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 Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Washington Department of Natural Resources used this grant to develop and plant seeds of prairie plants in the Scatter Creek, Mima Mounds, Bald Hill, Rocky Prairie, and West Rocky Prairie areas. These areas are home to rare plants, animals, and plant communities of concern to both the Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Department of Natural Resources. The project goal was to develop cooperative actions to restore these rare habitats, including developing genetically appropriate seed sources for use in restoration work. Prior to this project, restoration had relied on propagation and transplanting of plugs from seeds collected by hand, which did not generate enough seed to meet the restoration needs. Under the project, the two agencies entered into a partnership to build the seed production capacity to allow for direct seeding in grassland and oak woodland restoration in western Washington. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife was the fiscal lead for the project.