Your Donations are Working to Restore Habitat for Threatened Prairie Grouse Lost to Wildfire
The Spokane Audubon Society (SAS) board of directors recently voted to use some of the chapter’s prairie grouse habitat restoration funds to help restore habitat lost to wildfire at Douglas County’s Spiva Butte Nature Preserve.
After wildfire in September 2020 destroyed shrub-steppe habitat at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (WDFW) Swanson Lakes Wildlife Area in Lincoln County, SAS solicited donations for restoration. The SAS board initially donated $1,000 through the Inland Northwest Wildlife Council’s fund to purchase seed for WDFW’s first restoration efforts.
SAS was committed to providing up to an additional $10,000 directly to WDFW for forb purchase and planting. But $7,311 of the chapter’s state ALEA (Aquatic Lands Enhancement Account) grant funds for grouse monitoring were shifted to habitat restoration at Swanson Lakes. These grant funds were designed to reimburse lek-monitoring volunteers for mileage, but the Covid pandemic restricted volunteer activity and some funds were unused.
Ongoing generous donations, along with annual contributions from the Crosetto Foundation for upland game bird and waterfowl habitat work, have brought the SAS grouse fund to near $14,000. But at this time WDFW has no immediate need for additional funds for Swanson Lakes recovery.
However, the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust is in need of funds to restore shrub-steppe and riparian habitat at its Spiva Butte Nature Preserve where nearly all 1,396 acres burned in another September 2020 wildfire. Spiva Butte provides critical shrub-steppe habitat for one of the last two viable sage-grouse populations left in Washington state. Its riparian corridors also provide critical wintering habitat for sharp-tailed grouse. A major donor in purchasing the preserve was the Crosetto Foundation.
The SAS board voted unanimously to contribute $10,000 to the Spiva Butte restoration project since it is in keeping with the designation of donated funds. The remaining grouse funds will be kept in reserve for any additional needs at either Swanson Lakes or other areas vital to the survival of our threatened grouse species.
You can continue to donate any amount to this effort, either by a check payable to Spokane Audubon mailed to P.O. Box 9820, Spokane, WA 99209-9820, or on-line by credit card via the following link:
