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
Washington State Parks used this grant to acquire 86.70 acres within a 1,000 foot wide riparian corridor (25.71 acres of Riparian Protection) along the south side of the Dosewallips River from Pope Resources. The property extends approximately a mile from the western border of Dosewallips State Park at the mouth of the river toward the Olympic National Forest. State Parks identified this acquisition as part of its 2006 Dosewallips State Park Area Classification and Management Plan, designed to balance recreation with natural and cultural resource protection in the Dosewallips region. Acquisition of priority riparian lands along this reach addresses threats to Threatened Puget Sound Chinook, Hood Canal summer chum, Puget Sound steelhead, and Puget Sound bull trout habitat, including large woody debris removal, degradation of riparian and upland forests, and floodplain development. This expansion of the State Park may also enable future restoration of the lower Dosewallips floodplain, including removal of a 2000-foot riprap toe protection that is currently protecting existing campsites. The Dosewallips has been recognized as a high priority conservation watershed by a number of plans and entities, and State Parks is partnering with the Hood Canal Coordinating Council, The Nature Conservancy, Jefferson Land Trust and others to seek funding from this and other sources to advance this unique opportunity to conserve a complete riparian corridor from the headwaters of the Dosewallips in Olympic National Park to one of the largest estuarine deltas in Hood Canal. The project sponsor originally proposed 129 acres to be purchased from three separate property owners. However, due to one unwilling landowner (Shaw) and another (SAMIS) purchased under a separate grant (thus being removed from the agreement), the number of acres acquired and the funding allocated were less than the proposed amounts. The original funding formula for the whole project was $221,538 for 129 acres. The completed project funding formula is $227,359.39 for 86.7 acres ($2,622.37/acre).