Eastern Washington’s spectacular shrub-steppe landscape once covered more than ten million acres. The ecosystem makes for stunning scenery, and is home to songbirds, Greater sage-grouse, tiny endangered pygmy rabbits, mule deer, butterflies, and multitudes of flowers. But since Europeans began settling the area we now call Washington, about 80 percent of the historic ecosystem has been lost - primarily to conversion for agriculture or development.
At The Nature Conservancy, we’re fortunate to manage more than 30,000 acres for conservation - and some recreation - at our Moses Coulee and Beezley Hills Preserves.
But, as anyone in our region last September won’t soon forget, wildfires have devastated large swaths of our state. The 2020 Labor Day wildfires swept across the shrub-steppe, scorching more than 400,000 acres of this already-dwindling landscape. In less than a day, the fire swallowed more than 3,000 acres of wildlife habitat at the Moses Coulee Preserve.
The fire impacted rabbits and sage grouse across their range, further complicating the recovery of each of these very at-risk species. Burned-bare soil across the landscape lies vulnerable to rapid colonization by quick-spreading invasive plants and grasses.
Photos by Emily Crabill / TNC
Our land stewards - as well as our partners at state and federal agencies and other private landowners - have been hard at work collecting and spreading native seeds, repairing fences and mapping the damage. We understand the timeline for recovering the health and functionality of this ecosystem now stretches much farther into the future than before.
There’s hope in the opportunity for support from the Legislature this session: A proposal from Sen. Judy Warnick (R-13) aims to restore shrub-steppe habitat and wildlife populations and support communities affected by the 2020 wildfires with immediate funding for on-the-ground restoration via a budget proviso. The proposal also funds a stakeholder planning process for identifying longer-term conservation needs for the shrub-steppe and rangelands of Eastern Washington, including recommendations for helping to prevent devastating wildfires, fire response, recovery and restoration.
You can support the short- and long-term recovery of this irreplaceable landscape by adding your name (or your organization’s name) to a letter to Governor Inslee and budget writers today. Click the button below to read the letter and help restore Washington’s irreplaceable shrub-steppe landscape and the lives that depend on it.
