Wildlife

With less than an acre currently under cultivation on a twenty acre property, there is a lot of room for wildlife to roam about on Ostman Farm. Neawanna Creek runs from it’s headwaters in the hills above us down through the old pastures on its way out to the Necanicum Estuary. The creek provides critical spawning habitat for coastal coho in the fall, and the surrounding wetlands, riparian areas and forest play host to a herd of Roosevelt elk, black-tail deer, red-legged frogs, blue herons, coyotes, beavers, bats, and river otters, as well as an ever changing cast of birds: year round residents like flickers, robins and red-tail hawks, as well as miratory birds like tree and barn swallows, finches, and cedar waxwings.

We are committed to work in partnership with nature here on Ostman Farm, and are active in gradually clearing non-native invasive plants from the property, especially along the creek, and replacing them with lots of native trees and shrubs that will provide key habitat and food for all our wild residents.

The wildlife around us has inspired us in many ways. We have become active in our local watershed council, and we work with groups like the North Coast Land Conservancy on restoration projects in our watershed during the winter.

We have begun to focus on growing plants that provide food and habitat for wildlife, and have recently begun producing a line of bird nesting boxes and bat houses to help people provide much needed habitat in their own gardens.

It is an honor to be stewards of this beautiful piece of land, both to honor its history, and to protect its future.