Landowner Incentive Program Focus Areas -- 2007

Greater Sage-Grouse Shrub Steppe Habitat

Greater sage-grouse in Washington State’s Columbia Plateau ecoregion have experienced a severe decline from historic levels resulting from habitat loss and the invasion of non-native noxious weeds. Approximately 790 birds remain within two sage grouse population centers, far below the 3200 estimated for viability. Risk of extirpation is high.

Historically, 10.4 million acres of shrub steppe existed in the Columbia Basin Ecoregion of Washington prior to arrival of settlers in the 1800s. Shrub steppe and steppe communities once covered most of arid eastern Washington, extending from below the forests of the Cascade slope through the prairies of the Palouse. Over 60% of this habitat has been converted to other uses, primarily agriculture, but also urban development. Habitat loss is further exacerbated by habitat isolation and fragmentation. These two sage-grouse populations are separated by over 30 miles. A direct relationship can be observed between the loss of shrub steppe and the declining range of shrub steppe dependent species such as sage-grouse and pygmy rabbits. WDFW’s Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy has established shrub steppe and interior grasslands as one of the highest priority habitats for current conservation action in Washington State.

Shrub steppe communities support a wide diversity of wildlife. Sagebrush itself is a critical food source for many animals. Sage-grouse prefer foraging on sagebrush buds and leaves throughout the year but in winter it comprises 100% of their diet. During the rest of the year, they consume other plants and grasses as well. In addition, sagebrush physically protects understory plants, provides vertical structure that adds diversity to the plant community, and provides for snow retention that may benefit the water table. WDFW’s CWCS has identified several shrub steppe dependent species that are of greatest conservation need in addition to the sage-grouse.

Historic Shrub Steppe Habitat	Current Shrub Steppe Habitat

To avoid the potential extirpation of sage-grouse, this grant cycle focuses on protecting, restoring and connecting shrub steppe habitat to rebuild a viable population of these birds. Possible LIP project opportunities include conservation easements, particularly when connecting existing greater sage-grouse habitats, and shrub steppe habitat restoration. Successful recovery of sage-grouse habitat will result in benefits to many other shrub steppe dependent species that have also declined dramatically in the state such as pygmy rabbits (extirpated, now attempting to reintroduce through captive breeding program), sage thrasher, burrowing owls and Washington ground squirrels.

Hood Canal Habitats

Hood Canal, a picturesque, 62-mile long fjord separating most of Puget Sound from the Olympic Peninsula, has long been treasured as one of the most scenic places in the Pacific Northwest. Four major watersheds, The Dosewallips, the Duckabush, the Hamma Hamma, and the Skokomish, originate in the rugged terrain of the Olympic Mountains and terminate along the western shore of Hood Canal. By comparison to the west side, the topography of the east side of Hood Canal is relatively flat and dissected by numerous streams with eroding sediments deposited and reworked by several glacial episodes. The marine shoreline is host to a complex network of mudflats, dendric tidal channels, lagoons, salt marshes, eelgrass beds and sandy beaches, all productive habitats supporting diverse fish and wildlife populations.

Hood Canal has been known as one of the most productive watersheds in Washington State, boasting of bountiful fish and wildlife resources, particularly as a home to chinook, chum, coho, and pink salmon and steelhead. As part of the Puget Trough Ecoregion, Hood Canal was historically dominated by dense coniferous forests consisting of western red cedar, western hemlock and Douglas fir. However, forestry and agricultural practices as well as intensive growth and development in the past century have radically altered the landscape, including the ability to support sustainable levels of fish and wildlife.

Hood Canal Watershed

Freshwater rearing salmonids are particularly vulnerable to habitat impacts such as elevated water temperatures and dewatering as a result of riparian removal and water extraction, and lack of instream structure such as pool-forming large wood. In the marine environment, shoreline alterations such as bank armoring, over-water structures, and intertidal fill, can disrupt important sediment input from eroding bluffs, alongshore sediment transport and continuous eelgrass beds that are critical to migrating juvenile salmonids. Puget Sound chinook, Hood Canal summer chum, Puget Sound steelhead and bull trout have all been federally listed under the Endangered Species Act as threatened, clearly indicating the need for habitat restoration, enhancement and protection to return these stocks to sustainable populations.

In addition to habitat loss, these landscape alterations have resulted in an additional complex problem, a lack of dissolved oxygen. This problem hit the spotlight in the spring of 2002 and again in the fall of 2003 when thousands of dead fish and other marine life washed up on Hood Canal beaches, having suffocated from lack of oxygen. This problem continues. During 2004, the canal’s deep-water oxygen levels dropped to all-time lows. This loss of dissolved oxygen has resulted in dramatic “death zones” throughout the Canal.

While the problems in Hood Canal are vast and complex, numerous opportunities exist to contribute toward restoration. Potential activities within this focus area include riparian and riverine restoration, estuary restoration and floodplain protection. These activities will enhance carbon storage, reduce sedimentation and nutrient inputs, provide thermal control and increase wildlife corridors. Restoring estuary function provides excellent rearing habitat for juvenile salmonids and numerous shorebirds and waterfowl and their avian predators. Protecting and restoring floodplain habitat provides flood storage through off channel and wetland habitats. Riparian protection and restoration provides great benefits to both fish and wildlife through thermal control, large wood recruitment and sediment/nutrient control.