Daniel Misch is the new Arid Lands Assistant Manager at the Moses Coulee/Beezley Hills Preserves.
He’ll be leading post-fire restoration projects and assisting with many other stewardship activities on the preserves.
Grant will support taking youth to TNC preserves
The Nature Conservancy’s Partners to Preserves program has been awarded a grant through Washington’s No Child Left Inside grant program to support bringing 400 youth to TNC preserves across Washington over the next two years.
TNC’s Partners to Preserves program works with organizations serving youth to bring their outdoor programs to TNC preserves in Pacific, Jefferson, Okanagan, San Juan, Island, Kitsap, Snohomish, Kittitas, Grant, and Douglas counties. Youth will participate in science and learn natural and cultural history, art, hiking, and camping.
Rowing to Yellow Island
Gift of Land Will Aid Pygmy Rabbit Recovery
The Human/Nature Connection: Legacy
Yellow Island Trees
Searching for the right approach to recreation in the Beezley Hills
Our Moses Coulee-Beezley Hills Preserve is one of the Conservancy’s largest landholdings in Washington and we’ve been working over the last several years to share information and increase engagement with the local community in Central Washington.
Our commitment to community engagement was strengthened when I met a neighboring landowner to the preserve who told me that, at a recent Quincy Chamber of Commerce Event, many people identified the Beezley Hills Preserve as an area they valued, but were interested in knowing more about visitor access and trails in the region.
Community in the Forest in the Time of Covid
Since the Central Cascades Forest reopened, I have been reflecting on the profound service we are providing our community by offering our privately-owned land to the public. As we patrol the Cle Elum Ridge, just north of the small towns to Cle Elum, Roslyn, and Ronald, the community members we encounter are engaging in a more meaningful manner.
Exploring Moses Coulee/Beezley Hills
Exploring Moses Coulee I walk past a Say’s phoebe nest in the rafters of the patio. The parents seem to have adjusted to my common intervention into their space. I follow the edge of the lake to the trailhead and as I enter the trail, my attention shifts from the mallards and American coots diving in the water to the tall sagebrush and rubber rabbitbrush. Remnants of several different animals remind me of the varying wildlife that also call the Preserves home. I step over mule deer and sage thrasher tracks in the dried dirt, pass jackrabbit scats, and hike around large badger holes that are likely now home to smaller mammals.
What Wildlife are We Spotting at Moses Coulee?
Sweethearts on the Prairie
Colleen Shannon and Jeff Osmundson have been volunteering for The Nature Conservancy in Washington for the past 13 years. As Volunteer Stewards they serve as our eyes and ears on TNC preserves. As a couple they have dedicated over 300 hours to help preserve the natural beauty of Port Susan Bay and Fisher Slough. They’re now taking their dedication to Zumwalt Prairie, a Nature Conservancy p[reserve in Eastern Oregon.
We filled in the last puzzle piece at Foulweather Bluff
This latest acquisition protects the Preserve’s second-most important physical feature, after its namesake 50-foot feeder bluff, a brackish marsh which is fed by a freshwater drainage from the northeast. This site has been identified by the Washington Natural Heritage Program as one of the top 20 most significant coastal wetlands in the Puget Sound region. The driftwood berm separating the marsh from Hood Canal is breached periodically by winter storms and high tides, introducing a more saline element into the marsh.
Adventures in Field Science from Port Susan to Moses Coulee
Participating in the adventures of field science as volunteer with Stewardship has taken me across the state, from Port Susan Bay to Moses Coulee. The experiences have been great opportunities to learn about the important and innovative studies we are doing at our preserves and a way to contribute to the bigger picture of conservation.
San Juan Islands - Yellow Island and the islands beyond
Less widely known is the fact that The Nature Conservancy also stewards three other islands in the San Juan Islands and holds the conservation easement on a fourth island. Each month, I hop in the Conservancy’s trusty aunty green boat, to check on these islands and monitor the flora and fauna throughout the year.
Come with me on a quick tour of the Conservancy’s San Juan Island properties. Along the way, I’ll highlight the works of a few local authors who have written about the area.
Lives of the Land Stewards
The Stewardship Team here in Washington has a big job: to care for about 47,000 acres in 33 preserves and 11 easements scattered across the state, from tiny Deadman Island, less than 2 acres in the San Juans, to the Moses Coulee/McCartney Creek/Beezley Hills complex of preserves covering more than 30,000 acres in the sagelands of Central Washington. Meet 4 team members and see videos of the work they do.
