West Tiger Mountain – These large trees and icy cold creeks above everything are palaces prepared for the fish of the ruler: steel heads.
On February 4, when he acted as a commissioner of public land as one of his first officials, Dave Uptie Grove led the National Natural Resources Commission to expand King County’s beloved national protected reserves. It was approved unanimously. A large 100 acres of trees are too steep on the slope, dominating steelhead creek to cut for timber, but are now permanently protected as part of the DNR. West Tiger Mountain Natural Resources Conservation Area.
First established in 1989, the West Tiger Conservation area has over 4,000 acres of steep mountainsides, summit rock outcrops, meadows, cliffs and hiking trails.
The land was a perfect candidate for the state due to the value of marginal wood, and the other benefits and value of recreation and habitat, which is so spectacular. Trust the transfer of land Programme, Upthegrove said.
Bureau of Natural Resources
The West Tiger Mountain Natural Resources Conservation Area has been expanded nearly 100 acres in swaps with King County, which benefits Steelhead and preserves precious local forests.
Under that, the Ministry of Natural Resources is permitted to relocate land with high conservation value but low economic potential to other public institutions such as the park sector, and exchanges it with an improved ability to generate revenue. Get the land. “Everyone wins,” Upthegrove said as he walked down the snowy slopes of the forest on Thursday.
The program is funded by the state legislature, and the transfer costs more than $1.3 million, reflecting the proximity of the land to the 90 Interstate corridor just outside Preston.
With its hemlock, cedars with sweeping branches and towering Douglas fir just falling into the growth potential of old, the forest is a gift for the future. “You walk into a forest like this and feel different,” Upthegrove said. “You feel that you’re changing yourself. Something leaves you with your body, stress, anxiety.”
Located about 35 miles east of Seattle, the area is part of a local Cascade Mountain Foothill chain known as the Isaac Alps, including the Tiger, Skaku and the Cougar Mountains. Here, Black Tail Deer, Cougars, Bobcats, Black Bear, Coyote, Elk, Red Tailhawks, Osprey, Barred Owl, Pygmy Owl, Stake Woodpecker and more thriving here. A waterfowl fleet tours the reserve lake.
“These places are close to the city centres, but they offer a vacation from the hubge of the world,” says Upthegrove. “They provide habitat, prevent flooding and landslides. They help keep the entire ecosystem intact. They are the connection between the highlands and the stream.”
These large, old trees are also valuable for climate stability, he noted. “Old trees store a lot of carbon. The soil also stores a lot of carbon when it remains uninterrupted. Having these big old trees, I’m thinking about it today. There’s none, but there’s also a heat shelter,” he shook the snow. The ice glazes the rocks of Soderman Creek, and the icicles soaked the banks in their fangs.
This shelter to nature has been built for years.
Forest roads have been abolished, and dark verts repaired by DNRs on the facility have been abolished by the DNR to improve fish habitat. This year, the Washington Department of Transport is planning three dark vert alternatives to the basin to benefit coho, residential trout, sea-carried cutthroat trout and steelheads.
This forest is only about 20% of the parcels suitable for harvesting wood due to its erosionable and steep slopes. Now I’ve found a better, better use. Natural Resource Conservation Area.
