The purchase of an additional 1,200 acres of elk habitat to incorporate into the Mount St. Helens Wildlife Area has been canceled, according to a Washington Wildlife & Recreation Coalition news release.
The Washington Wildlife & Recreation Coalition put in a request with the Washington state House Capital Budget Committee for $150 million in state funding for the Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program (WWRP) over the next budget biennium from 2025 to 2027.
Ultimately, the Budget Committee elected to give the WWRP the same amount it got the previous biennium, $120 million.
“We are deeply grateful and appreciate the Legislature’s deliberation and decision to emphasize consistent funding for our state’s parks, wildlife habitat and working farms and forests,” Washington Wildlife & Recreation Coalition Executive Director Yvonne Kraus stated in the release.
Not receiving the additional $30 million they had requested for the WWRP means the Washington Wildlife & Recreation Coalition had to cancel 15 of a proposed 116 new recreation and conservation projects that were planned over the next two years.
The addition of 1,200 acres of elk habitat to the Mount St. Helens Wildlife Area was one of those projects.
Extra acreage was needed for the elk to both protect and enhance the critical winter range area for local elk herds. It would have also secured the local watershed and tributary habitat for several salmon species according to the release.
The extra 1,200 acres would have also provided year-round public access to the wildlife area, which is currently blocked off by private landowners.
Since it was first created in 1991, the WWRP has obtained over $2.2 billion in state funding for the state parks, trails, wildlife areas and working lands along with funding other recreation and conservation projects, the release added.
It is administered by the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office. To learn more, visit its website at https://rco.wa.gov/.
The Washington Wildlife & Recreation Coalition is a nonprofit which aims to gather local support to work towards obtaining public funding for wildlife habitat, new local and state parts and preservation of forest and working farmland according to its website.
For more information, visit the nonprofit’s website at https://wildliferecreation.org/.
