Photos by Steve Bloom/The Olympian
Natural area manager Leslie Durham walks along an upgraded path around Woodard Bay that includes a seating area and informational signs.

Karen Shay of Olympia enjoys a weekday walk through the Woodard Bay area.

Ecological challenge

Woodard Bay area a place 'to come and be, not to come and do'

N.S. NOKKENTVED, THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published October 23, 2001

OLYMPIA -- Even on a gray day -- or perhaps especially on a gray day -- Woodard Bay shows off the region's logging heritage dressed in fall colors.

"This is when we get most of our visitors," said Gina Blum, environmental education specialist with the Washington Department of Natural Resources.

Once the site of a busy log dump, Woodard Bay Natural Resource Conservation Area -- established in the late 1980s -- has become a sanctuary for a variety of birds, harbor seals, river otters, bald eagles, a colony of bats, and an important great blue heron rookery.

Karen Shay of Olympia is a regular visitor.

"I thought I had come early enough to have the place to myself," she said on a recent morning.

She likes to come out early in the day or late in the evening. Those are the best times to see the birds and wildlife that draw her here.

The 600 acres encompass maturing second-growth forest, the waters of Woodard and Chapman bays and a rich history that spans from American Indian use to settlement in the 1850s and Puget Sound's logging era.

"It's special because it combines shallow, saltwater bays with mature forest," said Kelly McAllister of the state Department of Fish and Wildlife. The area surrounding the bays is largely undeveloped and has attracted wildlife not usually seen so close to an urban area, providing easy access to many people.

"It's a great place," McAllister said.

Until 1984, the Weyerhaeuser Timber Co. was bringing up to 1 million board feet of timber here by rail from all over Thurston and Lewis counties, Blum said. The former logging railroad crosses Woodard Bay on an old wooden trestle -- now closed to public -- and a narrow peninsula. It runs out onto a pier in Henderson Inlet across the mouth of Chapman Bay.

Here the logs were dumped in the water, gathered into rafts and floated to mills in Everett.

Most of the rails are gone now, and the deteriorating railroad pier -- also closed to the public -- blocks the entrance to Chapman Bay. The pier is home to a colony of bats.

Outside the pier, harbor seals find a place to rest on what's left of the old log booms.

Chapman Bay is closed to boaters, to protect nesting eagles and a heron rookery, said Leslie Durham, natural area manager with Natural Resources. Woodard Bay is closed from Labor Day to April 1 to protect wintering waterfowl.

"They fatten up in that bay," Durham said. "If someone in a boat startles the birds and they flush, they lose calories."

Pigeon guillemots and cormorants roost here, and a purple martin colony has been re-established in the area.

Natural Resources wants to protect the scenic, archaeological, historical, cultural and ecological values in what amounts to an urban wildlife refuge only 15 minutes from downtown Olympia. But the primary concern is ecological values.

"Recreation has to take a back seat here," Durham said.

The challenge is to allow public use without damaging those values. That effort focuses on the former log dump where continued human use can do little additional damage, Blum said.

"We may as well let people come and use it," she said.

Facilities include areas where small school groups can gather for classes, picnic tables, benches and a toilet. A camp car once used as a cookhouse and later an office is being refurbished to represent its former uses. The goal is to create a mostly self-guided resource.

Much of the work is being done by the Washington Conservation Corps and inmate crews from the Cedar Creek Correctional Center.

Access is at Whitham Road -- now closed to traffic -- where Woodard Bay Road crosses the upper end of the bay. From a small parking area the road leads along the water, offering wildlife-viewing opportunities.

A short distance from the entrance, a 1-mile loop trail turns off to the left. Boardwalks in the wettest area now make it usable all year. The trail winds through a maturing forest of cedar, big leaf maple and Douglas fir.

It is a good place to come and learn about the former uses and about the area's abundant wildlife -- 175 species of birds have been recorded here. Mink are active during the day, and careful watchers can see these members of the weasel family along the water's edge, Durham said.

"It's a place to come and be, not to come and do," she said. "It's a good place to contemplate nature."

N.S. Nokkentved covers the outdoors for The Olympian. He can be reached at 360-754-5445.

Woodard Bay

- If you go: Woodard Bay Natural Resource Conservation Area is closed to pets, bicycles, horses and motorized vehicles. Camping, campfires, hunting, shooting and shellfish or plant collection are not allowed. The waters are closed to boaters from Labor Day to April 1.

- The site is open to hikers, bird watchers and other foot traffic. But groups larger than 10 people need prior notice.

- Two hiking trails are available: A 1-mile forested loop trail starts a short distance from the entrance, with boardwalks across wet areas, an overlook at Chapman Bay and a viewing platform at a wetland; three-quarter-mile Whitham Road, closed to traffic, can be negotiated by wheelchairs with a little help, and offers wildlife viewing along Woodard Bay. Bring your binoculars.

To get there

- From Lacey: Go north on Sleater-Kinney Road, which curves left to become 56th Avenue. Turn right on Shincke Road, which curves left to join Woodard Bay Road. Cross the bridge across the upper end of the bay and turn right into a small parking area at Whitham Road.

- From Olympia: Go north on East Bay Drive, which becomes Boston Harbor Road. Turn right on Woodard Bay Road to the small parking area.

- More information: Available from the Department of Natural Resource's Central Region office at 1405 Rush Road, Chehalis, or call 360-748-2383 or 800-527-3305, TTY 360-740-6804.

- Notable: Woodard Bay Natural Resource Conservation Area is a sanctuary for wildlife. It is not part of the Chehalis Western Trail.

The Olympian Copyright 2001

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