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
Kitsap County used this grant to purchase approximately 366 acres of natural habitat and open space adjacent to the current North Kitsap Heritage Park located near Kingston and the Suquamish Indian Reservation. This acquisition protects 366 acres of aquatic and forest lands while at the same time preserving the area for public low impact recreation. The primary wildlife habitat protected through this project are the headwaters of two priority salmon-bearing streams (Grover’s & Carpenter Creeks) containing rare Category 1 wetlands, ponds, mature lowland forests and critical habitat for a host of terrestrial animals. The Salmon Federal funding was focused on the headwaters of two priority salmon-bearing streams, riparian buffer, wetland complex, and approximately 3.5 miles of stream. Grovers Creek is the most significant salmonid stream in the as yet undeveloped North Kitsap lowland forest area north of the Port Madison (Suquamish) Indian reservation, and is the largest freshwater source to Miller Bay, a unique coastal barrier bay. The project site also contains the headwaters of unnamed stream #15.0308, which is a significant freshwater source for the Carpenter Creek Estuary and is known salmonid habitat.