The finest remaining ancient forests in the Northwest lie along streams. One virgin watershed is the Silver Creek basin near Cle Elum, Washington. Silver Creek was never roaded or logged, but once owned by Plum Creek Timber Company in a checkerboard with the U.S. Forest Service. In one of our most exciting projects to date, Western Rivers Conservancy purchased 2,880 acres of old growth on Silver Creek and Scatter Creek in the Wenatchee National Forest from Plum Creek in 1993.

The Silver Creek basin is a hanging valley above the Yakima River plain, a pathway for hikers and elk and home for herds of mountain goats. When a proposed land exchange with the Forest Service collapsed, Plum Creek made plans to build roads into the basin and begin logging the old growth. At the request of the Alpine Lakes Protection Society, Western Rivers Conservancy negotiated the purchase from Plum Creek. The valley is now owned by the Wenatchee National Forest and managed as part of the Alpine Lakes Area.

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