This month’s WWRP category, Forestland Preservation, is the newest category of the Washington Wildlife & Recreation Program. Forestland preservation grants provide funding to preserve working forests to ensure they remain available for timber production in the future. Working forests provide habitat for wildlife, environmental benefits, and public access.
Our featured project this month is the recently funded Kristoferson Farm – Working Forest project on Camano Island. A WWRP Forestland Preservation grant helped permanently protect 115 acres of working forestland of Kristoferson Farm. This project is certainly one of the more unique forestland conservation projects we’ve seen: the forest includes a zipline adventure course run by Canopy Tours Northwest. The project provides economic benefits in the form of recreation and tourism in addition to the environmental benefits of conserving important natural resources.
Kristoferson Farm has a long history on Camano Island. The forested acres on the property are managed for timber according to a Forest Stewardship Plan developed with Washington State University. In partnership with the Snohomish Conservation District, Natural Resource Conservation Service, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and other partners, the farm completed a number of projects along Kristoferson Creek to improve fish habitat and remove barriers to fish passage. And the working farmland on the property was also recently preserved in perpetuity, thanks to a WWRP Farmland Preservation grant. Learn more about the farm on their website.
