Back in 1990, Kachemak Heritage Land Trust was a brand-new nonprofit in a sea of many new and budding nonprofits popping up in Homer. It was before my time in this community, actually even before I was born, but I get the feeling that it was a period of hope, strength, togetherness and ambition. A time when this tight-knit community set out to “make the world a better place” through truly grassroots initiatives. KHLT’s first newsletter in the spring of 1990 painted a clear and promising picture of why the organization came about, why it mattered, and how it could be a tool to help maintain the specialness of this place.
Just as inventions, buildings and boats launch from an idea, so too did Kachemak Heritage Land Trust. KHLT’s idea revolves around maintaining quality of life by balancing development with open space. To KHLT, this means setting aside critical moose calving/wintering grounds and bird nesting sites, establishing city greenbelts, and preserving homesteads, historic properties and regional resources.
“Outside”, there are 800 land trusts, and easement-enabling legislation (allowing nonprofits to hold conservation easements) has been in place for many years. In Alaska, such legislation was adopted in May 1989. KHLT is a landmark organization, faced with the challenge of being the first Alaskan land trust, and of serving as a model for future regional trusts.
Kachemak Heritage Land Trust has been heartily encouraged by your enthusiastic support! You have not only said YES to the vision of open space, you’ve directed KHLT to initiate a recycling program and to create a comprehensive trail plan for the Homer area. Many challenges lie ahead, but with your continued enthusiasm, the Land Trust idea will keep afloat, preserving quality of life for all generations.”
Here we are, 36 years later, still “afloat” thanks to the continued support of our members and donors, many of whom were part of these early days. We’ve grown to a staff of six, an operating budget of almost a million dollars, permanent offices in the middle of town, and most excitingly, we just crossed the threshold of 4,000 acres of land under our care (in addition to the many other land protection projects we’ve worked with our partners to complete).
2024 accomplishments
Over 35 years, KHLT has worked with a wide variety of landowners (from homesteaders to Alaska Native Tribes to the State of Alaska) to protect special lands across the Kenai Peninsula. Our three newest land protection projects showcase this variety well.
First, in April 2024, KHLT protected 46.393 acres in the cherished Kenai River Watershed. This marked the culmination of the fifth and final collaborative effort between KHLT and the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities as part of the Sterling Highway MP 45-60 Reconstruction Project, allowing KHLT to further its commitment to preserving the ecological integrity of this vital region. Since being selected to handle the project’s mitigation component, KHLT diligently worked to identify, evaluate, and secure lands crucial for wetland conservation. With this latest acquisition, the total land safeguarded by KHLT with ADoT&PF mitigation funds for the Cooper Landing Bypass project has reached an impressive 200-plus acres.
Second, in November 2024, KHLT closed on “The Dragonfly Property.” Over the course of a year, we fundraised with the community to permanently protect 11.016 acres on the Anchor River. The Conservation Fund purchased the property in the fall of 2023 with grant funds from the Alaska Sustainable Salmon Fund and other sources, but KHLT needed to raise $40,000 for stewardship and overhead costs to ensure that the property could be transferred to our ownership and protected forever. The Dragonfly Property is important for conservation because its location on the Anchor River provides spawning and rearing habitat for king and coho salmon, steelhead/rainbow trout, and Dolly Varden char and the lower reaches support pink salmon. The property also provides habitat for moose, bear and other resident and migratory species. What is especially exciting is that the property is located next to eight other parcels owned and protected by KHLT which make up our Anchor River Salmon Conservation Area. Conserving the Dragonfly property will help maintain existing habitat for spawning and rearing salmon, improve connectivity of conservation lands along the Anchor River, and it will remain open to public access for fishing and hiking.
Third, after initial conversations began back in 2014, KHLT closed on “Two Moose Creek Conservation Area” in December. KHLT worked with local Homer residents who donated nearly one hundred acres to protect habitat and open space. Protecting this property contributes to the overall health of the Anchor River Watershed including the headwaters of Two Moose Creek and ensures healthy habitat for large and small mammals, birds, and fish. These parcels, totaling 94.3 acres and containing 2,100 feet of creek bed, were particularly vulnerable to development due in part to their road and utility access and viewshed.
Based upon groundwater mapping provided by Kachemak Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, the property includes multiple groundwater flow paths which are very important to baby salmon. These flow paths help transfer nitrogen generated from alder patches further away from the riparian floodplain — in other words, they help feed baby salmon. This perfectly embodies KHLT’s slogan that “fish need land too.” With the addition of these parcels, the total KHLT-protected land within the Anchor River Watershed is now more than 800 acres.
It’s all connected
These three projects have brought the total number of acres under KHLT’s care to 4,049.795. And these projects highlight a common thread: like the analogy our founding director made about launching the boat, there has always been, and will continue to be, a connection between land and sea for KHLT. As a land trust, we protect land. That land is home to terrestrial creatures, like moose and humans, and, perhaps surprisingly, also to aquatic creatures like baby salmon. The things we do on land make an impact on all the creatures who walk on it, swim through it, and who live downstream. When we protect and cherish and nurture our land, we are also taking care of our fresh water, air, and ocean. Without the creatures in the water and sea, there would be no fishing industry, no tourism industry, no Alaskan way of life of which we’ve come to know. We are intricately interconnected to land. We need it and all its functions to continue to sustain life, and specifically the Alaskan way of life.
As shown by the projects over the past year, and over KHLT’s 36 years in operation, we are one piece of the puzzle — we are one tool to help nourish, cherish, honor our land and our connection to land. Let’s celebrate the thousands of acres that we, as a community, have worked together to safeguard in perpetuity. What an accomplishment! From drinking water sources to moose calving grounds and from headwater streams to world class fishing riverbanks, 4,049.795 acres are protected forever. As a relatively new member of this incredible community, I feel immensely grateful to all the people who have made land protection a priority. I am so thankful to have been welcomed here with open arms. I feel lucky to be raising my son in a place that values all forms of life and is considering the well-being of future generations as our community grows.
So, let’s continue to stoke the flames of hope, strength, togetherness, and ambition from 36 years ago. Let’s keep working together to find special pieces of land that we can keep undeveloped. Let’s keep protecting places that are so important to our way of life. Let’s keep the well-being of future generations in mind as we grow with intention.
Join in
If you want more information about placing a conservation easement on your land, leaving KHLT in your estate plans, or becoming a donor or volunteer, please contact me at carson@kachemaklandtrust.org.
Carson Chambers is communications and development manager for Kachemak Heritage Land Trust.
