Alder Springs protected

After changing hands eight times in as many years, the 840-acre Alder Springs Ranch will finally rest in public ownership.

A host of environmental groups converged on Sisters City Park Friday, September 18, for the final dedication of the Alder Springs in-holding. Surrounded by the Crooked River National Grassland, the property lies 14 miles due northeast of Sisters.

The ranch is a significant addition to the grassland, which hosts 8,000 mule deer in the the Metolius winter range, according to Trust For Public Land (TPL) materials. TPL assists the transfer of open space lands from private to public ownership and was a key player in the final acquisition of Alder Springs.

As crucial deer habitat, this rugged expanse also benefits mule deer predators.

"This is a pretty important area," explained Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODF&W) Biologist Ted Wise. "It provides an incredible prey base for mountain lions (as well as) golden and bald eagles who are very dependent on carrion."

In the canyon below the grasslands, Alder Springs itself transforms the flow of Squaw Creek.

According to TPL, the languid stream flows at an average of seven cubic feet per second (cfs) above Alder Springs.

"The water comes out of the spring at 57 cfs," said Brad Chalfant, executive director of the Deschutes Basin Land Trust.

"This is more water than comes out of the Head of the Metolius," he said. "Alder Springs is what the rest of Squaw Creek is supposed to look like."

The history of Alder Springs Ranch has been colorful.

"This area was all homesteaded in the 1880s," said Byron Cheney, district ranger for the Crooked River National Grassland. "It was real marginal farm ground, (and) in the '30s, during the depression, people moved away."

Through most of the century, one ranch remained surrounded by the southern portion of the Crooked River Grasslands. The Shumway Ranch was home to Alder Springs.

According to Chris Beck with the Trust For Public Land, the property had, "been in the Shumway family for generations."

Finally, in 1990, Ray Shumway sold his property to James Barton. According to Chalfant, Barton was "looking for seclusion, (and) closed the gate on the public road."

Two years later Barton's seclusion ended when he was allegedly found to be running a drug business from his home, and "in 1992 Barton went to prison on drug charges," Beck said.

According to Beck, Shumway originally sold the property to Barton on a contract, and rather than confiscate the land, the federal governemnt gave Alder Springs Ranch back to Shumway.

In 1993, TPL began talking to Shumway about acquiring the ranch.

"We met with Ray Shumway and worked with him for six or seven months," Beck said. "One day we came to make an offer on the property for $50,000 more than the appraised value, and he had already sold it to Pioneer Resources."

In 1994 Shumway in fact sold the Alder Springs Ranch to Pioneer Resources, a timber company in Eugene. But they didn't buy the property for its timber.

According to Beck, Pioneer had purchased some property that same year from Piotr Zenczak in the Willamette Valley.

As part of Pioneer's deal with Zenczak they agreed to find him an isolated (property) in the middle of the desert where he could retire.

Pioneer purchased Alder Springs for Zenczak, but Zenczek decided it would not provide the solitude he sought and in 1996, he sold it back to Pioneer.

Not having any other use for the ranchland, Pioneer considered partitioning the property, Beck said.

Chalfant confirmed that Pioneer had applied for a subdivision with Jefferson County to split the property into five parcels.

"We went to Eugene to start putting together a deal with Pioneer," explained Beck. "We also started talking to PGE/Enron who was buying property for wildlife mitigation, since we needed financial help."

"In July 1997, we signed a one-year option. We worked with the National Forest and finally acquired the property on March 30, 1998," Beck said.

The same day, TPL tranferred ownership of Alder Springs Ranch to the Crooked River National Grassland.

Funding for the purchase came from the Federal Lands and Wildlife Conservation Fund ($755,000); PGE/Enron ($105,000); ODF&W Habitat Access Fund ($50,000); Central Oregon Audubon Society ($1,500); and one anonymous donor ($12,000).

At Friday's dedication, both Chalfant and Beck credited ODF&W's Wise for his persistence in keeping Alder Springs on the table.

"He prodded me and kept me focused," Beck said. "He kept the local folks involved, kept his department interested in the project, and worked with PGE biologists to help document why this property was so valuable. He really put his heart in this."

Audubon board member Larry Pacenka said the 400-member organization has funding "held in reserve for such projects."

"In a desert environment, riparian areas are pretty special," Pacenka added. "Neotropical migrants nest there every year."

"We probably have conserved one of the most significant properties on Squaw Creek," said Chalfant.

Public access to Alder Springs is off Holmes Road from Highway 126 east of Sisters.

Take Holmes Road toward Lower Bridge and turn left at Road 6360; travel three or four miles and turn right on Road 6370 to the Barton cabin.