Share the Wonder | Alashík Preserve Aerial Tour (4K)

Explore Friends' Share the Wonder campaign and make a gift: https://sharethewonder.gorgefriends.org/

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Thanks to generous donations and pledges to our Share the Wonder capital campaign, Friends was able to acquire the 120-acre Alashík Preserve, a glorious mishmash of stream channels, wetlands, ponds, forests, and boulders sitting below the western slopes of the iconic Dog Mountain. We all recognize water as the key to a healthy future and this property is loaded with it. And in this case, with water comes turtles, or more importantly, endangered northwestern pond turtles. Northwestern pond turtles are hanging on by a thread in the Pacific Northwest and this landscape, with its abundant ponds, is one of the best places to focus on saving the turtle.

This new preserve is adjacent to Turtle Haven Preserve which we’ve owned since 2015, as well as U.S. Forest Service land we’ve helped steward for turtle recovery. Collective efforts with the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife and the Oregon Zoo have dramatically increased turtle populations in this area.

Before our acquisition, this forest property was marketed to be clearcut, which is allowed under Gorge rules, and the owners wanted to keep the mineral rights to the land so they could mine the gravel once the land was logged. The property would have been scorched earth and as it sits directly above our Turtle Haven Preserve at slightly higher elevation, winter rains would have carried logging and mining debris through the forests and ponds Friends and the Forest Service have restored and protected for years.

But that didn’t come to pass. Rather, for the first time ever, wildlife biologists are walking Alashík’s lands and kayaking its ponds. More endangered turtles have been found and in this small pocket of the Gorge, there is renewed hope that in this battle for survival, this turtle just might win the race.

Read more on our website at https://gorgefriends.org/friends-alashik.

All drone footage by Monique Trevett, Friends of the Columbia Gorge.