Category Overview
Conserving land along our waterways protects important habitat and helps keep our rivers healthy, clean, and more resilient to drought. Riparian Protection projects conserve and restore fresh and saltwater habitat while protecting fish habitat. In doing so, the grants help provide our families, farms, and fisheries with clean water across the state.
Project Highlights
Under this grant, WDFW acquired phase 2 of the Grayland property, +/- 560 acres, in Grays Harbor County on December 13, 2019. Phase 1 (1,111 acres) was purchased with federal funds. The Deed of Right for Phase 2 was recorded on the day of acquisition. This property was added to the Elk River Unit of the Johns River Wildlife Area. Combined with federal funds, this grant supported the acquisition of a contiguous property of more than 1,600 acres. The protected areas include wetlands, diked-baylands, tidal marshes, forest wetlands, and wet meadows. The Grayland property provides critical waterfowl habitat and is located on the Pacific migratory bird flyway. The property also supports mammal habitat including elk, deer, black bear and river otters. The property provides public access to recreation opportunities including hiking, birding, and hunting. There was one approved amendment on this project, a time extension to update the end date to 6/30/2023. Through this grant, WDFW also: – installed a metal kiosk in the parking area, and 9 additional signs – removed 500 feet of barbed wire fencing – installed access gates – treated 233 acres of noxious weeds The noxious weed control pressure on the site, prior to acquisition, was particularly high, primarily Scotch broom, Himalayan blackberry, and reed canary grass. Treatment has required a multi-stage process involving machinery such as tractors to cut down the stands (see attached photo), then followup mowing and herbicide treatments. In steeper areas where tractors could not operate, a tracked masticator was used. Repeated treatment of areas has been successful (see attached photo) but restoration efforts are ongoing to return this to native forest and wetland habitats.