Port of Columbia County gives OK to an agricultural lease at Port Westward

The Port of Columbia County is announcing that it has wrapped up an agricultural lease agreement with Craig F. Coleman for 118 acres at the Port Westward Industrial Park.

The property near Clatskanie, once encumbered by timber rights by the Lower Columbia Tree Farm, will now be cleaned up and readied for grass and crops.

The Port states that over the first year of the lease, Coleman will focus on improving the land for agriculture by grinding tree stumps and removing the woody debris.

Plans are for Coleman, who started farming in 1982 and farms 1,800 acres near Hermiston with his son, to plant grass seed initially and add crops depending on demand in the marketplace. The lease allows for both crops and livestock grazing.

“The ground we bought will eventually be in blueberries, which is mainly what we do,” Coleman said in a release. “We also raise 15 different crops that change from year to year depending on economics.”

Coleman added, “We raise quite a few acres of blueberries in the Hermiston-Boardman area, and that’s one of the reasons we came here.”

“This agreement represents our ongoing commitment to agriculture and local farms," Port Executive Director Sean Clark said in the news release. "This is the Port’s third agricultural lease at Port Westward for a total of 572 acres.”

The Port of Columbia County leased 211 acres to Warren and Caryn Seely in 2020 for mint production and cattle grazing. The port also leased 243 acres to Columbia River Ranch for cattle grazing.