The LOTT board will be asked Wednesday night to contribute $260,000 to the land trust to help purchase a 60-acre parcel of wetlands and forests on the peninsula between Budd and Henderson inlets.
Money from the wastewater utility will be combined with $430,000 in federal funding to the Squaxin Island Tribe to secure the parcel sandwiched between Zangle and Libby roads.
The land acquisition fits into two different, but related, initiatives.
Connecting the Gull Harbor estuary on Budd Inlet with the Woodard Bay estuary on Henderson Inlet with a corridor of permanently conserved land has been a goal of the Capitol Land Trust for years.
“These are some of the best habitats left in South Sound,” noted land trust project manager Meriel Darzen. Over time, the forested areas could take on the habitat values of old-growth forests, and protection of the lands allows conservationists to remove several stream barriers that impede fish migration from the two estuaries, she said.
LOTT’s role in the project dates to 2004, when it began working with the Squaxin Island Tribe to fund projects that benefit water quality and habitat restoration in Budd Inlet. The habitat projects serve as partial mitigation for LOTT’s continued discharge of treated wastewater into the inlet, said LOTT community-relations and environmental policy director Karla Fowler.
In 2006, the Lacey, Olympia, Tumwater and Thurston County sewer partners provided funding to help purchase a conservation easement that protects the Gull Harbor estuary from future development. It’s considered the most intact estuary ecosystem in the Deschutes-Budd Inlet watershed.
The Woodard Bay estuary has protected status from its owner, the state Department of Natural Resources, which continues to expand that natural resource conservation area through property acquisitions from willing sellers.
Filling in the gaps between the two estuaries is the ongoing challenge.
“This is a long-term project,” Darzen said.
If approved by the LOTT board, funding will come from the utility’s 2011 capital budget, which totals more than $408,000 for Budd Inlet habitat-improvement projects.
John Dodge: 360-754-5444 jdodge@theolympian.com
