Behind the preservation of Whychus Canyon

I read with interest the article about the Deschutes Land Trust acquiring 58 acres along Whychus Creek. As the board chair of Wolftree I am grateful to DLT for protecting this vital section of the Whychus. However, what the article failed to mention was that the time, talent and treasure that went in to preserve this special place began long before the DLT was even interested.

Forrest Babcock and I lived adjacent to this property for 12 years. In 2006 when the real estate boom was at its most absurd, we discovered that it was being considered for a five-to-seven-house development. It was important for us to do what we could to stop that.

We started with the Deschutes Land Trust. They suggested this property was too small to bother with so we contacted Wolftree, a local education, conservation, and restoration organization. Dale Waddell met us at the canyon rim, and that first walk was all he needed. We began a series of Sunday-morning "walkabouts" where we hiked small groups of people into the canyon from our home. Very little needed to be said ... we let the place speak for itself. Everyone who came recognized the significance of this property and donated time or money to help protect it.

At a pizza parlor in Bend the owners and Wolftree agreed on a price. They agreed to let us fundraise the money needed to purchase it, effectively taking it off the market for the next 120 days. We began a capital campaign and increased our "walkabouts." This effort culminated in a fundraiser at Aspen Lakes Golf Course. Forrest and I gave our entire charitable giving budget for that year along with some friendly, arm twisting, extended-family money.

Realizing we needed BIG money, Dale invited an OWEB representative to join him in a private walk to the canyon. I met him later at Depot Café where a surprised Dale shared that the gentleman had "gone spiritual" down there. He wrote a check out of his own pocket and told Dale if he got the proposal to OWEB before the deadline he would personally shepherd it through.

The process to get a grant from OWEB for land acquisition is difficult, expensive, and we only had 4 months to get it done! It requires a "yellow book appraisal" of the property. The Wolftree staff worked for weeks to map and grid the entire property; do fish counts, bird counts, plant ID and species reports. Karen Waddell, Forrest and I spent hours on the property assisting this effort. It paid off, as in October of that year OWEB funded our grant request at 100 percent! Even though this did not pay the owners all that was owed, the property was now a conservation easement and could never go back into private hands.

The Whychus Creek Discovery Outpost (WCDO) was born!

From 2009-2013 the WCDO welcomed students every week for 6-10 weeks in the fall and again in the spring. We created a parking area for school busses, and one group built a trail for access. Watching students counting and then planting fish with the ODFW, tracking wildlife, recording plant species, doing restoration work and making memories through learning made us realize that all of our time, sacrifice and money had been worth it.

When DLT began The Campaign for Whychus Creek it now made sense to acquire this property as part of that vision. Wolftree stepped aside and DLT negotiated with the original property owners and a deal was done. This was a happy ending to a years-long process.

This story is told to bring to light all the years of hard work and sacrifice that had to happen for DLT's latest acquisition to become reality. Wolftree risked everything on this, and each of us who supported Wolftree in this endeavor had a hand in protecting this incredible place.

Congratulations to us all!