Conservation Northwest

Moving toward sustainable roads itoring of wildlife presence in habitat adjacent to Highway 97, and to detect Canada lynx in the Kettle River Range. Project partners are also working on se - curing conservation easements to pro- tect key open lands on private ranches near proposed wildlife crossing sites. Habitat conservation and restoration rough the Working for Wildlife Initiative, the Okanogan Conservation District has been conducting all-lands habitat restoration planning and sup - port including an assessment of priority restoration needs on state, federal, and tribal lands. e Conservation District has also been working with interested private landowners to create wildlife habitat plans. Various initiative partners have also been planning and holding discussions with willing landowners exploring conservation easements on thousands of valuable acres to ensure these lands continue providing important benefits to human and animal communities for generations to come. Removing old forest roads and re - storing the landscape to its natural con- dition is also a priority component of the Initiative (see sidebar). In the last two years that has included decommis- sioning several miles of unnecessary roads that were causing resource dam- age in the South Summit landscape of the Methow Ranger District, as well as roads in the Annie Restoration Project in the Tonasket Ranger District. Finally, landscape-scale conservation planning is being implemented project- wide through individual actions on the ground that add up to big change. In these third and fourth years of the Working for Wildlife Initiative, new re - lationships were formed, communities were empowered with new tools to live with wildlife recovering on this land- scape, acres were restored to improve the quality and quantity of habitat available, and plans were laid to ensure that each year of conservation action in this land - scape builds on the last in this important habitat linkage. Keeping the Northwest wild Fall 2017 7 Old road being restored to improve habitat. Photo: George Wooten Working for Wildlife An important component of Conservation Northwest's work is to "connect the big landscapes," but the only way to accomplish this big-picture goal is to focus in on smaller areas of habitat that need restoration. In the Okanogan-Wenatchee Na- tional Forest we're working closely with the Forest Service to close down, or "decommission," unnec- essary forest roads. These old log- ging roads are infrequently used, unnecessary for access to trail- heads and other destinations, and often unsafe for passage, not to mention ecologically harmful. By closing these roads and convert- ing them back to the landscape's natural state, we're helping re- store an important connecting habitat for wildlife like mule deer and Canada lynx to move between the North Cascades and the Kettle River Range. We're also boosting the long-term health of riparian corridors and creating fire-resilient landscapes. This year, we focused on closing down old roads in close proximity (300 feet or less) to streams and important fish spawning grounds, as well as in areas recovering from the wildfires of 2014. Old roads are notorious for increasing sedimen- tation and threatening the health of aquatic ecosystems and fish. Says George Wooten, one of our Conservation Associates, "By clos- ing off and revegetating these roads with native shrubs and seed, we're creating plant structures that will hold soil in place, lock water in the ground, and shade waterways to maintain cool water temperatures. These ecological components will boost forest and aquatic resiliency in the future." All decommissioning work last year was done by local contractors that we hired in coordination with the For- est Service. We decommissioned 3.55 miles of road in the Methow Ranger District and 1.89 miles in the Tonas- ket Ranger District, which totals 5.44 miles of decommissioned road. While the numbers seem small, the rewards will be mighty! Wooten believes that road decommis- sioning, while still taking into account access needs, is imperative to con- fronting ecological challenges that lie ahead. "We've seen intense wildfires over the past few years and expect more in the future. Closing certain roads will make the forest stronger, improve watershed quality and let ani- mals move between landscapes, and it will benefit local communities over the long-term as well." Over $50,000 in public and private contributions made this restoration work possible, including generous financial support from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, National Forest Foundation, The Orvis Com- pany, Peach Foundation, Washington Women's Foundation, the U.S. Forest Service, and our members. –Alaina Kowitz and George Wooten

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