Sitka Sedge consists of 357 acres (144 ha) of tidal marsh, mudflats, dunes, forested wetlands, and uplands at the south end of the Sand Lake estuary, north of Tierra Del Mar.
In 2014 Oregon Parks and Recreation Department (OPRD) purchased the property formerly known as the Beltz Farm to preserve this natural ecosystem for public education.
"[1] In the early part of the twentieth century, Anna Elise Timm Roenicke, who became divorced in 1899, moved her family from Portland to the coastal property and used it for dairy farming.
The area where he dug the rock became a trout pond and later swimming hole for his daughters...Fritz died in 1959 and Naomi in 1968.In the 1940s–1950s, the Fry family farmed the land, and there was a Coast Guard monitoring station there during the 1940s.
[4] In 1989, residents of Tierra Del Mar began a two-year process to successfully appeal a U.S. Forest Service decision to clear-cut 30 acres (12 ha) within the Beltz Creek watershed.
Due to their efforts, in 1995 the Commission permanently closed the beach to vehicles on weekends and holidays to address "safety issues, dune damage, log removal, and wildlife and habitat destruction from automobiles, dirt-bikes, and 3-wheelers".
[5] In 1993, residents persuaded the Tillamook Department of Community Development to deny a conditional use application of Stuwe Land and Timber Company for a mine and aggregate quarry site.
[5] In early 2000, Ducks Unlimited submitted a proposal to Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board that would have restored estuarine function to about 100 acres (40 ha) of diked tidelands at the south end of Sand Lake on the Beltz Farm.
"[7] According to Terry Richard of the Oregonian, Bastasch's proposed sale of the property failed due to "zoning restrictions, land use laws and wetlands".
[8] Urness additionally credited decades-long resistance from the adjacent Tierra Del Mar community that prevented golf course proposals multiple times on the estuary and beachfront.
[8][10] OPRD acquired the area from Ecotrust in June 2014 using Oregon Lottery funds and a National Coastal Wetlands Conservation grant from the U.S.
[2] The dike has also impeded movement of native fish (coho, chum, steelhead and coastal cutthroat trout), preventing migration to spawning areas.
The second would create an 18-foot gap in the dike, about the combined width of two creeks flowing into the marsh, which may fulfill Oregon's required minimum for fish passage.
[2] During public meetings in 2016, there was concern that "existing flooding in Tierra Del Mar could be exacerbated with construction of fish passage improvements".
[2] OPRD's 2016 plan called for further data collection on groundwater conditions, and "more complete data on the effects of tidal changes, local streams, and potential storm surge on groundwater levels to neighboring properties in the northern section of Tierra Del Mar, as well as results of hydrologic modeling collected in the process of developing concept alternatives, including water quality information".
— Oregon State Parks When Sitka Sedge officially opened in 2018, it was described as "ocean beach, dunes, forest, tidal marsh, freshwater marsh, shrublands and mudflats",[11] as well as "a day-use area, hiking trails and six wildlife viewing areas that overlook the Sand Lake Estuary, forested dunes and ocean".
[17] According to The Statesman Journal, Sitka Sedge is "one of the largest intact estuaries on the Oregon Coast, teeming with great blue herons and bald eagles, beavers and otters, salmon, coyote and even black bear".