Swamp Preserved

Conservation

Fringed in moss and mud, a quiet backwater on the Lower Columbia River about 15 miles east of Astoria is the last intact Sitka spruce swamp in Oregon. Thanks to the Knappa family and The Nature Conservancy, it will stay that way.

Stretching from Alaska to Tillamook Bay, spruce swamps once dominated marshy coastal river bottoms, but they were slowly replaced by diked farmlands.

Now only pieces are left, small pieces: Blind Slough is the second largest chunk of spruce swamp left in the lower 48 states. Some of the spruce in the 800-acre swamp are 600 years old.

A few people recognized the value of this place in time to keep it whole. In 1992, the conservancy acquired a 632-acre parcel from the James River Corp. after two years of negotiations, preserving about two-thirds of the slough.

A family preserved more than 120 acres through two generations until the conservancy could purchase that portion, too.

Nearby in Blind Slough, geese share a swampy stomping ground with bald eagles, great blue herons, ducks, beaver, river otters, western pond turtles, Columbia white-tailed deer and salmon.

Since the best way to see the slough is from water, the conservancy is laying out a canoe trail.