Awarded to the Columbia Wetlands Stewardship Partners to prioritize and enhance the conservation of Species at Risk and important focal species, their habitats and connectivity areas in the upper Columbia Valley.
PROPONENT: Columbia Wetlands Stewardship Partners (CWSP)
DESCRIPTION: While approximately 60% of the Columbia Wetlands are protected from direct human disturbance, about 40% are not protected. In 2020, the Columbia Wetlands Stewardship Partners (CWSP) completed a Literature Review of Species at Risk in Columbia Valley, identifying 65 species at risk in the valley – far more than previously realized. CWSP found that 35 bird species, 2 amphibians, 2 reptiles, 9 mammals, 7 vascular plants and 21 ecological communities are at risk in the Columbia Valley. This project is important for conservation in the Columbia Valley (CV) because CWSP is working to protect habitat and species at three scales. At the landscape scale, we are developing a model to evaluate wetland restoration potential based on publicly available datasets. CWSP plans to make this available as an online tool to guide other wetland restoration practitioners in their restoration efforts. Regionally, in the Columbia Wetlands and benchland wetlands of the CV, they have identified hydrologically vulnerable wetlands and are working to restore degraded beaver dams to retain water in important wildlife habitats. Locally, the construction of beaver dam analogues in these sites will increase wetland habitat, and CWSP will continue to maintain and improve the previously constructed habitat for western painted turtles.
OBJECTIVES: The project has three main objectives: 1) Develop a quantitative Wetland Restoration Potential Index and make model publicly available (Landscape scale conservation); 2) Identify hydrologically vulnerable wetlands in the Columbia Wetlands and Columbia Valley and build artificial beaver dams (or restore degraded beaver dams) to mitigate the loss of open water habitat in benchland wetlands in Columbia Valley (Regional scale conservation); and 3) Maintain previously constructed western painted turtle nesting habitat (Local conservation actions).
PHOTO: Larry Halverson
