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Pilot Projects
> Strategy development The Council’s two conservation pilot projects have both reached successful completion. The two projects, one on the east side of the state and one on the west side each received $20,000 from the Council, and ran for 18 months, January 2006 through June 2007. The general goals of the pilots were to demonstrate new models for promoting incentive-based biodiversity conservation tools, and to engage citizens in biodiversity conservation. The two projects have taken different approaches to these goals. Participants in the projects met together in Easton in April, 2007. They shared what they had learned and how they plan to continue in the future. The findings from the projects informed key components of the Washington Biodiversity Conservation Strategy (5 MB pdf). We hope that the pilot projects may also serve as models for other communities. Citizen Stewardship of the Pierce County Biodiversity Network: Lower White RiverThe Council’s western Washington pilot project focused on the lower White River between Buckley and Sumner. This area retains significant functional riparian habitat that supports a variety of fish and wildlife species despite rapid urbanization. The lower White River corridor is a Biodiversity Management Area (BMA) in Pierce County. Landowners in Pierce County BMAs are eligible for reduced property taxes. more > The Healthy Lands InitiativeThe Healthy Lands Initiative worked to develop a shared community vision for how biodiversity conservation can be integrated with the economic and social needs of the North Central Washington region, including Okanogan, Douglas, and Chelan Counties, and the Colville Indian Reservation. This area is very rich in biodiversity and ecological function, and it provides a major migration corridor between Canada and the Columbia Plateau. more >
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