Touchet R Chatman Conservation Easement Assessment

This project assessed the potential to place a protective conservation easement on a 15 acre parcel along nearly 1/2 mile of both sides of the Touchet River outside the city of Dayton. The easement acquisition, which was approved in round 11, will protect the existing mature riparian cottonwood gallery and the floodplain function. This reach provides spawning, rearing, and migrating habitat for steelhead and Chinook salmon and migration habitat for bull trout. No stream control structures are present on this property. It lies approximately 840 ft upstream from a 2008 SRFB funded conservation project. The proposed easement will protect existing stream characteristics by extinguishing development rights and preventing grazing and agricultural uses within the existing mature riparian vegetation (approximately 9 acres). The area is zoned for 5 acre lots; recent home development placed homes within 60 feet of the river. The grant allowed completion of all the preliminary work leading up acquiring a conservation easement. Project deliverables included all items necessary to accurately determine the value of the easement, including: site map that illustrates the location and dimensions of the easement, a written description of restrictions being placed within the easement, a preliminary title report, appraisal, and review appraisal. As a result of the project, a value for the conservation easement was determined and accepted by the landowner. We applied for acquisition funding, which was approved, and we are now in the process of acquiring the conservation easement.

The goal of the project is to increase/improve information to help select projects that have a high certainty and benefit. The objective of the project is to determine feasibility of acquiring land and landowner willingness to sell.