Commission approves land purchases for habitat, outdoor recreation

WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT — Three land purchases, including 705 acres in Kittitas County, were authorized by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission during its Friday meeting in Olympia.

The section of land south of Cle Elum will expand the 106,400-acre L.T. Murray Wildlife Area to protect habitat for a variety of wildlife, including mule deer, elk and northern spotted owls, according to state Department of Fish and Wildlife officials. The parcel will cost $811,000.

The commission also approved the purchase of 975 acres in Cowlitz County to help protect diverse fish and wildlife habitat and outdoor recreation access north and west of Merrill Lake. The purchase price is $2.1 million.

Both purchases will be funded with grants from the state Recreation and Conservation Office’s Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program, the agency said in a release.

The Kittitas County land is being purchased from The Nature Conservancy, which bought nearly 48,000 acres from Plum Creek Timber in 2014. It’s one of several parcels in the Manastash Creek watershed the nonprofit group has purchased, held and transferred to the state since buying out the timber company.

The goal for both TNC and the state Fish and Wildlife and Natural Resources departments is to continue consolidating the “checkerboard ownership” of alternating public and private parcels in the Cascades. Consolidate blocks of land are more efficient to manage for wildlife and assure public access.