Our Current Projects

NOSC. WDFW. DNR. This alphabet soup of acronyms represents just a few of the partners who help Jefferson Land Trust (JLT) in our mission to protect open space, working lands, and habitat forever. Here in Jefferson County, and nationwide, successful land protection requires the cumulative knowledge, efforts, and resources of many different organizations working together. Some of our most recent projects are good examples of this successful collaboration:

Quimper Wildlife Corridor

Our first project, still going strong after 10 years, is the Quimper Wildlife Corridor - a "ribbon of green" stretching all across the North Quimper Peninsula.

For project details and maps click here.

If you wish to help by donating time or muscle power as a Friend of the Quimper Wildlife Corridor, or to donate money to our Opportunity Campaign to help with additional acquisitions and/or stewardship expenses, please see the many ways you can help.

Salmon Habitat Protection and Restoration

Much of the proactive work of Jefferson Land Trust is focused on salmon habitat – protecting the natal streams and estuaries that truly are coded in the memories of our native salmon stocks, such as summer chum, Chinook, and coho. We have received nearly $1 million in grants over the last several years to help acquire properties in the Snow Creek and Salmon Creek Estuary at Discovery Bay and in the Chimacum Creek, Tarboo Creek, and Dosewallips River watersheds.

One such project that highlights our efforts and our "Chumsortium" partnership with numerous agencies and organizations is the Snow and Salmon Creek project, located at the head of Discovery Bay. The two creeks enter into the bay and provide rich habitat for several salmon species, including the endangered summer chum, coho, steelhead and in the estuary forage fish, shore birds, sturgeon, eagles hawks, geese and other wildlife abound. Salmon Creek has the second largest summer chum run in the Hood Canal area, topping more than 5,000 returning fish last summer. Since 2001, when we received a $400,000 grant from the State Salmon Recovery Funding Board, we have been working with our partners to acquire critical riparian, floodplain, estuary and tideland habitat. Restoration of Salmon Creek is already underway, with a beautiful remeander, and additional restoration efforts, trail access, interpretive display and educational opportunities are being planned. Salmon are a northwest icon - they are our canary in the coal mine – we are working to ensure they have plenty of the habitat they depend on for survival so that they may continue to provide for us – as food, and as an economic and cultural resource.

Working Lands

Protecting agricultural lands and working forests is a newer and evolving focus of Jefferson Land Trust. One of our recent success stories is Sunfield Farm, a model of community collaboration, which brings youth education, sustainable land use, local agriculture, and rural redevelopment together in one pioneering project.

For three years, Sunfield Education Association, Jefferson Land Trust, Jefferson County Conservation District, and many community supporters worked to save an 81-acre historic dairy farm from residential development. In 2001, the land went on the market, platted for 5-acre home-sites. More than 180 individuals, businesses, and local, state and federal agencies contributed resources ranging from $1 to $165,000 to preserve this farm and its 50 acres of valuable farmland, including prime agricultural soils. The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) awarded Jefferson Land Trust a $165,000 grant for Sunfield Farm under the federal Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program in 2004. The Jefferson County Conservation Futures Fund provided $129,000 in local matching funds required to obtain the federal grant. Additional funding was provided by the PCC Farmland Fund, created in 1999 by PCC Natural Markets, Orcas Anthroposophical Trust, and many individual donors from across the nation.

The conservation easement acquired by Jefferson Land Trust permanently protects 43 acres of agricultural fields, 7 acres of wetlands, and 26 acres of forest and wildlife habitat. Five acres of the property are designated outside of the conservation easement to permit construction of an educational center.

Sunfield Education Association, a small grassroots non-profit organization run by volunteers and a small staff, envisions the farm as a model of sustainable land use and education. Specifically, youth educational programs will provide participants with an appreciation of where our food comes from, an understanding of sustainable farming, a respect for the balance between nature, agriculture and human needs, and training in entrepreneurial skills, community service, and land stewardship. A K-8 Waldorf school adjacent to the conserved land will provide education in a farm-based setting. A Food Share project will provide skills training, organic produce, and a sense of self-sufficiency to local families in need. An active organic farm operation, using biodynamic methods, will provide local produce for the region.