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 restored approximately 200 acres of meadow and dry forest habitat within the 2,350-acre Klickitat Canyon Natural Resource Conservation Area (NRCA) located in Klickitat and Yakima County. The work consisted of 200 acres of mechanical forest thinning in ponderosa pine and Douglas fir forest. Slash piles from previous thinning work were burned and areas seeded with native grasses and forbs. Nonnative species throughout the project area were removed by hand or spot treated with herbicide. Draft prescribed burn plan has been started and will be completed before the planned burn in fall 2023. Some aspects of this project where not able to be completed before the end of this grant agreement. Department of Natural Resources intends to complete the prescribed burn and hydrology work during 2023 using revenue generated from the forest thinning project. During the spring of 2023 work on the existing roads will restore the hydrology in the forest wetland areas within the meadow. Portions of the roads restrict the connectivity of the water through the forested wetland. DNR staff will lower the road prism to allow water to cross the road during early spring when conditions are wet. A prescribed burn is planned for fall 2023 within the previously thinned areas to remove small trees, shrubs and litter. This work improved the ponderosa pine dry forest and seasonally wet meadow habitat that support greater sandhill cranes, long-bearded sego lily, rosy owl-clover, dwarf rush, Pulsifer’s monkey-flower, and Kellogg’s rush. Along with benefits to these species, this work also helped reduce fuels on the landscape and increase fire-resiliency in this portion of the NRCA.