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 purchase about 27 acres within the Stavis Natural Resources Conservation Area (NRCA) located in Kitsap County. This project will protect forests along the main stem of the west forks of Stavis and Seabeck Creeks, and the main fork of Boyce Creek, which provide spawning and rearing habitat for fall Chum and Coho salmon on Hood Canal. This project will also protect and enhance rare forest communities in one of the most important corridors for biodiversity conservation in the Puget Trough. The NRCA provides high quality and rare wildlife habitat, making up a crucial part of a larger landscape of forest lands on the western Kitsap Peninsula. These acquisitions will fill important gaps in that landscape, supporting wildlife near urban areas and protecting Puget Sound nearshore, mature upland forest and critical wetlands complexes. This project provides opportunities for low-impact public use, recreation, environmental education and scientific research.