WDFW adds 40 acres to wildlife area near Elma

Purchase connects wetland habitat, seperate from farmers’ area of concern in 2021’s larger proposal

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife will acquire 40 acres of land to be added to the Chehalis Wildlife Area a few miles southwest of Elma, expanding on swathes of wetlands, meadows and riparian areas that provide bird and waterfowl habitat.

The state’s Fish and Wildlife Commission unanimously approved the transaction during a Friday meeting in Olympia, giving the agency authority to purchase the parcel from a private landowner for $150,000 using WDFW’s “Duck Stamp” funding — revenue from the sale of migratory bird permits, stamps, and artwork.

Along with private agricultural lands, most of the land between Elma and Satsop, south of U.S. Highway 12 and north of the Chehalis River, makes up the Chehalis Wildlife Area. Four segmented units span the wildlife area, the largest and most central being the Chehalis Unit, which stretches from the highway to the Chehalis River and is bordered by Newman Creek on the west. It accounts for about 800 of the 1,200 acres in the wildlife area.

The agency will acquire land situated on the southwest border of the Chehalis unit on Wenzel Slough Road, lining a section of riverbank and covering a portion of a large swamp and wetland called Huttula Lake, which fills during rainfall and with flood water.

Huttula Lake is connected hydrologically, not necessarily by human-drawn land parcels on top of it, said Anthony Novack, a WDFW district biologist for Grays Harbor and Pacific counties based in Montesano. He said the acquisition will “add synergy to the habitat lands we already have.”

“This expands public ownership into that hydrology and maintains the wetland in one big piece,” Novack said in an interview.

Public uses of the wildlife area include hunting, birding, hiking, nature watching and photography. The wetlands are good habitat for fish, including Coho salmon and the Olympic Mudminnow, and many kinds of birds: osprey, bald eagles, herons, wood duck, trumpeter swans, shorebirds, and, perhaps most consequentially, waterfowl.

Because it enhances waterfowl hunting, the land transaction was eligible for WDFW’s Migratory Bird Stamp and Art Print Program, which garners about $650,000 annually mostly from waterfowl hunting permits, according to Eryn Couch, communications manager with WDFW.

Conservation nonprofit Ducks Unlimited was an original partner with WDFW in setting up the Chehalis Wildlife unit, which became Ducks Unlimited’s first project in Washington in the early 1990s, according to Greg Green, director of Conservation Programs in the Pacific Northwest for Ducks Unlimited.

Ducks Unlimited didn’t work with the agency on the most recent, 40-acre addition to the area, but it did express support to the director and the wildlife commission.

“We are supportive of acquisitions from willing sellers that improve waterfowl and wetland habitats and also provide additional opportunities for public access and recreation, such as hunting,” Green said.

In 2021, other conservation and hunting organizations, not necessarily Ducks Unlimited, supported a larger, 1,500-acre expansion of the Chehalis Wildlife Area that included the 40-acre parcel acquired last week. The proposed larger expansion had been approved by WDFW as part of its Lands 20/20 initiative, the agency’s tool and vision for guiding land acquisitions.

The agency ultimately scrapped the proposed expansion when farming organizations — the Grays Harbor Farm Bureau and the Washington State Dairy Federation — opposed the expansion, expressing concerns that a dairy farm cornered by the wildlife area would be devalued because of WDFW’s land-use policies. They took specific objection to proposed expansion lands west of the Chehalis unit near Satsop.

Grays Harbor County Commissioners also expressed concerns at the time, according to WDFW Real Estate Manager Karen Edwards, who briefed the commission on the conflict during Friday’s meeting.

Even though WDFW backed out of the large expansion, Edwards told commissioners on Friday the 40-acre parcel was “not in the area of concern” expressed by the farmers. Once the property is acquired, Grays Harbor County will receive payment in lieu of taxes from the Washington state Treasurer’s office.

Existing hay production uses on the 40-acre parcel will be incorporated into an existing agricultural lease, Edwards stated in a report.

“I just wanted to extend my gratitude for the department working so closely with the County Commissioners and the public,” said WDFW Commissioner Molly Linville.

Funding hasn’t been secured to demolish and remove “a dilapidated shell of a former residence” and two outbuildings on the property, along with decommissioning of septic and wells, according to Edwards’ report. That could come in the form of a capital budget request for needs on several properties in the Chehalis Valley.

Contact reporter Clayton Franke at 406-552-3917 or clayton.franke@thedailyworld.com.