Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife
The National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant Program made a substantial investment in the Pacific Birds region in 2023, with a dozen awards in four states. Collectively, the awards will conserve 1,479 acres but all in different ways–from an acquisition in an urban coastal wetland to fencing out non-native predators in order to protect native species. The awards within the Pacific Birds service area add up to more than $10 million and will be leveraged with a cost-share of more than $5 million. These are impressive amounts that speak to the conservation commitments by multiple state, regional and local partners.
A grant award in Humboldt County, California will advance the multi-phase Prairie Creek Floodplain Restoration Project. The California State Coastal Conservancy will work with partners to restore 19.32 acres of floodplain and riparian habitats for wintering, resident and migratory birds, and other fish and wildlife species. A few of the many birds that will benefit from this restoration and the larger project include Allen’s Hummingbird, Northern Harrier, Pacific Slope Flycatcher, Yellow Warbler, Yellow-breasted Chat, Marsh Wren, Osprey, and Great Blue Heron. The Prairie Creek Project is within the globally significant Humboldt Lagoons Important Bird Area (IBA) and is especially important to non-marine waterfowl in the winter and to Marbled Murrelets that nest in the redwood forest. The project is located within the Yurok Tribe’s ancestral territory and is being implemented in collaboration with the Tribe. In addition to implementing specific on-the-ground restoration deliverables, partners will sponsor guided site tours and birding events at the site.
Photo courtesy of California State Coastal Conservancy.
The Hawaiʻi Department of Land and Natural Resources received three awards in this latest grant cycle which will allow partners to restore 22 acres of estuarine wetlands on Kauaʻi and acquire 43 acres of wetlands, including a buried 600-year-old loko ʻumeʻiki (shoreline-bound fishpond), on Molokaʻi. An award will also support the installation of a predator-proof fence around 190 acres in Molokaʻi, excluding non-native terrestrial predators for the benefit of native species.
In a partnership with Great Land Trust, Alaskaʻs Department of Natural Resources will protect 83.5 acres in an urban wetland near the Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge. This project is located south of Anchorage in a coastal wetland complex rich with migratory birds.
The State of Washington received seven coastal awards that will conserve 1,120 acres in a variety of wetland types–one to Washington Department of Natural Resources, and six to the Department of Ecology. Ecology is partnering with The Nature Conservancy in Snohomish County to restore 150 acres of estuarine tidal marsh within the Conservancy’s Port Susan Bay Preserve. Numerous estuarine-dependent species will benefit from restored and improved habitat connectivity within the Preserve, as will the area’s long-term resilience to sea level rise.
A number of federal or state-level priority avian species are found within the Preserve, among them Red Knot, Barrow’s Goldeneye, Peregrine Falcon, Short-eared Owl, Purple Martin and Rufous Hummingbird. The project is within the Port Susan Bay Important Bird Area, one of the few Puget Sound sites that supports more than 20,000 shorebirds in a season, many of them Western Sandpiper and Dunlin. (To see more 2023 awards through the Department of Ecology, see their blog.)
© Barry Troutman
