Aberdeen and Hoquiam are looking at the possibility of acquiring thousands of acres of land within both cities’ watersheds with help from a national non-profit organization called the Trust for Public Land.

At a presentation to the Hoquiam City Council this week, Trust for Public Land project manager Sam Plotkin and project associate Anna Hadlich said the trust identifies land with conservation value and teams with public entities and the landowners to facilitate property sales, negotiate the sales, and develop a financing strategy for the purchase.

“The goal is to convey that land to a public entity for long-term stewardship,” said Plotkin, adding he has been in talks with Hoquiam City Administrator Brian Shay for more than a year about some 12,000 acres of Rayonier land within the city’s watershed, which includes Davis Creek and the West Fork Hoquiam River north of town.

“They approached the city and watershed committee about a wonderful opportunity that might help us acquire some additional timber lands,” Shay told the council.

With the council’s approval given Monday, the acquisition process of Hoquiam watershed property could begin this year.

“In terms of the timeline, a lot of funding program applications are starting up this summer and I think we’re in a place … to start initiating conversations with Rayonier and with appropriate members of the city and community and start to narrow in on specific pieces of property,” said Hadlich.

There is no cost to the cities to work with the Trust for Public Land. “You don’t pay us for our services,” said Plotkin. The Trust represents itself, not the city nor the seller, and its efforts are supported through philanthropic donations and donations from the property sellers.

Hadlich produced a map showing the numerous parcels currently owned by Rayonier in the Hoquiam watershed and said, “our goal here would be connectivity to to the existing (city) ownership, that would be a priority,” and also some larger blocks to the north that fall within the city’s priority surface water protection area.

Plotkin said the best strategy when the Trust approaches Rayonier, with whom they have had successful dealings elsewhere, is to aim big and scale back if necessary.

“I advocate for aiming big and scaling back rather than starting with the bare minimum and design up,” he said. “If you wind up with an embarrassment of riches it’s easier to scale back rather than scale up.”

The trust works to obtain funding for the purchases through existing state and federal programs, such as the state Recreation and Conservation Office Community Forest Program and the federal Forest Legacy Program, and potentially the state Department of Ecology.

The Aberdeen City Council Wednesday approved its own initial agreement with the trust for land in its watershed up the Wishkah River north of town. In a letter to Public Works Director Rick Sangder and City Engineer Kris Koski, Plotkin and Hadlich said, “Currently, Rayonier owns 4,520 acres within Aberdeen’s drinking watershed. This purchase would support the permanent protection of Aberdeen’s water supply and secure additional fee ownership for the city within its drinking watershed to maintain a working forest with a focus on watershed health.”

Before the Aberdeen council unanimously approved the agreement, Public Works Committee Chairman Nathan Kennedy reiterated that “nothing here is binding, this is just going to help us develop a plan for potentially getting land around our watershed and how to best go about it.”

Under city ownership, these watershed properties would remain working forests, with continued focus on protecting the water supply. The two cities rely on revenue from timber harvests for income to support their water systems. There are also potential recreational uses for such watershed properties in some cases.

The trust has had some success with other watershed projects in the region, including a current effort to purchase 400 acres in Pacific County.

“We’re in the process of working with the City of Ilwaco to purchase watershed land owned by Weyerhaeuser, and we’ve secured $1.2 million for that work,” said Plotkin.

This type of timberland conservation and “more traditional land activities” such as this in western Washington is one of two types of projects the trust undertakes, said Plotkin. The other is building or redeveloping parks in urban settings. According to the trust’s website, it has preserved more than 134,000 acres of open space, created a park or natural area within a 10-minute walk of nearly 127,000 people, and completed 331 projects and is currently supporting 17 community projects.

For more information on the Trust for Public Land, visit tpl.org.