Henry Creek Preserve

Area:  Conservation protections over approximately 928 acres (Protected Area) within the approximately 2,580-acre Preserve

Location: Clackamas and Marion Counties, Oregon

Date Acquired: December 23, 2025

Acquisition Type: CNLM holds a conservation easement to protect imperiled species and habitats that exist on the preserve in perpetuity. The preserve is owned by third party.

Key Habitats:  Douglas-fir – Western Hemlock conifer forest and Valley Riparian habitats

Species of Special Interest to CNLM: Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), Winter steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

Ecotrust Forests III, LLC acquired the Henry Creek Preserve in 2019 and subsequently completed a reforestation effort on portions of the property damaged by the 2020 Beachie Creek/Labor Day Fire. The landowner is participating in the Climate Action Reserve (CAR) carbon program, through which carbon credits will be sold. Participation in the CAR program requires a conservation easement (CE) to ensure the long-term protection of forest resources. CNLM holds the CE and the associated endowment that supports CNLM’s CE monitoring, enforcement, and defense responsibilities. The Preserve remains under private ownership. The approximately 924-acre Protected Area within the Henry Creek Preserve consists of non-contiguous hillside areas of planted forest. The primary purpose of the Protected Area is to ensure that the forest remains intact. Timber harvest is permitted only for forest resiliency thinning, protection of human safety, or salvage following ecological disturbance, and requires prior written approval from CNLM.

Conservation Significance

The Preserve encompasses approximately 2,580 acres of privately owned forestland in the western Cascades near Salem, Oregon. The approximately 924-acre Protected Area is in the process of recovering from the 2020 Beachie Creek/Labor Day Fire. As a result, the Protected Area is characterized primarily by recovering and replanted Douglas-fir–western hemlock forest, with Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) as the dominant species, accompanied by western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) and western redcedar (Thuja plicata), while red alder (Alnus rubra) occurs in riparian areas.

The Preserve is situated within a landscape of significant protected lands. Table Rock Wilderness lies to the north, Opal Creek Wilderness to the south and east, and the Santiam State Forest to the west, placing the property within a broader network of conserved forests in the western Cascades.

The Henry Creek watershed, located on the Preserve, forms a headwater tributary to the Molalla River, the largest free-flowing tributary of the Willamette River and the primary drinking water source for the City of Molalla. Henry Creek and Wilson Creek, both located on the Preserve, contribute important cold-water inputs to this watershed. The Protected Area provides habitat and watershed functions that have the potential to support several focal management species on-site, including 8 bird, 12 mammal, 8 amphibian, and 2 fish species. Although habitat conditions may support numerous conservation-priority species, systematic surveys and monitoring for these species have not been conducted on the Preserve following the 2020 wildfire and subsequent reforestation efforts. As a result, the current distribution and abundance of wildlife species within the Protected Area are not well documented, and the presence or absence of many species remains unknown. Downstream reaches of Henry Creek and the Molalla River provide habitat for Upper Willamette River Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and Upper Willamette River steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss), both federally listed as threatened. While these species have not been surveyed for within the Preserve’s headwater streams, the streams contribute to the water quality and hydrologic functions that support aquatic habitat throughout the Molalla River watershed.