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 successfully implemented this project to enhance and restore rare grassland bald and prairie habitats on two Natural Areas in the San Juan Islands: Cypress Island Natural Area and Cattle Point Natural Resources Conservation Area (NRCA). Restoration on Cypress Island Natural Area included ecological thinning and snag creation to restore 91 acres of bald habitat by removing encroaching trees within seven bald complexes. Scattered individual conifers were removed on another 22 acres of balds with less encroachment. Following these treatments, areas with significant bare soils beneath removed trees were scarified and seeded with a mix of plants native to these bald habitats, including: Achillea millefolium, Anaphalis margaritacea, Cerastium arvense, Collinsia parviflora, Elymus glaucus, Eriophyllum lanatum, Plectritis congesta, Leptosiphon bicolor, Lomatium utriculatum, Lomatium nudicaule, Luzula comosa, Festuca roemeri, and Camassia quamash. Invasive species including Scotch broom and Malta starthistle, were treated within 20 acres of balds and surrounding forest edge. At Cattle Point NRCA, restoration was focused on two separate portions of the site and included invasive plant control, mowing, prescribed burning, seeding, and planting. Throughout the project site, 12 acres were treated for invasive species, focused on non-native hawthorn, invasive grasses, and Canada thistle. This was reduced from the planned amount due to neighbor concerns regarding herbicide applications. To compensate for this, we increased the area and density of native seeding and planting (see below). Scattered encroaching conifers were cut and removed across 10 acres of the site. Within the western restoration unit, five polygons on 6 acres were treated for invasive grasses, and then seeded and planted with native grassland species. Invasive treatments in this unit included mowing (twice) and a single herbicide application. 1,200 native plant plugs of five species were planted in fall 2023 as an initial revegetation effort. In fall 2024, 34 lbs of native plant seed of 16 species and 10,200 additional native plant plugs of 13 species were planted to complete the revegetation in these areas. Planting was completed by DNR staff, WCC and YCC crews, and students from San Juan High School. The eastern 4-acre restoration unit was mowed once, followed by prescribed burning, seeding and planting. The prescribed burn was conducted by DNR crews in fall 2024 following extensive community outreach and burn planning. 1,000 native plant plugs of nine species and 27 lbs of seed of 17 species were planted in fall 2024 to complete the restoration.