News & Press

During the summer of 2019 CDLT is allowing several partner organizations to use our properties to access the river and improve habitat for salmon and steelhead.  From July 8 to 12 all of the CDLT Entiat Stillwaters properties will be closed to the public because helicopters will be flying logs over the area and the nearby river.  In addition, three of these properties (Bremer, Tyee Confluence, and Troy) will be closed to the public from July 1 to Sept 1 due to heavy equipment operation operating in the fields and along the riverbanks.

WENATCHEE — In a few weeks, hikers of the Jacobsen Preserve will have a story to read.

The Chelan-Douglas Land Trust, with help from the North Central Regional Library, is installing pages from a children’s book to encourage kids to read and go outside.

“It’s something else for kids to do that will foster an appreciation of both those things,” said Kathy Peven, the land trust’s communications coordinator.

Here in North Central Washington, we are surrounded by wildflowers in the spring. It truly is a magical time of year.

It’s easy to love being outside when the weather is beautiful and the hills are covered in green velvet, yellow balsamroot and purple-blue lupine. Farther up valley, we may be seeing calypso orchids, or other forest-dwelling flowers.

Let’s explore how to use the beauty of wildflowers to capture your children’s imagination and help them fall in love with nature.

WENATCHEE — Though normally prohibited, ATVs will be on Saddle Rock next week. GeoEngineers will use them for surveying as part of a project involving removing waste rock piles.

read more in the Wenatchee World

LAKE WENATCHEE — The recently approved state capital budget doesn’t include funding for a Nason Ridge community forest pilot program, but the project could still become a reality.

Sen. Brad Hawkins, R-East Wenatchee, introduced a bill this past legislative session to establish a community forest pilot program under the state Department of Natural Resources. It passed the Senate but never made it to a vote on the House floor.

When I was around 9, I spent countless hours after school watching two colonies of ants on my sidewalk. They marched in meandering lines along the sidewalk, collecting food and carrying it back to the entrance holes to their nests.

When two ants met, they tapped each other all over with their little antennae before passing by. Eventually, two ants from the different colonies would meet, and a battle would start, sometimes escalating into a war. It was like watching an epic movie on a tiny scale.

WENATCHEE — Each year, the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust asks volunteers to spend a few hours shoveling and raking the thin dirt strips that zigzag through the Wenatchee foothills. It’s simple but important work that improves trail health, and the time to do it is in the spring when soils are malleable.

“We have very limited soil moisture in Wenatchee, so we tend to try and do a big push for spring maintenance in order to work with the trail tread and the soil when it’s soft and wet,” said Hanne Beener, trail programs manager with the Land Trust.

Curious Wenatchee area residents and visitors can use a newly published brochure to guide identification of locally common native plants and animals. The Wenatchee Area Field Guide is lightweight, waterproof, and costs $8.95. Users are introduced to over 100 native trees, shrubs, wildflowers, insects, birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. Color illustrations accompany descriptive texts, helping the observer to quickly identify species.

Foothills Trails News:

RAIN means muddy trails... and roads. We're scheduled to get between 1/2 and 3/4 of an inch in the next 24 hours.

Please, please, please, avoid Horse Lake Road for at least half a day after a rain event. The slick road is unsafe, no matter what car you drive - and it can really damage the road.

And, of course, please take care of the trails - wait til they dry out a bit to use them again.  Thanks all!

Last Thursday, the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust celebrated the retirement of development director Sharon Lunz. During her 17 years there, Sharon played a vital, behind-the-scenes role in transforming CDLT from a just-barely surviving nonprofit to one with a multi-million budget and a positive impact on the two counties.

Consultants for the City of Wenatchee will be surveying and field testing at Saddle Rock Park the week of April 8th, 2019. In order to perform this work they will be using ATV’s which are normally not allowed on Saddle Rock, but per City of Wenatchee code 6A.18.060 (6), is allowable with express permission of the parks and recreation department.

This work is for the design of an arsenic remediation project due to mining waste piles on Saddle Rock. Construction is planned for late summer 2019. If you have any questions please contact:

Charlotte Mitchell, PE

Land Trust, Chelan PUD and partners hope for April 5 opening depending on conditions