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Description
This 46 acre preserve, donated with a conservation easement to the town of Rockaway Beach by The Nature Conservancy in 2001, protects one of the last coastal Sitka Spruce and Western Red Cedar Bogs. At the Eastern end of the boardwalk is the crown jewel of the preserve, a huge Western red cedar estimated to be 500 to 900 years old, that is 154 ft tall and 49 ft in circumference. The wheelchair accessible boardwalk extends 3,000 feet from Highway 101. As soon as you step more than 10 feet along the boardwalk, it feels like you're in a different, much older world.
The boardwalk spans brushy bog areas with widely spaced trees and dead snags, with clear running creeks and patches of Skunk Cabbage and Salmonberry, overtopped by Red Alder. Further into the interior, the landscape transitions into drier old growth cedar and spruce forest with deep beds of needles and moss.
The area offers fantastic birding, with extensive habitat in the bog area for breeding birds like Swainson's Thrush, Pacific Wren, Bushtit, Song Sparrow (rufina Group), Rufous Hummingbird, Black-headed Grosbeak, Hairy Woodpecker, Black-capped Chickadee, Northern Flicker, Downy Woodpecker, Cedar Waxwing, American Robin, Ruby-crowned Kinglet and Wilson's Warbler. Violet-green Swallows chirp while they swoop overhead. A tall dead snag next to the trail offers a nesting platform for a pair of Osprey, which can often be heard calling loudly in the preserve. This is near the northernmost limit of the range for Wrentit, a secretive bird that further to the south, inhabits dry coastal scrub and chapparal habitats. Further in, as the landscape transitions to old growth spruce and cedar forest, Hermit Warblers and Golden-crowned Kinglets can be heard singing from the treetops in Summer, Hermit Thrushes sing from the understory, Chestnut-backed Chickadees twitter far above, while in the late Fall through early Spring, Varied Thrushes make their haunting songs. Pileated Woodpecker drill huge rectangular excavations in dead or decaying trees. Great Horned Owls, Northern Saw-whet Owls and Barred Owls can sometimes be heard in forest in the evening or at early dawn.
Details
Access
The Old Growth Cedar Preserve is located in Rockaway Beach. There's a parking area by Highway 101, with portable toilets. Press P on the map for directions to the parking. The boardwalk is accessible to wheelchairs, walkers, is flat, and easy for almost anyone to walk.