Kelsey


 Location: NE of Lake Terrell
Size: 20 acres

Salmon spawning habitat, bat houses, lowland forest

Butler Creek winds across this 20-acre nature preserve northeast of Lake Terrell. Donated to WLT by Ruth Kelsey in 1991, the property has been managed and monitored by both WLT and the Washington Department of Fish and Game.

Fences were built to discourage ORV use on the land.

Bat houses were installed to provide alternatives to the neighbors’ attics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blackberry control has been approached in a couple of ways.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, though, WLT is excited about the need to restore the riparian (streamside) zone along the creek where Coho salmon once spawned. In the 1950’s, the Department of Fish and Wildlife installed a dam on Terrell Creek to create the lake and surrounding wetlands for recreational use by fishers and hunters. Ironically, the dam is too high for Cohos to navigate. In recent years, the state has undertaken efforts to correct these sorts of errors and it seems that a FishPassage Project may soon be starting in Ferndale.

 

We need an environmental ethic that will tell us as much about using nature as about not using it… some kind of responsible use and non-use that might attain a balanced sustainable relationship. — William Cronon, On Common Ground, 1996