The Columbia Land Trust and the Bonneville Power Administration this week announced the purchase of 560 acres near the mouth of the Columbia River to permanently protect riverside habitat for Northwest fish and wildlife, including threatened and endangered salmon and steelhead.

The acquisitions will benefit young salmon and steelhead from Oregon, Washington and Idaho that gain essential strength in the estuary during their migration to the ocean. Protecting habitat in the estuary helps offset the impacts of federal hydroelectric dams on the Columbia and Snake river systems and is a central element of a federal biological opinion governing operation of the dams.

The three newly protected properties include:

• 117 acres at the mouth of the Wallicut River, rich fish habitat just outside of Ilwaco, Wash. Capt. William Lewis and his crew reportedly camped on this property shortly before voting to spend the winter at Fort Clatsop, Ore.
• 378 acres at Knappton Cove on the north side of the Columbia River roughly opposite Astoria, Ore.
• 65 acres of tidelands, floodplain and uplands at the mouth of the Deep River where it empties into Grays Bay on the Washington side of the Columbia River.

"These projects benefit every salmon and steelhead run in the entire Columbia River watershed, and are part of Columbia Land Trust's concerted habitat restoration effort that has already conserved a tapestry of critical habitat now encompassing more than 5,300 acres," said Glenn Lamb, executive director of Columbia Land Trust.

Columbia Land Trust purchased the properties with funding from the Bonneville Power Administration and its electric ratepayers. Additional funds were provided by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the Washington Recreation & Conservation Office: Salmon Recovery Funding Board. The final purchase, Knappton Cove, closed last week. BPA will receive a conservation easement for each property to ensure that their habitat will be protected in perpetuity.

"We have stepped up our efforts to protect and restore estuary habitat as science has demonstrated how important the estuary is to juvenile fish," said Lorri Bodi, BPA's vice president of Environment, Fish and Wildlife. "Good estuary habitat is like a head start program for salmon about to head out to the ocean."

Management plans for the properties will be developed with public input. Potential restoration will also support the local economy and jobs. The restored habitat will benefit coho, chinook and chum salmon; steelhead; and cutthroat trout, as well as terrestrial wildlife such as black bear, elk and river otter.