Protecting and Promoting Wildlife Habitat on State and Private Land in Washington's Arid Interior

Abstract

Patterns of rural settlement and land use play important roles in the accomplishment of goals for wildlife habitat and biodiversity protection in landscapes where effective solutions depend on involving both public and private lands. The article examines the creation of the settled landscape of interior Washington State through dramatic reshaping of the natural environment and the approaches taken by state resource managers to involve private landholders in conservation efforts in farm land and range land settings. The particular effectiveness of traditional state fish and wildlife management structures as a basis for recruiting landowners to conservation efforts is noted as well as the great importance of cultural and economic understandings of land in shaping landowners’ willingness to participate in habitat protection and restoration initiatives. The article describes reasons for the great variability in landowners’ willingness to participate in conservation efforts and evaluates the effectiveness of a succession of habitat protection and restoration projects in interior Washington State, with implications for parallel conservation efforts in other settings.

Keywords: natural resources, public lands, land use, fish and wildlife, agriculture