the process for fundraising for acquisition of the property,” Theilacker said.
The longer-term financial goal is to raise $2 million within five years to pay for ongoing restoration and management. While public agencies can provide funds to purchase property, they don’t have money to pay for rehabilitation and thus rely on partners like View the Future to meet that need.
The nonprofit has already raised more than $100,000 from just a dozen donors, and is stepping up its efforts with a newly formed fundraising and marketing group.
“We are going to fan out in many directions in terms of raising the necessary funds,” Theilacker said.
The executive director at McKenzie River Trust told View he Future that its board would be willing to acquire the property and temporarily hold it if the Yachats group were to cover management costs, Theilacker said.
Whether the property’s asking price will finally align with possible purchasers’ pocketbooks remains unknown because no price has been disclosed.
“We just don’t know,” Theilacker said. “It’s definitely in the millions. We’ve sort of been waiting to talk a little more with Oregon State Parks before McKenzie River Trust or View the Future undertakes an appraisal, with the owner’s permission, to get a handle on what it’s worth.”
The priceless view
For Kittel, whose property borders the ridge property, the fight to purchase and preserve the land goes deep.
“It’s all heart for me,” Kittel said. “I’ve always been very serious about finding a way to save it one way or another.”
View the Future, which was started by Yachats River valley resident Andrea Scharf, who wrote the book “Saving Big Creek,” envisions the ridge property as a place for hikers, bikers, bird watchers, nature lovers and tent campers to explore and enjoy unparalleled views.
The ridge line property, which rises to an elevation just over 1,500 feet, offers sweeping views of the Cape Perpetua headland and the Pacific Ocean, the city of Yachats and miles of beach north to Seal Rock and Cape Foulweather, the Yachats River valley and Marys Peak in the Coast Range to the east.
The property is riven with streams that include the headwaters of Amanda Creek. There are meadows, older stands of timber, overplanted clearcuts that need commercial thinning and brush clearing, and a partially-filled quarry once used to provide rock for logging roads, now transformed into a pond that attracts swarms of newts during mating season.
“My dream is for the community to embrace the acreage and make it a part of the community,” Kittel said. “It is a very special place that has such a rich cultural history. And I’ve seen the toll that clearcutting has taken over the years and it breaks my heart. This property needs our help.”
Kittel has been leading tours of the property to show community members, park staff and all three county commissioners the history, cultural remnants, diversity, which includes wetlands, and geological oddities like red basalt “cow pie plops” likely delivered by the eruption of Mount Mazama (now Crater Lake).
They all come away with a sense of just how exceptional the place is, Kittel said.
“Anyone who goes up on that property will feel that,” she said. “Just looking at it from Yachats State Park you see just a fraction of the beauty and the destruction. Every time I’m there I feel such joy but I also feel sadness. It’s a source for a lot of joy for other people as well. And once they are up there, they say ‘Yep, we have to do something about saving the property’.”
- Garret Jaros is YachatsNews’ full-time reporter and can be reached at GJaros@YachatsNews.com
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For more information go to the View the Future website
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To tour the property email Joanne Kittel at jnkittel@peak.org
Joanne is an amazing energetic guide and steward of the land. Last year she took me on a 7 mile hike touring Yachats Ridge, a treasure well worth preserving.
An excellent article. Preserving this land for future generations, though no small task, can be a way of connecting the Yachats community with this larger vision that extends to cultural, historical, educational, recreational, and environmental perspectives.
“View of the Future” is to be commended for their work to purchase this forestry land and restore it. Best for the land, best for the forest, best for the water, best for the planet. The community will rally behind this thoughtful project. Bravo to all of you. Thank you. Water is life and the forest is part of the ecosystem that provides us with fresh clean water.