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
The project will acquire a conservation easement over an entire 94.18-acre parcel, one of the largest parcels on Henderson Inlet not under conservation. The property has diverse habitats, from estuary and nearshore habitat to an agricultural field and forests with timber stands ranging from 15- to 70-years-old. It also includes 43.6 acres of wetlands, 39 acres of which are nationally decreasing wetlands, 3,600 feet of Meyer’s Creek shoreline, and 2,100 feet of Henderson Inlet shoreline and nearshore habitat which supports chinook, steelhead and coho rearing. While Meyer’s Creek is not known to host salmonids, it spans the entire length of the property and is an integral part of the extensive freshwater wetlands on the property. Multiple state and/or federally listed animal species rely on the property’s important habitat at some point in their life cycle. The property has been identified as high priority for acquisition on numerous prioritization models (Squaxin Island Tribe’s Nearshore Beneficial Model and Coastal Catchments Analysis, Capitol Land Trust’s Prioritization Model) as well as numerous plans such as the WRIA 13 Salmon Recovery 4-year work plan.