Conserving the Carbon River for Wildlife and Community
March 2,1899. President William McKinley signed legislation establishing Mount Rainier National Park as the fifth national park in the United States. For over a century, this action has helped to conserve the pristine waters flowing from the mountain’s glaciers.
Wildlife and communities just outside the National Park’s perimeter rely on these clean glacial waters, and the water supply for towns like Carbonado could look very different today had it not been for past land conservation actions.
The Carbon River makes a 30-mile journey from the Carbon Glacier on Mount Rainier. Before it joins with the Puyallup River, it passes by the town of Carbonado, one of the largest and long-lived company towns during the area’s commercial coal mining boom during the 1860s.
Since then, mining operations have dwindled while some timber harvesting continued. It was the timber harvesting along the Carbon River in the late 90s and early 2000s, however, that suddenly became a major concern for Carbonado residents.
Town officials worried that extensive logging of surrounding forests would pollute drinking water with increased sediment runoff. Fewer trees also meant a potential risk of increased flooding. But by 2006, the Town of Carbonado had a plan in motion.
Forterra—then known as Cascade Land Conservancy—joined forces with the Town, assisting in the transaction of over 7,500 acres of forestland within the Carbon River watershed.
With Forterra’s facilitation, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources purchased the land from a log and paper products supplier and placed a conservation easement that would conserve Carbonado’s forest and thereby protect its valuable natural resources.
The Carbonado Forest acquisition added to several earlier projects facilitated by Forterra, such as the 2003 conservation of Carbon River Valley County Park in partnership with Pierce County.
Combined with these smaller land parcels, the Carbonado Forest continues to provide its numerous benefits to wildlife, scenic trails for hikers, and drinking water for the residents who call the foothills of Mount Rainier home.
Read more about how Forterra is conserving lands to improve watershed and community health in Forterra – Land for People. Land for Nature. Land for Good.™
