The City of Astoria owns and manages the 3,700-acre Bear Creek Watershed, located approximately 12 miles east of Astoria near Svensen. This forested watershed provides the source of the City’s drinking water, and protecting water quality and maintaining a reliable water supply is the City’s primary management objective.
The City manages the watershed using ecological forestry practices, an approach that works with natural forest processes to maintain healthy, resilient ecosystems while protecting the watershed. In simple terms, ecological forestry focuses on managing forests not just for timber, but for the many benefits they provide, including clean water, wildlife habitat, carbon storage, and long-term forest health.
Forest management activities are carefully planned to support water quality protection first, while also promoting biological diversity, varied forest structure, and long-term ecosystem resilience. Practices such as selective thinning, variable-density harvests, protection of riparian areas, and careful road maintenance help maintain a forest with species diversity, ages, and habitat types while safeguarding the City’s drinking water supply.
The watershed forest contains an estimated 100 million board feet of timber and stores significant amounts of carbon. The City conducts carefully planned timber harvests and forest management activities that maintain forest health, improve wildfire resilience, and ensure that water quality and quantity are not adversely affected. The forest is also Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified, reflecting the City’s commitment to responsible forest stewardship.
In addition to protecting the community’s drinking water supply, the watershed supports wildlife habitat, ecological diversity, and climate resilience. Revenue generated from sustainable timber harvests and carbon credit projects helps fund watershed road maintenance, reforestation, and other forest stewardship activities.
For more information about the City’s forest management practices and long-term stewardship goals, please see the video and documents linked below.
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Bear Creek Watershed Forest Carbon Storage (YouTube video – embed video in page)
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· 2025 Forestry Update and Work Plan
· Bear Creek Watershed Forest Resources Stewardship Plan - October 2021
· Watershed Management Strategies Presentation
· Forest for Communities Story Map by Sustainable Northwest
· Forest Carbon Credit Project
· A Landowner's Guide to Carbon Offsets, Credits and Incentives
· FAQ’s About Forest Carbon
· The Climate Trust
