Creek high on Boneyard Ridge.

North Coast Land Conservancy received word that it has been selected to receive $524,000 from the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board toward purchase of Boneyard Ridge, a 360-acre parcel of commercial timberland threaded with salmon-bearing streams on the northeast slope of Tillamook Head.

Boneyard Ridge is tucked between conserved lands in Ecola State Park and NCLC’s own 364-acre Circle Creek Habitat Reserve south of Seaside. Purchase of this property will carry forward a legacy that was first envisioned in the 1930s, when the fledgling Oregon State Park system and some very generous Oregon families first created Ecola State Park. NCLC is helping to advance that vision by creating a connected, conserved region of more than 3,500 contiguous acres stretching from the summit of Tillamook Head to the Necanicum River valley and floodplain. Its stewardship goal for this property is to allow it to mature into a complex rainforest of the kind that once characterized headlands all along the northern Oregon coast.

Owners of the property are asking $1.8 million for Boneyard Ridge. To date NCLC has secured $560,000, including the OWEB funds. NCLC is seeking additional funds from a variety of sources, including public agencies and private foundations. The land trust plans to complete acquisition of Boneyard Ridge by the end of 2016.

Based in Seaside, North Coast Land Conservancy has been working since 1986 to conserve and connect the landscape of the Oregon Coast from the Columbia River to northern Lincoln County. The private, non-profit land trust works to ensure that this extraordinary region is a place where healthy communities of people, plants and wildlife can all thrive. For more information, visit NCLCtrust.org.