The 1.07 acre Bunker Creek wetland preserve is part of the 95 acre Bunker Creek basin, which ranges from sea level to 180 feet and provides important habitat for a diverse range of wildlife. This small postage stamp size preserve is vegetated with dense willow, red alder, shore pine and Sitka spruce within a residential area close to the connection with the Pacific Ocean. Historically, beaver and coyote were commonly seen in Lower Bunker Creek, but their presence has declined as the surrounding area has developed, water courses have changes and more people and their pets inhabit the area.
The 77 acre Matilda Happ preserve located in the Lower Beaver Creek watershed contains one of the few undeveloped freshwater wetlands on the West Coast. The Happ preserve is adjacent to the 1,261-acre Oregon State Park Brian Booth State Natural Area. The Happ Preserve and adjacent wetlands provide high quality waterfowl habitat. At dusk, ducks move to the slow moving, deep-water channel and dense cattails and bulrush of the preserve to roost for the night. TWC management includes removal and control of the invasive yellow flag iris.
The Lower Yaquina Estuary Preserve protects 85% of the estuarine habitat of McCaffery and Poole sloughs, one of the largest relatively undisturbed tidal marsh complexes in the Yaquina Estuary. The property in its entirety encompasses 357.6 acres in two tracts that contains historic tidal floodplain of the Yaquina River and upland forest. Management of each tract supports the overall connectivity of water, habitats and vegetative communities within the whole property as well as the Lower Yaquina watershed and estuary. The long-term ecological vision for the preserve is to implement enhancement and restoration projects, which include maintaining and enhancing the quality of the estuarine and forest habitats, habitat for priority estuary, floodplain and forest-dependent fish and wildlife species.
The 6.6 acre Seal Rock wetland is a dense scrub shrub spirea willow wetland. TWC’s acquisition of the property conserved several acres of forest that could have been cleared for a home site. The Seal Rock Preserve builds on and adds to TWC and Oregon State Parks Beaver Creek Conservation Area.
The 112.2 acre Bayview Oxbow Preserve, located in the Alsea River estuary in Waldport, is a former tidal wetland on the western arm of a relic oxbow, which was once connected to Alsea Bay. TWC’s goals for the preserve are to protect and enhance the wetland and forest habitats by restoring natural processes through the removal of tide gates, ditches, dikes and levees and creating a more structurally diverse forest. This approach promotes a “tree to sea” flow of nutrients that helps enhance habitat quality in the estuarine, fresh-water wetland, mudflat, meadow and upland forests.
The 122.7 acre Starr Creek Preserve is located in the east portion of Alsea Bay, about 3.5 miles East of Waldport. This small preserve is named for the salmon-bearing stream that runs through the property. TWC’s management goal for the preserve is to conserve and enhance the valuable intertidal marsh and freshwater wetlands, forest and meadow habitats, while also looking for opportunities to enhance connectivity to other conserved nearby estuarine and forested lands. This includes working with the Siuslaw National Forest and some adjacent private landowners on developing a common vision for building mature forest management goals, strategies and timelines.
TWC acquired the 194-acre Matson preserve in 2001. In 2008, TWC partnered with The Coos North Bend Water board to return natural tidal flow and flushing to the wetland. This action created 49 acres of brackish water wetland marsh and 23 acres of freshwater marsh. Shrub and forest habitat enhancement and creation have been done in partnership with Coos Watershed Association's youth education programs.
The 18-acre Ian Nedry Peterson (Woahink Bog) Preserve is located four miles south of Florence, Oregon on the eastern shoreline of Woahink Lake. This ecologically important, locally rare floating lake-mat community includes the only known Oregon occurrence of the globally significant Labrador Tea/ darlingtonia/ sphagnum plant association. This preserve also contains a population of the relatively rare black crowberry. This plant association also includes plants such as cobra lily (Darlingtonia californica) and Labrador-tea (Rhododendron neoglandulosum).
The Lincoln County Conservation Easement protects 35 acres of a largely undisturbed tidal salt marsh and diverse forest. The marsh provides habitat critical to species including Coho and chum salmon, Pacific lamprey, brown pelicans, bald eagles, as well as for Chinook salmon, sea-run cutthroat, steelhead trout and estuarine marsh habitat that supports use by waterfowl and a diversity of migratory shorebirds.
The 82.6 acre Beaver Creek conservation easement is located near the Brian Booth Natural Area. The property contains a combination of low-lying marsh and upland forest interspersed with open meadows. The forested uplands contain varying age stands of timber that are mostly Sitka spruce, cedar, Douglas fir, alder and western hemlock which contain critical habitat for the federally protected Marbled Murrelet, red tree vole, bald eagle, band tailed pigeon and olive-sided flycatcher.
The 89.45 acre Upper Yaquina Preserve is composed of three separate properties extending approximately 3 miles along both sides of the Yaquina River in Newport. Vegetation on the preserve varies from estuarine emergent marsh and estuarine scrub-shrub wetland to Sitka spruce swamp. The diversity of habitat supports a wealth of species including brown pelican, marbled murrelet, Caspian tern, black brant, Coho salmon, chum salmon, Chinook salmon and cutthroat trout.
