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
The proposed project is for the acquisition of a 4.4 acre parcel with creek frontage along Issaquah Creek and is also part of a large riverine wetland complex that is contiguous with other city owned natural open space – the South Issaquah Creek Greenway and Foothills Native Growth Protection Area. This open space area also provides a wildlife connection or corridor between Tiger Mt. State Forest to the east and Squak Mt. State Park to the south and west. Issaquah Creek, which bisects the project site, supports priority and TES fish species including fall chinook, coho, kikanee, sockeye, steelhead and cutthroat trout. Terrestrial priority species observed along the creek and on the project site include bald eagle, pileated woodpecker and great blue heron. The Lake Sammamish/Issaquah Creek WaterWays Program is a comprehensive and integrated program developed by the City and King County for the protection and preservation of in-stream and riparian resouces located along the full 18-mile length of the creek from its headwaters at Taylor Mountain to its mouth located at Lake Sammamish. The program strategies build upon the policies and objectives set forth through the Lake Washington/Cedar/Sammamish Watershed (WRIA 8) Near-Term Action Agenda for Salmon Habitat Conservation for the protection of the entire watershed.