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Tumwater, WA.—Both salmon and a local farms will benefit from a recent grant to the Thurston
Conservation District. The $46,901 grant will pay for work to improve habitat for salmon and
water quality in Pierre and Burns Creeks and in Totten Inlet while also increasing the capacity of
the Oyster Bay Farm to pasture livestock and harvest shellfish.
“This project will install low-cost mycoberms (mushroom bags) and plant native vegetation
along 5,000 feet of stream that empties into Oyster Bay. These mycoberms will filter nutrients
generated on the farm”, says Kathleen Whalen, Administrator for the Thurston Conservation
District.
“We hope, over time, to improve water quality to a point where it becomes healthy for
salmon, shellfish, and other marine life in the area. At the same time, we can solve a problem for
this farmer, increase the utility of the land to support livestock, and maintain a viable farming
operation on the site,” says Whalen.
The grant comes from the Pioneers in Conservation Grants Program with funding provided by
the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
and the Washington State Conservation Commission.
It will help the Oyster Bay Farm, and its owners, Pat Labine and Kathleen O'Shaunessy, improve
their farm and improve shellfish and salmon habitat. “Pioneers grants are specifically designed
to help restore salmon habitat while also helping to strengthen local farms,” says Don Stuart of
American Farmland Trust, who helps administer the program. “We’re delighted with this project
because it illustrates perfectly how saving farms and saving salmon can go hand in hand.”
For further information about this grant and the project, contact Kathleen Whalen at (360) 754-
3588 x 114 or email to
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For more information about the Pioneers in Conservation Grants Program, contact:
- Brian Ferrasci-O'Malley, Evergreen Funding Consultants, Phone: (206)
691-0700, Email:
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- Cara Rose, National Fish and
Wildlife Foundation – Western Partnership Office, Phone: (503) 417-8700, Email:
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- Don Stuart, American Farmland Trust, Phone: (206) 860-4222, Email:
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- See the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation website at
www.NFWF.org/pioneers.
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