Foulweather gets fair treatment

Cape Foulweather is familiar to residents and visitors as one of the most iconic viewpoints on the Central Oregon Coast. But this headland offers more than sweeping vistas of the Pacific Ocean.

Learn more about a collaboration to ensure long-term stewardship and protection of 27 acres of Cape Foulweather at a talk by Margaret Treadwell, Central Coast conservation program manager of the McKenzie River Trust, at the Inn at Otter Crest this Saturday, June 22.

Cape Foulweather comprises critical habitats ranging from intertidal rocky shores to unique salt-misted meadows to dense Sitka spruce forest. These habitats support a variety of threatened and endangered species of animals and plants. 

The area is also of cultural and ecological significance to the Siletz people and served as a hunting, fishing and gathering site. The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians have long stewarded the Oregon Coast even though they lost 100 miles of coastal shoreline ownership within what once was one million acres of land set aside for the tribe in 1855 by the US federal government.

In 2022, a group of conservation partners, including McKenzie River Trust, the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians and Lincoln County came together to ensure long-term stewardship and protection of 27 acres of Cape Foulweather. McKenzie River Trust purchased the land with a loan and intends to return ownership to the Siletz people in the fall of 2024 after a successful grant application to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coastal Zone Management program. 

This will be the first property with access to these critical and iconic habitats in the intertidal zone to be returned to ownership by the Siletz people, which is of great significance to the Tribe.

This event is hosted by Friends of Otter Rock Marine Reserve. Light refreshments will be served.

The talk begins at 10 am in the Spyglass Meeting Room at the Inn at Otter Crest, located at 301 Otter Crest Drive in Otter Rock. For more information, go to mckenzieriver.org.