As available land in Ferry County has been developed, wildlife habitat has become fragmented. There are large areas of good habitat on either side of the Curlew Lake Valley, but the bottom land that used to be pasture and hay meadows has been converted into home sites. As new residents move to Ferry County, this trend will no doubt continue.
At the very south end of Curlew Lake, FCD owns 90 acres of land. Approximately half of it is hay meadow and half is wild land. One of our goals for the property is to establish a wildlife passage corridor across the property from one side of the valley to the other. This year we will take long strides toward realizing this goal.
With funding assistance from the Natural Resources Conservation Service and Partners for Fish and Wildlife, FCD will create forty islands of trees and shrubs. Volunteers from Washington Service Corps AmeriCorps and USDA Job Corps will help us with this major project. When the plants mature, they will provide cover, food and forage for animals and birds as they travel across the valley.
Site preparation work was completed in the fall of 2006. The District received cultural resource clearance in the spring of 2008 and planting work has begun. Bird houses and raptor poles have also been installed. Check back periodically for progress updates.
