Clark County outlines restoration, two design options for Gordy Joma Family Natural Area

Clark County Parks and Nature on Wednesday presented early master-plan concepts and ecological-restoration goals for the Gordy Joma Family Natural Area, a 118-acre former golf course along Salmon Creek that the county purchased with Legacy Lands and clean-water funds.

The county and consulting teams described four ecological priorities — slower water, cooler water, removal of fish-passage barriers and more native vegetation — and showed two concept approaches for public access: one that keeps visitors primarily on higher trails where they can "see and hear" the creek, and a second that provides direct, seasonal access to the water for play and closer contact.

The presentation, led by Evelyn Ives, capital project manager for Clark County Parks and Nature, said the site includes about 2.2 miles of stream habitat, borders the 108-acre Salmon Morgan Natural Area, and was purchased for conservation. "We are talking about visioning the future for the Gordy Joma family natural area," Ives told attendees. She said the project is a partnership with the Cowlitz Indian Tribe and that consultants Interglued and Greenworks (landscape architect Grayson Morris) are supporting planning.

Why it matters: County officials framed the work as restoration first — funded in part by conservation grants — with recreation layered on top. The site already contains features left from golf-course construction (imported fill, irrigation ponds and altered channel geometry) that consultants said have raised summertime stream temperatures and reduced habitat complexity for salmon.

What the presentation showed and…