Crookpoint Acquisitions

Accomplishment: protection of an undeveloped headland that supports one of the West Coast’s largest seabird colonies.

Location: In Curry County, about 12 miles south of the town of Gold Beach.

Partners: The Nature Conservancy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Curry County, Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians, Oregon Wetlands Joint Venture and Kalmiopsis Audubon Society.

Notes: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acquired the $2.3 million coastal property in 2000 from The Nature Conservancy, which purchased the 134-acre headland in 1998 to protect it from development. Crook Point was one of the last privately owned, undisturbed coastal headlands in Oregon. The headland supports up to 19 "special status" plant species and includes unique geologic formations and pristine intertidal plant and invertebrate communities. The adjacent coastal rocks within Oregon Islands NWR harbor large seabird colonies, including the second largest breeding colony of Leach’s Storm Petrels in the state, estimated to number 87,000 birds. Harbor seals make extensive use of the area’s pristine beaches and rocky intertidal habitats and threatened Steller sea lions haul out on rocks just offshore.

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