Noelle Richards lives near the headwaters of the Newauken Creek-- her farm tucked in the Cascade foothills on the edge of Enumclaw. She owns 10 square acres -- half forested and half pasture. The forested part is kept that way to protect the salmon bearing stream. And the pasture is lush and green with lots of grass for her horses.

Noelle owns two horses that hang out in the pasture across from her home and the Newauken Creek right now-- but specializes in hosting race horses who board on her pasture.

Richards has loved horses since she was a kid. "Ever since I was 4 years old I have wanted to ride horses."

Her property hosts a grand snag of a tree left over from the logging days of Weyerhauser. "We planted lots of native conifers, maple other shrubs and plants there to give the land a chance to do what it is best at-- grow trees." Richards has found some real benefits to keeping the trees on her property.

"The horse runs we have used to be covered in water -- no fun for horses or for me. When I planted a dozen conifers between my two horse runs from the barn to the field, I haven't had a problem since. The trees act like a sponge and soak up all the water. Of course I have a few inches of gravel down on the path, too. That helps a lot."

Richards found her home through a friend. "An old friend of mine came over here to visit a horse over 30 years ago, and I fell in love with the place. I told the owners if they ever wanted to sell their house to let me know." Well -- 30 years ago I was 26 and it was quite a bit of work to get mortgage and ownership set up for this parcel. But I did it.

And I have been taking care of this creek and the horses around it ever since. I love this place."

"Back in the 80's after I bought this farm, the King Conservation District called to see if they could stop by and walk around the property. I think the fellow who stopped picked my place because we are right up against the hills here-- kind of the headwaters for the Newauken Creek. He taught me to see the difference between the side of the creek that was full of native plants and good banks, and the side of the river near the horses that has been worn down by livestock.

They showed me how to fence the horses off, and the District plant sales have been a steady source of new plants to keep greening up this part by the creek that I want to be wild."

Salmon have been running ever since: "Chinook and coho spawning right here in our front yard. Here in end of September you won't see them, but after the rains start up in October the water levels will rise. The fish that are hanging out down in the Green River waiting for a little more water before they are going to make their way up here. "

"It takes them about a month for them to make their way up here to spawn under this Big Leaf Maple" Richards points to 100 year old tree that shades the creek and has a spawning area next to its roots. "Someday next month I will be working on the yard next to my home and hear splashing in the creek. I'll walk over and their they are-- making their nests and spawning. It is really something to behold."

The hills around her home are the upper watershed for the Newauken, which is one of the last best places for salmon coming in from Puget Sound and the Green River.

"The hills had been owned by Weyerhauser when I got here. And the land has been through some ups and downs. One year W clearcut all the forests on one swath of land above us -- and you wouldn't believe the problems. We had flooding -- the run off from the mountain side they cleared was too much. So we organized a meeting with Weyerhauser and they improved somewhat." The next cut wasn't quite so hard on those of us living downstream in Enumclaw.

But then Weyerhaueser sold their land to Hartford Insurance Co. and you wouldn't believe the mess they've made up in the hills here. And worse than Weyerhauser-- they won't meet with us to talk about our problems with them ruining our water. The flooding is bad and not being a good neighbor doens't help. They shouldn't be cutting here if they aren't going to do it sustainably."

Bad corporate neighbors or not, Noelle has worked with the facts on the ground -- in her case a lot of water-- and made the best of it.

Noelle has set up her paddocks for race horses -- they are longer and narrower so the animals can run. And she has contributed a lot to current understanding of how to care for horses and pasture management.

Conservation district efforts in the 80's was all based on dairy cow manure lagoons- and educating farmers and dairymen about what it took to care for the land while raising their livestock.

"The Conservation Districts and the NRCS were great at developing environmentally sensitive livestock -- but they didn't have know what to make of horses out here. But they knew enough to get started. It is amazing what some education has done to the way I see the world. I learned so much I started teaching people about ways to develop chore efficiency, how to care for their pastures, and of course their horses, too."

" I started teaching other people about how to care for their horse responsibly -- and I have a passion for teaching people how to be better horsemen and women."

"We started the King Co. Model Horse Farm project back in 1990. Since all the best management practices in those days were based on dairy cows, people came out on farm tours, showing people what we had learned about keeping horses, and how to care for them in a way that is efficient for the horse owner. There is no point in getting someone so much information that they get overwhelmed-- because then they won't do anything. The key is to make the environmentally responsible thing also the easiest and most efficient. And that's what the district staff has taught me."

Noelle teaches small groups of farmers -- and has seen several thousand people a year for some time now. "We teach people to grow healthy strong relationships with their horses and other farm animals."

These days Noelle is more interested in research. "When we teach now-- I work to teach using livestock procedures that are natural for the animal. We teach people to rotate their fences, to let an animal graze one area and then come over to the next section, and work across the pasture for the summer."

"The Conservation District teaches to grow grass for 10 inches and when they eat down to 3, then pull them off. If you don't you turn your pasture into deserts. Pastures that are low grass-- eaten down to far are a danger to the horses, because clover and other weeds can outcompete the grasses the horses like to eat. But even then, the pasture is susceptible to weeds at 3 inches."

"What do you do about it? I think even eating down to 3 inches is part of the problem now. My research show that if you grow a pasture out to 14 inches and then move the animals when they get down to 7" you get a lot sturdier grass in the field, and fewer weeds. We want the pasture to last and not get overworked."

Richards research is not accepted wisdom of the conservation districts -- yet. But she is confident once the results she has seen are known to more horse people, better pasture management for horse owners is right behind.

Noelle Richards home is proof positive that salmon and livestock can get along-- even thrive together with some thoughtful planning and planting and persistent work.

And Richards is rich in the ways we usually don't measure -- whether it is the sound of a fish tail splashing as it nests, or horses that love her gentle attention. Her attention to land and plants and animals living on it, her teaching and research have all contributed to wealthy and healthy life on her own terms.