Woodard Bay Natural Resources Conservation Area

History

American Indians use of the area dates back over 5,000 years when the present coast line stabilised. Euroamerican settlement began in the 1850s with Puget Sound's logging era. The bay was named after Harvey and Solome Woodard, pioneers who arrived in 1853.

In the 1920s the site was bought by the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, which brought up to 1 million board feet of timber here annually by rail from all over Thurston and Lewis counties until it closed the site in 1984. A former logging railroad crosses Woodard Bay on a wooden trestle and a narrow peninsula. It runs out onto a pier in Henderson Inlet across the mouth of Chapman Bay. Here logs were dumped in the water, gathered into rafts and floated to mills in Everett, Washington.

Features

The Washington Department of Natural Resources natural conservation area program was approved by the Washington State Legislature in 1987 to preserve fish and wildlife habitat while also providing a place for passive recreation, research and education. Woodard Bay was one of the four original conservation areas statewide.

A new kind of marine conservation effort began at Woodard Bay when The Nature Conservancy signed a 10-year lease with the Washington Department of Natural Resources to restore 10 acre of sub-tidal land in Henderson Inlet near the mouth of Woodard Bay to bring back the once-abundant Olympia oyster. The lease is the first of its kind in the country.

The Conservation Area was expanded by 90 acre in 2008.

Facilities

Facilities include group meeting areas for small school groups, picnic tables, benches and a toilet. A camp car once used as a cookhouse and later an office has been refurbished to represent its former uses, much of the work done by the Washington Conservation Corps as well as labor by prisoners from the Cedar Creek Correctional Center. The site is near the northernmost trailhead of the Chehalis Western Trail. As bicycle riding is prohibited in Woodard Bay NRCAA, a sheltered bike rack is provided for bicyclists.

References

References

1. {{NRISref. 2008a
2. Nokkentved, N.S. (2001) [http://news.theolympian.com/outdoors/hiking/130136.shtml "Ecological challenge: Woodard Bay area a place 'to come and be, not to come and do'"], ''The Olympian''. October 23, 2001. Retrieved 8/3/08.
3. [http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/washington/preserves/art16539.html "Woodard Bay Aquatic Conservation Lease"], The Nature Conservancy. Retrieved 8/3/08.
4. {{GNIS. 1509630
5. Steven, R. [http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/pacificnw/2002/1013/cover.html "Mystery on the Wing: Cleaning the cobwebs of myth about bats"], ''[[Seattle Times]]''. Retrieved 8/3/08.
6. [http://www.experiencewa.com/v5/poi/poi.aspx?poiId=1377 "Woodard Bay"], ExperienceWA.com. Retrieved 8/3/08.
7. [http://www.pugetsound.org/primary/connect/events/0802woodard/ "South Sound Saturday Restoration at Woodard Bay"], People for the Puget Sound. Retrieved 8/3/08.
8. Dodge, J. [http://www.wildliferecreation.org/news-events/news/woodard-bay-expands-by-90-acres "Woodard Bay area expands by 90 acres"], ''The Olympian.'' Retrieved 8/3/08.
9. [http://www.accessibletrails.com/SoPuget/thurston.htm "Accessible trails in the South Puget Sound area of Washington State"], AccessibleTrails.com. Retrieved 8/3/08.