County starts process to preserve remaining prairie

Thurston County is partnering with the Department of Fish and Wildlife to conserve prairie lands that are home to three species that could be considered endangered by the end of the month.

The plan is to create an inter local agreement that would identify the species’ habitat and what conditions they need to thrive.

The agreement would regulate the process landowners go through when filing for permits to develop the protected prairie lands.

“That sets it up for a period of time so applicants are under that plan, versus everyone on their own going to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for a consultation,” said Andrew Deffobis, associate planner.

The agreement is being made possible with a grant $450,000 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. A portion of that grant already has funded research on the threatened species.

It could take between three and five years to get the agreement in place, Deffobis said. The county is planning to set up a stakeholders group.

“The goal ultimately is long-term certainty in land-use permitting,” Deffobis said. “It’s about determining what habitat is necessary for survival, where we can allow impacts, what sites we are going to restore, and what sites ultimately we will try to acquire.”

South Puget Sound is home to just 10 percent of its original prairies, with less than 3 percent considered high quality habitat.

Many species that call prairies home have been deemed endangered or threatened by the state and federal departments of fish and wildlife.

Three are still up for consideration: the Mazama pocket gopher, the streaked horned lark, and the Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly, which have been on the consideration list for 10 years.

“We’ve already done a status review for them and determined we should list them, but there wasn’t the time or money,” said Jodi Bush, division manager of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “So they were put on a watch list -- a candidate list.” Another species on the list was the mardon skipper butterfly, which was subsequently removed from the list for consideration Tuesday, Bush said.

“We had done a lot of work in the last years, going out and finding more animals,” Bush said. “The species is found on federal lands primarily and there has been a lot of work with management plans ... to reduce threats to those areas.”

A decision on the other three species is expected by the end of the month.

Officials will look at the species’ population levels, as well as any threats to the species, such as habitat destruction, disease, overutilization and failed regulatory mechanisms.

Regardless of the decisions on the species’ status, the county has chosen to protect the habitat as part of its recently approved critical area’s ordinance. ckrotzer@theolympian.com

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