Good farm and land stewardship includes wildlife habitat considerations.  It's good for the environment, the owner, and the community. The Puget Sound region is rapidly losing land to development, and wildlife habitat along with it.  Farms near these urban areas can play an increasingly important role in providing alternative habitat.

Some good practices -

• Let vegetation grow in fence rows (wildlife corridor)

• Keep native vegetation along stream channels

• Provide ponds or other sources of water

• Plant trees and shrubs

• Provide rock and/or brush piles

• Provide nest boxes for birds

• Reduce or eliminate the use of chemicals

Regulatory concerns -  It's probably a good idea to take some photos and document the conditions before starting an enhancement project so that you don't inadvertently get penalized by having setback buffer requirements imposed or widened under King County sensitive/critical area ordinances.  We are working to get language into updates of these ordinances that will clearly provide incentives, rather than risks, for implementing wildlife enhancements.

Consider corners of pastures, fence lines, wet areas, and other locations where wildlife enhancement can be added without significantly reducing grazing area and economic use of the farmland.  We began by fencing off the drainage swale/wet pasture area.  It wasn't good for the horses to be in there anyway, where they would pull shoes, etc (see mud control section).  We also set aside a low-lying wet corner and enhanced it (see before and after photos below).

Enhancement features included the following:

• Fencing to keep the horses out

• Placement of rocks and stumps in and around the pond

• Planting native trees and shrubs, including -

  • Western Red Cedar; Sitka Spruce; Oregon Ash

  • Weeping Willow (okay, maybe this one's not locally native)

  • Red Twig Dogwoods; Serviceberries (good food for man & birds)

  • more to come

Taking this small area out of "farming use" has had negligible economic impact.  Right off the bat it has provided a bonanza for amphibians, where hundreds of tadpoles successfully made it to froghood the first season.  As the trees and shrubs mature, it will become increasingly useful for birds and other small creatures.

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