The Washington Department of Ecology, in partnership with Capitol Land Trust, USFWS, Pacific Coast Joint Venture, the Squaxin Island Tribe, Taylor Shellfish Farms, and the Salmon Recovery Funding Board, was awarded $531,745 to acquire 20 acres of forested and coastal habitat on the eastern shore of Totten Inlet in northwest Thurston County. These funds will leverage $286,440 in non-Federal cost share. The project area includes an intact pocket estuary, 1,400 feet of undeveloped coastal shoreline, forested and estuarine wetlands, a pocket estuary with baymouth spit, and feeder bluffs. Totten Inlet has been identified by conservation organizations and agencies as a high priority for protection due to the quality of estuarine and nearshore habitat and ecological diversity, and its protection is identified as a priority action in 20 conservation and recovery plans. Land acquisition for conservation (fee simple, etc.) 2010 2011 In Progress USFWS National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant Program USFWS Coastal Program PCJV Capitol Land Trust Washington Department of Ecology NCWG_R1 USFWS_R1 NCWG Griffin Neighborhood Association Pacific Coast Joint Venture ADESA Environmental Services Taylor Shellfish USFWS Coastal Program Wild Fish Conservancy Steamboat Conservation Partnership South Puget Sound Salmon Enhancement Group Washington Department of Ecology State Sponsor Capitol Land Trust Project Partner Squaxin Island Tribe project partner Salmon Recovery Funding Board Project Partner - funding Totten Inlet Estuarine Habitat Acquisition Land acquisition for conservation (fee simple, etc.) 2010 2011 In Progress 47.1569802450094 -122.958383560181 Applying for permits or programs Washington Department of Ecology 2009 Applying for permits or programs USFWS Wildlife and Sportfish Restoration Programs 2009 Applying for permits or programs Washington State Deparment of Ecology 2009 Applying for permits or programs USFWS Coastal Program 2010 ADESA Environmental Services LLC 2010 Project Administration 500.0 Schuett-Hames Wildlife Experts 2010 Assistance with Wildlife surveys and information for property 576.0 Capitol Land Trust 2010 Project Administration 1000.0 Tribe Squaxin Island Tribe Other 1000.0 Fully Funded 2010 Company/Business Taylor Shellfish Private Funding 1000.0 Fully Funded 2010 Non-Governmental Organization Steamboat Conservation Partnership Private Funding 2000.0 Fully Funded 2010 State Government Washington Recreation & Conservation Office (formerly Office of Interagency Committee) Salmon Recovery Funding Board, Washington Grant 280364.0 Fully Funded 2009 Federal Government USFWS National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant Grant 531745.0 Fully Funded 2010 The proposed project will protect stream, estuarine, mudflat, and wetland processes in perpetuity, sustain productive and diverse habitats, and protect the water quality and habitat for migratory and resident bird species, Endangered Species Act (ESA) listed salmon, as well as numerous mammals, invertebrates, reptiles and amphibians. Permanent protection of the habitat on the site is expected to have the following results and benefits: · Support federal and state salmon recovery goals by preserving highly productive estuarine habitat suitable for use by five species of anadromous fish: native Totten Inlet fall chum (a “heritage” salmon stock due to its genetic distinction from other native Puget Sound chum and its robust stock status); Puget Sound/Strait of Georgia Coho Salmon ESU including South Puget Sound coho (ESA species of concern); Puget Sound Chinook Salmon ESU, including fall chinook (ESA listed threatened); Puget Sound Steelhead DPS including native Totten Inlet winter steelhead (ESA listed threatened); and Southwest Washington Coastal cutthroat trout DPS including anadromous coastal cutthroat trout in Totten Inlet. · Preserve in a natural state 1,400 feet of functional marine shoreline and 20 acres of saltmarsh, freshwater wetland and forests that collectively provide habitat for anadromous fish, forage fish, shorebirds, migratory and coastal dependent birds, waterfowl, as well as native amphibians and reptiles. Included in this project site are feeder bluffs and a pocket estuary with a baymouth spit. These types of embayments are characterized by wave protection, high forage productivity and highly variable salinity- all key habitat functions for juvenile salmonids. · Maintain important wetland functionality by preserving an interconnected mosaic of forested wetlands and small streams that feed freshwater into the marine pocket estuary. Protection of the adjacent riparian forest will filter sediments and moderate temperature in the forested wetlands and stream system, maintaining input of cool, clean water to the estuary. · Protection of the site will maintain the dense shoreline/riparian forest that provides habitat forming processes such as large wood recruitment, litterfall and invertebrate drift into the estuary from the stream system and adjacent shoreline vegetation and gravel recruitment to the adjacent beach from marine feeder bluffs on the site. · Buffer marine shorelines from upland development impacts. · Protect water quality by preventing sediment, toxic runoff and septic pollution associated with shoreline development. · Preserve the project site’s 10.4 wetland acres, of which 8.2 acres (79% of the wetland acres, 41% of total project acres) are the following nationally decreasing coastal wetland types: o Palustrine forested/scrub-shrub o Estuarine intertidal emergent underway Aquatic Marine and Intertidal Marine Salt Marshes Bays Forests and Woodlands Estuarine Mixed Hardwoods and Conifer Wetlands and Riparian Habitats Forested or Shrub Wetlands and Swamps Marshes, Bogs and Emergent Wetlands National Coastal Wetland Conservation Grant Program www.fws.gov/coastal/CoastalGrants/index.html Washington State Department of Ecology www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/sea/wetlands/index.html Capitol Land Trust www.capitollandtrust.org/ Federal Government USFWS Conservation Mission Conservation of Coastal Wetland Habitat, and Nationally declining wetland habitat types Public Benefit Benefits to the Public include conservation of functional nearshore ecosystems providing habitat for commercially and ecologically important species, conserving water resources and protecting water quality, and supporting recovery of Puget Sound. Species Recovery Plan Conservation Plan Land Trust Strategic Conservation Plan Nature Conservancy Ecoregional Plan Willamette Valley – Puget Trough – Georgia Basin Ecoregional Assessment (2004). The Nature Conservancey. Floberg, et al. State Wildlife Action Plan Washington’s Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. 2005. Chinook Salmon - Puget Sound Oncorhynchus tshawytscha pop. 15 Chum Salmon - Puget Sound/Straight of Georgia Oncorhynchus keta pop. 5 Coho Salmon - Puget Sound/Strait of Georgia Oncorhynchus kisutch pop. 5 Marbled Murrelet Brachyramphus marmoratus Bald Eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus Purple Martin Progne subis Great Blue Heron Ardea herodias Coastal Cutthroat Trout Oncorhynchus clarkii clarkii Surf Smelt Hypomesus pretiosus Surf Scoter Melanitta perspicillata Mallard Anas platyrhynchos Common Loon Gavia immer Western Sandpiper Calidris mauri Least Sandpiper Calidris minutilla Dunlin Calidris alpina Herring Gull Larus argentatus false false true