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
The Department of Natural Resources will restore 360 acres of forest habitat at three DNR managed natural areas in Klickitat County: Klickitat Canyon Natural Resource Conservation Area, White Salmon Oak Natural Resource Conservation Area, and Monte Cristo Natural Area Preserve. Each site will address restoration in different forest types. The project area includes mixed coniferous forest, oak-conifer forest, and grand fir forest types that support sandhill crane, western gray squirrel, northern spotted owls and several state-listed plant species. This project is intended to simultaneously enhance and restore habitat for the various species and improve ecosystem function and resiliency to wildfire. To accomplish these goals, one of the primary focuses is removing unnatural accumulations of fuel in the project area. Other restoration activities include removing invasive species and establishing native grasses and forbs within areas impacted by past management practices. Along with the benefits to these species, this work would increase climate change resiliency and increase fire-resiliency. The work at White Salmon Oak contributes to the conservation strategies for western grey squirrel and Oregon white oak woodlands identified in the Management Recommendations for Washington’s Priority Habitats (2010), while the actions at Klickitat Canyon will contribute to the goals of the State of Washington Sandhill Crane Recovery Plan (2002).