The Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office is accepting applications for its Forestland Preservation-Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program to provide funding to lease or buy voluntary land preservation agreements (also called conservation easements) for forests to ensure they remain available for timber production in the future.
Donor Name: Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office
State: Washington
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline (mm/dd/yyyy): 05/03/2022
Grant Size: $500,000
Details:
The program is part of the larger Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program, which was created in 1990 to conserve land for outdoor recreation and wildlife, to keep pace with a growing population. In 2016, the Legislature expanded the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program to include preservation of forestland with the goal of supporting working forests that also provide habitat for wildlife, environmental benefits, and public access.
Eligible Projects
- Land acquisition through easements or leases (required for all projects). Public access is not required.
- Habitat enhancement or restoration, in conjunction with land acquisition. These activities, such as installing fences or bridges, replanting riverbanks, and replacing culverts, must further the ecological functions of the forestland.
- Combination of land acquisition and either restoration or enhancement
Projects must include correcting all fish passage barriers on property owned by a private, small forest landowner not otherwise required by the Forest Practices Act. Grant recipients also are required to do a baseline inventory of the condition of the property.
Funding Information
- Funding comes from the sale of state bonds and is estimated to be $575,000 every 2 years.
- Grant applicants may request any amount up to $500,000.
Eligibility Criteria
- Cities
- Counties
- Nonprofit nature conservancy corporations or associations
- State Conservation Commission
For more information, visit Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office.