Parker Slough Forest
Easement
The Parker Slough Forest Easement was originally recorded in 2010, granting the perpetual conservation easement to the Central Coast Land Conservancy (CCLC). In 2023, the CCLC completed the transfer of the Parker Slough Forest Easement to McKenzie River Trust to hold in perpetuity.
Where land and sea come together
The Parker Slough Forest Easement parallels Parker Slough as the coastal freshwater stream makes its way to its confluence with the Yaquina River. Here, tidally inundated wetlands shift with the hours while adjacent riparian forests provide refuge for a range of native plant and animal species. Upslope, riparian hardwoods transition into conifer-dominated late-successional forest. Here, Sitka spruce, Western hemlock, cedar, and fir thrive above an understory of red alder, vine-maple, thimble and salmon berries, sword ferns, oxalis, and a range of moss and lichen species.
Historically, the Easement Area is within the ancestral lands of the Yaqo’n people who lived and managed the land around Yaquina Bay since time immemorial.