Restoration and Conservation

To help plants and wildlife, Refuge staff use a variety of habitat management techniques to maintain, restore or enhance habitat for wildlife. Refuge staff carefully consider any management techniques and employ them in varying degrees according to the situation. Habitat restoration techniques have been implemented and are on-going in multiple habitat-types, from coastal dunes at Leadbetter Point to tidal marsh in the South Bay.  

Additional information can be found at the Willapa NWR’s website.  

Friends support of refuge conservation and restoration

The Friends regularly support the Refuge’s efforts through volunteer and fund-raising activities. For example, the Friends helped with the Greenhead Slough Project, where a culvert removal opened fish passage to ten miles of stream for spawning and rearing salmon. The Friends obtained a grant of $373,524 from the Washington State Salmon Recovery Funding Board to support the project. Restoration was completed in 2015 with the abandonment of the culvert, channel realignment, and installing a bridge over the new channel.  

Greenhead slough project

“Willapa National Wildlife Refuge faces many unique management challenges. While the refuge includes many pristine areas, it also includes lands where considerable restoration effort is needed. With the amazing diversity of habitats, from ocean sand dune beaches to the sheltered mudflats of the bay, from pristine old growth forests to open salt grass meadows, an equal diversity of conservation efforts must be employed. The refuge is home to several threatened species, and is trying to restore habitat for many others. Like many places, Willapa NWR is also coping with the threat of invasive species.”  

From the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge website.