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
With support from this award, WDFW acquired +/- 5,087 acres of land in rural Klickitat County. This acquisition was part of a multi-phase strategy to acquire more than 20,000 acres in the Simcoe Mountains. In this phase, a mix of riparian and upland lands were purchased providing habitat, in perpetuity, for federally listed species including Chinook salmon, as well as the western gray squirrel, burrowing owl and western toad. Originally labelled as Phase 4, this was actually the fifth phase of this acquisition strategy. Fewer acres were acquired than originally planned, but acquisition will continue with a sixth phase planned to add an additional 5,000 acres. Post-acquisition activities started under this grant will continue under the Simcoe 2020 award (20-1225). There were four amendments on this project. Amendments #1, #3 and #4 were time extensions. Amendment #2 was a scope change to add in survey. WDFW installed one sign identifying RCO’s funding along the one public access route to the property, and additional private property signs that were hung to mark property boundaries where fences were missing. The one identifying sign was installed as part of a large reader board, giving the public other information about the site. The acquired acreage did not have a lot of weed pressure, so noxious weed control has not been completed on the property. A total of 13,609 feet of fencing was installed on this site.