Category Overview
Urban Wildlife Habitat projects fund close-to-home places to play and explore nature. As our urban areas are increasingly expanding and densifying, these grants protect important fish and wildlife habitat within five miles of densely populated areas, creating green refuges that help keep our ecosystems healthy and provide places to enjoy nature right in our backyards.
Project Highlights
This is a project to acquire 17.01 acres of privately owned, forested land within the City of Sammamish. This acquisition connects King County’s Soaring Eagle Park (628 acres) to the City’s Beaver Lake Preserve (57.6 acres) which in turn connects to the Hazel Wolf Wetlands (116 acres). The property contains a combination red alder, big leaf mape, Douglas fir, western redcedar and western hemlock forest as well as wetland ecosystems and, since the land has been undisturbed since the mid-1930’s, many trees are nearing old growth stature. The northern red-legged frog and willow flycatcher, both Federal Species of Concern, are documented inhabitants of the adjacent protected properties. Pileated woodpeckers, a State Candidate for Species of Concern, use this site as do bald eagle, on both federal and state lists as threatened. The parcels targeted for acquisition are highly threatened by development and are the last chance to form a contiguous wildlife preserve. If fully protected, the site has the potential to provide multiple public values including wildlife habitat, natural areas, water quality protection, and education.