Western Rivers Conservancy protected another 120 acres of fish and wildlife habitat along Oregon’s Sandy River last month. With the completion of this project, WRC has now conserved over 4,500 acres along the Sandy and its tributaries, helping ensure that Portland’s backyard river stays healthy for generations to come.
The project protected nearly half a mile of Little Joe Creek, an important salmon and steelhead-bearing tributary to the Sandy River. The Sandy’s imperiled runs of winter steelhead, coho salmon and fall and spring Chinook are all listed under the Endangered Species Act. WRC’s efforts throughout the basin, including our work on Little Joe Creek, are conserving prime habitat for all of these fish.
Our efforts at Little Joe Creek also linked an existing county park with protected BLM lands, and will help the BLM expand its Sandy Ridge Trail System. Created in 2010, Sandy Ridge has become one of the country’s top mountain bike destinations.
WRC began its work on the Sandy River in 1999, when it partnered with Portland General Electric at the outset of the utility’s dam removals on the Sandy and Little Sandy Rivers. With the dams coming out, WRC committed to conserving 4,500 acres of prime riverland habitat in partnership with PGE. Since then, we have created an unprecedented conservation and recreation corridor on this outstanding glacial river, just 25 miles from downtown Portland. Much of the land we acquired from PGE is now managed by the BLM within a designated Area of Critical Environmental Concern.
Although WRC has met its original goal of conserving 4,500 acres along the Sandy, we continue to seek out high-quality riverlands, where acquisition will allow us to protect more habitat for Oregon’s fish and wildlife. Whether you’re a bike ride or a full day day’s drive from the Sandy, we hope you’ll cheer this success. An important property along a remarkable western river has been conserved forever.
