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
This project would allow the City of Port Townsend to acquire critical wetland and wildlife habitat commonly referred to as the Winona wetland area. This wetland area has exceptionally high diversity of habitat and wildlife species and qualifies as a priority habitat area under the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Priority Habitat and Species Program. Winona wetlands is located in the northern portion of the city which is rapidly growing and faces continuing development pressure. Purchase of property within Winona wetland and the drainage corridor would connect this high value habitat with other “reserves” of significant habitat in Port Townsend. This connection of habitat also extends into Jefferson County to include other wetland areas and the largest contiguous stand of mature forest on the Quimper Peninsula. Preservation of the Winona wetland area is a vital step in providing for a contiguous wildlife corridor across the north Quimper Peninsula.