Category Overview
Critical Habitat projects are our state’s primary tool for conserving important fish and wildlife habitat. These projects protect the rich and diverse habitats in our forests, prairies, and wetlands. These funds help maintain our state’s biodiversity and protect species that are popular for hunting, birding, and other outdoor recreation, and are critical for the health of our salmon and fish populations.
Project Highlights
The Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) will use this grant to acquire approximately 1,900 acres from a 12,000-acre project area located about 25 miles southwest of the town of Asotin, along Grouse Flat Road and the Grande Ronde River in Asotin County. Acquiring this property will provide long-term protection of Riparian Protection, aspen, basalt cliffs, talus, interior grasslands, ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, and curlleaf mahogany habitat types. It will protect fish and wildlife species, such as bull trout, Chinook salmon, Snake River steelhead, Rocky Mountain tailed frogs, golden eagles, Lewis’s woodpeckers, flammulated owls, bighorn sheep, gray wolves, and numerous game species. It will also provide connectivity within the lower Grande Ronde Watershed, from low elevation cayonlands to high elevation habitat land owned by the US Forest Service.