King County offers grant funding for small habitat restoration projects

For more than a dozen years, King County's Small Habitat Restoration Program has been providing funding to design, permit and construct small habitat restoration and drainage projects in and around streams and wetlands throughout unincorporated King County.

The program is now soliciting projects for the 2008 construction and planting season. Limited funding is available for construction of these small projects on either private or public land. Project applications must be submitted by Feb. 1 for consideration in the first round of review.

Past projects have included revegetating streambanks, stabilizing eroding slopes, restoring wetlands and replacing culverts to provide upstream passage for salmon. The work has occurred in both urban and rural areas.

If you know of a habitat problem that you would like to see remedied, fill out the online application form at http://dnr.metrokc.gov/wlr/cposa/shrp/suggest.htm. Applications will be screened and prioritized for implementation. Some projects nominated this year may be implemented in future years, depending on their priority and available funding.

More information is available by contacting Mason Bowles, King County Water and Land Resources Division, at 206-296-8736, or mason.bowles@kingcounty.gov.