Hosted at the Pacific Maritime Heritage Center, this will be a presentation by Bill Barton about this new nature preserve.
The Yakona Nature Preserve was created as a forest sanctuary on Yaquina Bay with hiking trails and viewpoints freely accessible to people of all abilities and offers opportunities to learn about resident wildlife and cultural history, and to serve as a living laboratory of coastal ecosystems.
In July of 2012, the Bartons began buying land parcels in the area, working to piece together one of the last natural areas of its kind on the Oregon coast. To date, they’ve acquired 168-acres on a large peninsula on Yaquina Bay that’s home to elk, black bears, cougars, eagles and more. Working closely with a skilled forester, the Bartons seek to return the land as closely as possible to what it might have looked like hundreds of years ago. The Bartons have planted nearly 10,000 native trees and shrubs, including 7,000 Sitka spruce.