The Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife (WDFW) has rolled out a series of videos celebrating the rich and diverse ecosystems of the state, from glaciated mountains and coastal rainforest to arid shrub steppes and mighty river canyons.
The series of eight videos include two ecoregions in our backyard: the Puget Lowland, with its coastal lagoons, forested foothills and prairies; and the North Cascades, home to ancient cedars and rare alpine daisies.
As the human population of Washington grows rapidly, the state agency is working to raise public awareness about biodiversity and how conservation and habitat protection at scale are critical.
Biodiversity is life in all its forms, from the physical environment to individual species and how everything in the system interacts. In addition to clean air and water, healthy ecosystems provide a slew of natural benefits like flood control, climate change buffering, pest control, as well as cultural, recreational and economic benefits.
The primary threats to biodiversity in Washington are habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation as well as pollutant accumulation and climate change.
WDFW is working to broaden its focus from protecting the state’s charismatic endangered species and harvested species (i.e. fish and wildlife that humans harvest) to focus on ecosystem-wide conservation, in order to ensure people today and in the future have access to rich and resilient environments.
In 2023, the state legislature dedicated biodiversity funding to support the State Wildlife Action Plan, a comprehensive plan for conserving the state’s natural habitats, fish and wildlife. WDFW is in the midst of a 10-year wildlife action plan update, a process that will wrap up in 2025 following input from the public, scientists, tribes and stakeholders.
Julia Tellman writes about civic issues and anything else that happens to cross her desk; contact her at juliatellman@cascadiadaily.com.
