Property

A Living History

For centuries, the central Oregon coast was blanketed with towering Sitka spruce forests.  By the mid 19th century, these rich, diverse ecosystems were cleared by colonists, then decimated by the demand for strong, lightweight wood for WWI aircraft, and intensively harvested and replanted in commercial timber during modern times.  Most of the natural places that had thrived for millennia rapidly disappeared.

Newport residents Bill and JoAnn Barton are working to restore native forest habitat on Yaquina Bay. In July of 2013 they began buying land parcels in the area, working to piece together one of the few remaining areas of its kind on the Oregon coast. To date they’ve acquired over 340 acres of a large peninsula on Yaquina Bay that’s home to elk, black bear, cougar, eagles and more. In seeking to return the land to native habitat, the Bartons have planted nearly 10,000 native trees and shrubs, including 7,000 Sitka spruce.