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.
TWC’s Arch Cape Preserve is a 1.27 acre property located in Clatsop County, Oregon. This coastal property has a permanent body of water created by a rocky berm and driftwood. This pond is a perfect place for the rough skinned newt to spawn. Also seen in the pond are salamanders, dragonflies and water striders. Great blue heron and merganser nests have been found in the cattails, bulrush, spirea, salal and willows that surround the pond. Continuous site management focuses on removing and controlling the invasive Himalayan blackberry so other natives can flourish. 
The Doris Davis Beaver Marsh formerly known as Neahkahnie Beaver Pond is a 3.9 acre coastal wetland. 1.43 acres of the wetland is under the ownership of TWC. The property is located in the Nehalem watershed in Neahkahnie, Tillamook County. The preserve consists of two streams that join at the western edge of the property. A pond usually dries up in the mid to late summer months as the inflow to the marsh is limited by the stream activity. TWC maintains this preserve through the removal and control of the invasive purple loosestrife. Purple loosestrife inhibits native plants and diminishes habitat for wildlife nesting. If you are in Manzanita don’t miss the opportunity to look over the beaver marsh from the viewing platform, listen for woodpeckers in the snags or look for water birds and salamanders. We’ve been working with Lower Nehalem Community Trust and Northwest Youth Corps to partner for removal events.