State to expand L.T. Murray Wildlife Area

OUTBUY – Three land purchases, including 705 acres in Kittitas County, were authorized by the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission last week in Olympia.

The $811,000 acquisition south of Cle Elum will expand the 106,400-acre L.T. Murray Wildlife Area to protect habitat for wildlife including mule deer, elk and northern spotted owls, Fish and Wildlife Department officials say.

The commission also approved the purchase of 975 acres in Cowlitz County north and west of Merrill Lake for $2.1 million.

Funded is the state Recreation and Conservation Office’s Washington Wildlife and Recreation Program grants.

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 state’s goal is to consolidate “checkerboard ownership” of alternating public and private parcels in the Cascades for efficient management and assured public access.