Protected Lands
GHAS’ Protected Habitat Lands
Grays Harbor Audubon Society owns approximately 3,000 acres, located mostly within Grays Harbor County. Parcels are concentrated along the shore of the North Bay of Grays Harbor and in the Humptulips River watershed. Others are located in the Chehalis Surge Plain, along the South Bay and Westport area, in Pacific County and along the Wishkah River and Cloquallum Creek.
GHAS manages and protects these habitat lands for the benefit of birds, wildlife, fish and aquatic resources living within or associated with them. The aquatic resources vary hugely and include tidal shorelines, rivers, streams, sloughs and several classes of wetlands. Currently GHAS is working on two projects both of which will restore long-blocked fish passage to salmon-important streams. This greater access enriches habitat for far more organisms than the salmon themselves. As they spawn and die farther upstream, their bodies supply nutrients to the whole ecosystem.
The forests on GHAS lands are quite diversified across the landscape. From mature spruce stands to scrubby coastal woodlands, from older Douglas fir to younger mixed forests, from upland stands to forested wetlands – each of these is home to different bird, mammal, amphibian and insect populations. Their permanently protected status also helps increase the habitat value of neighboring forests and other lands.
Virtually all GHAS lands contain wetlands and/or streams within them or are adjacent to rivers, streams, the bay or the ocean. The benefits of access to water for all organisms cannot be overemphasized. The presence of water amplifies and multiplies the ecological richness of connected lands and makes survival of the inhabitants so much easier. This includes the native plants growing there.
Conserving all these habitats is a major way in which GHAS gives back to its community, the local natural world and the larger world beyond its borders.
Grays Harbor Audubon Society owns approximately 3,000 acres, located mostly within Grays Harbor County. Parcels are concentrated along the shore of the North Bay of Grays Harbor and in the Humptulips River watershed. Others are located in the Chehalis Surge Plain, along the South Bay and Westport area, in Pacific County and along the Wishkah River and Cloquallum Creek.
GHAS manages and protects these habitat lands for the benefit of birds, wildlife, fish and aquatic resources living within or associated with them. The aquatic resources vary hugely and include tidal shorelines, rivers, streams, sloughs and several classes of wetlands. Currently GHAS is working on two projects both of which will restore long-blocked fish passage to salmon-important streams. This greater access enriches habitat for far more organisms than the salmon themselves. As they spawn and die farther upstream, their bodies supply nutrients to the whole ecosystem.
The forests on GHAS lands are quite diversified across the landscape. From mature spruce stands to scrubby coastal woodlands, from older Douglas fir to younger mixed forests, from upland stands to forested wetlands – each of these is home to different bird, mammal, amphibian and insect populations. Their permanently protected status also helps increase the habitat value of neighboring forests and other lands.
Virtually all GHAS lands contain wetlands and/or streams within them or are adjacent to rivers, streams, the bay or the ocean. The benefits of access to water for all organisms cannot be overemphasized. The presence of water amplifies and multiplies the ecological richness of connected lands and makes survival of the inhabitants so much easier. This includes the native plants growing there.
Conserving all these habitats is a major way in which GHAS gives back to its community, the local natural world and the larger world beyond its borders.