Category Overview
The State Lands Restoration and Enhancement category provides funding to two state agencies to help repair damaged plant and animal habitat. These grants focus on resource preservation and protection of public lands. Projects in this category help bring important natural areas and resources back to their original functions by improving the self sustaining and ecological functionality of sites.
Project Highlights
Washington State Parks will use this grant to restore 55 acres of open dunes in Leadbetter Point State Park, building on 500 acres of dune restoration by the US Fish and Wildlife Service on the adjacent Willapa National Wildlife Refuge. Leadbetter Point is located on the northernmost end of Long Beach Peninsula in Pacific County, which contains the largest undeveloped coastal dune system remaining in Washington State. This project will help restore habitat for two federally listed threatened species – western snowy plover and streaked horned lark; and two state listed endangered species – pink sand verbena and bear’s-foot sanicle; as well as the critically imperiled dune ecosystem (North Pacific Maritime Coastal Sand Dune and Strand). The park provides hiking, bird watching, beach walking and outdoor education in this unique coastal ecosystem. The primary habitat to be restored is coastal dune.