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Heertje Conservation Easement:
160 Acres
located
along the western flank of Crawford Mountain in
southeastern Thurston County.
Conserved in 1996.
The
property consists of extensive woodlands, wetlands and
riparian corridor on the 1,500 foot incline of Crawford
Mountain and the alluvial plain of Cozy Valley. The
property is an important part of the headwater tributary
system of Scatter Creek. Survey work has revealed
hundreds of species of unique wetland, aquatic, and
understory plants and coniferous and deciduous
woodlands.
Notes from the Field:
Heertje Easement
by Shelley Kirk Rudeen
(Issue 23 Spring 1997)
The first glimpse of Cozy Valley shows how aptly it
is named. Wet meadows nestle between forested hills; wisps of cloud
drift among the trees and settle over tawny grasses. The valley lies
east of Tenino at the headwaters of Scatter Creek. Gabrielle
Heertje-Nettek and Manfred Nettek have recently protected 160 acres of
the valley with a Capitol Land Trust conservation easement.
I visit the valley in early January, the air full of
something between fog and rain, the temperature a balmy 48°. It seems
like ideal conditions after the ice, melting snow and pounding rain
that greeted the new year. A farm road takes me past the house and
barns, which are not part of the easement, and up into forested hills.
Moss-cloaked maples and alders hoary with lichens mingle with fir,
hemlock, and cedar.
Water saturates the soil and swells the mosses. It
weights the fronds of sword fern so that they form elegant drapes on
the hillsides. The air is filled with the sound of water gathering in
rills, tumbling in creeks, dripping from branches. A Winter Wren
trills its song into this liquid concerto; frogs add their off-key
tenor. I follow a creek upstream to two ponds in the forest, created
years ago by a previous owner and recently restored. Rough-skinned
newts appear in the water; each waltzes slowly up from the bottom of
the pond, grabs a gulp of air and swims to the bottom again.
Upstream from the ponds the creek is carried in a
steep ravine. Well-rooted, undisturbed vegetation and intact woody
debris protects the creek and the slump-prone soils. A Varied Thrush
whistles from a tree top; a few moments later it appears on the forest
floor, foraging among leaf litter and the winter-ragged foliage of
wild ginger. Winter Wrens flit along the stream and disappear into a
tangled orgy of vine maple. Kinglets call from the canopy and Rufous-sided
Towhees buzz in the underbrush.
A flash of red catches my eye and I strain
unsuccessfully for another glimpse. Too small for a Pileated
Woodpecker. Too much red for a Downy or Hairy Woodpecker. Perhaps it
is a Red-breasted Sapsucker, though the Audubon bird list warns me
that they are uncommon here in winter. Pileated Woodpeckers are most
certainly in residence, however; their tell-tale rectangular holes
adorn several trees in this forest. The ravine widens to reveal a
grove of silvery alders and a small squirrel munching on cones. My
gaze follows the bits of cone that fall and scatter on the forest
floor and I realize that the tracks of deer and Roosevelt elk are
strewn there as well.
Wet, open meadows lie over the hill. A Roughed
Grouse flushes at my approach, but I am more interested in the figure
lurking in the meadow. With slow movements and its neck poised to
strike, a Great Blue Heron stalks its prey. It seems oddly out of
place; perhaps its foraging is testimony to the wetness of the meadow,
or maybe small mammals are its quarry.
As the meadows gather rain released by the hills
they form the headwaters of Scatter Creek, where the owners have
invested in yet another habitat restoration project. Newly planted
trees will one day provide a forest canopy to help keep stream
temperatures just right for native cutthroat trout, and will provide
the detritus so vital to a healthy stream food web.
Although a host of winter residents have shown me
the diversity of habitats offered here, a reddish blush in the alder
canopy is a reminder that spring is on the way. Returning songbirds,
waking bats, and emerging flowers can be sure that an undisturbed Cozy
Valley will be waiting for their arrival.
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