Western Washington WHIP Priorities for FY 09

Washington State WHIP Priorities

Restoration of native vegetation on:

• Primary Habitats selected from the Priority Habitats and Species list of the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW)
• Secondary Habitats identified by the State Technical Advisory Committee (STAC)

Habitat Improvement for Targeted Wildlife Species:

• Federal or State Threatened and Endangered Species and associated critical habitats
• Federal or State Candidate Species
• Species identified as Priority Habitat Species (PHS) by WDFW
• Beneficial insects and pollinators

FY 09 WHIP Priorities for Western Washington

 1. Priority Habitat Types:  

 
2. Priority Treatment Activities:

     Primary Habitat Types for Western Washington

     Westside Grassland

• Remove invasive species such as Douglas fir, Scotch broom, Himalayan blackberry, and introduced grasses and forbs.
• Interplant with native prairie grasses and forbs.
• Establish oak seedlings.
• Includes projects in oak savanna and balds.

Species that may be benefited:  Oregon silverspot, Puget blue, Valley silverspot, Island marble, Taylor’s (whulge) checkerspot, Makah copper (prairie bog), streaked horned lark, Mazama pocket gopher, western bluebird, Oregon vesper sparrow, western pond turtle, Oregon branded skipper, Mardon skipper.

      White Oak Woodlands

• Remove invasive species in the overstory such as Douglas fir.
• Remove invasive species in the understory such as Himalayan blackberry, Scotch broom, English hawthorn, English ivy and introduced grasses and forbs.
• Establish oak seedlings.
• Protect naturally germinated oak seedlings.
• Livestock exclusion fencing.

        Species that may be benefited:  western gray squirrel, pileated woodpecker, western bluebird, slender-billed
        white-breasted nuthatch, Puget Sound fritillary.

      Bays and Estuaries (extreme high tidal zone to extreme low tidal zone)

• Remove invasive species such as cordgrass (Spartina sp.)    
• Establish native grasses and forbs.
• Re-establish suitable substrate for shellfish colonization.

Species that may be benefited:  Chinook salmon, coho salmon, chum salmon, sockeye salmon, steelhead, coastal resident/searun cutthroat trout, non-breeding concentrations of shorebirds (plovers, sandpipers, phalaropes), Bald eagle, Dungeness crab, Olympia oyster, common loon, western grebe, northern pintail.

Secondary Habitat Types for Western Washington

      Riparian

• Establish native trees and shrubs where woody vegetation historically occurred.

• Install fencing along perennial streams,  springs, ponds or lakes to provide for livestock management or exclusion.

• Provide off-channel watering source when livestock are excluded from riparian water.

• Restore or enhance native plant community.

• Restore or enhance natural hydrology.

Species that may be benefited:  bull trout/Dolly Varden, Chinook salmon, chum salmon, coastal resident/searun cutthroat, coho salmon, kokanee, pink salmon, steelhead/rainbow trout, sockeye salmon, wood duck, great blue heron (breeding concentrations), little brown bat, Oregon spotted frog, Pacific lamprey.

      Wetlands

• Restore or enhance native plant community.
• Restore or enhance natural hydrology.

Species that may be benefited:  Olympic mudminnow, coho salmon, westslope cutthroat trout, northern leopard frog, Oregon spotted frog, western pond turtle, bald eagle, waterfowl concentration areas, trumpeter swan, Wilson’s snipe, dunlin, spotted sandpiper, Western toad, Makah copper butterfly, western grebe.

Streams

• Correct human-made fish passage barriers through removal and/or replacement with fish-passable structures.

Species that may be benefited:  bull trout/Dolly Varden, Chinook salmon, chum salmon, coastal resident/searun cutthroat, coho salmon, kokanee, pink salmon, steelhead/rainbow trout, sockeye salmon, Pacific lamprey.

Forest

• Establish native fruit and berry producing trees and shrubs.
• Create snags and recruit downed wood.
• Enhance or create winter/spring forage for Olympic Peninsula elk herd.
• Pre commercial thinning for improvement in understory vegetation.
• Restore or enhance natural diversity by underplanting shrubs or other trees into a monoculture, and/or by thinning to increase light transmission through the canopy.
• Establish habitat for beneficial insects and pollinators.

   Species that may be benefited:  band-tailed pigeon, pileated woodpecker, western bluebird, beneficial insects and pollinator insects.
 

Agricultural Land

• Establish native trees and shrubs (patches, hedgerow, windbreak, etc.).
• Enhance or create winter/spring forage for Olympic Peninsula elk herd.
• Establish habitat for beneficial insects an pollinators.

Species that may be benefited:  Roosevelt elk (Olympic herd), ring-necked pheasant, band-tailed pigeon, Puget blue butterfly, beneficial insects or pollinator insects.
 

Coastal Dunes and Beaches

• Remove invasive species such as Scotch broom, gorse, shore pine, non-native grasses and forbs.
• Establish native grasses and forbs.

Species that may be benefited: Oregon silverspot, Taylor’s (whulge) checkerspot, western bluebird, streaked horned lark and snowy plover.

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