BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) - The Washington Department of Ecology has partnered with Whatcom Land Trust on a conservation project that would protect coastal wetland and the fish and wildlife who depend on it.
The Whatcom Land Trust has received a $915,000 grant to buy and protect wetland along California Creek, TheBellingham Herald reported. The grant is expected to go toward a $1.3 million plan to buy four pieces of land along the creek that is a major tributary to Drayton Harbor near Blaine.
One of the four properties was bought, but the organization is planning to buy the other three, which are further upstream along the creek.
“The mudflats and tidal marshes along California Creek provide vital critical habitat to breeding, migrating and rearing salmonid species and fall within a regionally significant area for birds,” a project summary for the grant said.
“The wetlands will provide foraging and rearing habitat for a diversity of coastal dependent and migratory shorebirds, waterfowl and passerine species, including for example black oystercatchers, greater yellowlegs and red-necked grebe.”
With the new land purchase, Whatcom Land Trust will own about 53 acres at the mouth of creek where it empties into the harbor, some of which was set aside for a planned California Creek Estuary Park.
Blaine-Birch Bay Park & Recreation District 2 shares the park project which is expected to open in 2023 with a kayak launch, trails for hiking and biking, a parking lot and restroom, officials said. The park is designed to link between Birch Bay State Park and Peace Arch Park.
“This partnership with the Whatcom Land Trust has given an opportunity to the Blaine-Birch Bay Park and Recreation District to preserve this estuary and provide recreational opportunities for Whatcom County residents and visitors,” district director Ted Morris said.
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