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Holm
Farm Conservation Easement:
91
Acres located outside Rochester, along the Black River.
Protected with Conservation Easement in 2004.
Holm Farm: Letting Nature Take Over
by Shelley Kirk Rudeen
(Issue 43, Winter 2005)
The
dark waters that give the Black River its name rise from springs
near Black Lake, and flow south in a languid retracing of the
torrent that raged from the last ice age glacier.
Fourteen miles downstream the river curls in a great oxbow,
slipping past the shadows of a tangled bank of Oregon ash and red
osier, cascara and wild rose.
This curving mile of water shapes 91-acre Holm Farm – a
blend of wild habitat and carefully stewarded farmland.
Pete
Holm and Margaret Rader grew up on the farm – land that their
grandparents bought in the 1920s and their parents worked as a
dairy. Later
years have brought this brother and sister back to the land, along
with a desire to see it protected for future generations. In
addition to donating a conservation easement to Capitol Land Trust,
they are working with the Natural Resources Conservation Service to
enlarge the buffer of riparian forest along the river.
Thousands of trees are being planted, and a new fence will
protect riparian areas while assuring continued agricultural use of
pastured land. Summer
water temperatures in the river sometimes exceed recommended levels,
and Margaret notes that shade from their riparian trees plays an
important role in improving water quality in the river.
“Grandpa
must be spinning in his grave to see us planting all these trees,”
laughs Margaret, remembering the hard work of clearing stumps in the
pasture years ago.
“Our dad was ahead of his time, though,” adds Pete.
“He didn’t farm right up to the edge of the river like
other folks did.
He left vegetation along the shoreline, and preserved small
groves in the pasture to provide shade for the farm animals. Today
those wild edges and groves provide real conservation value, and
they are the places where we are letting the forces of nature take
over.”
Along
the wet, wild edges of the riverbank, mink, otter, muskrat, and
beaver go about the business of hunting and foraging, and the work
of raising their young.
Salmon spawn in the gentle riffles of the river, while herons
stalk the shallows and kingfishers hunt from perches above the
water. Wood
ducks and mallards dabble for aquatic insects.
“We
also have a big population of raptors,” says Pete, noting the open
pastures, as well as edge habitat where field meets forest, and
forest meets stream.
“We see Cooper’s hawks and kestrels, and lots of northern
harriers. There are eagles, osprey, and red-tailed hawks, too.”
The
Black River has garnered attention in recent years as one of the most
important wildlife habitats in the state, supporting a wide
variety
of migratory birds and fish.
Capitol Land Trust is working in partnership with the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, The Nature Conservancy, Washington
Department of Fish and Wildlife and Thurston County to identify,
purchase and develop significant habitat preserves within this
extraordinary ecosystem.
Through
the conservation easement with the Capitol Land Trust, Holm
Farm becomes an important piece in the mosaic of protected lands along
the Black River.
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