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 Department of Natural Resources will use this grant to buy about 27 acres for inclusion in the Stavis Natural Resources Conservation Area. The purchase will protect forests along the forks of Stavis, Seabeck, and Boyce Creeks, which are used by chum and coho salmon on Hood Canal. The purchase also will protect rare forest communities in one of the most important corridors for biodiversity conservation in the Puget Trough. Both the conservation area and Kitsap Forest Natural Area Preserve, which is within the same conservation envelope, provide high-quality and rare wildlife habitat, making up a crucial part of a larger landscape of forests on the western Kitsap peninsula. The department will allow low-impact public use in the area, which provides stunning views of the Olympic Mountains and Hood Canal.