December 22, 2025,  Tumwater, WA – With a recent donation from the Angela J. Bowen Conservancy Foundation, the City of Tumwater is a million dollars closer to setting aside land to protect threatened and endangered mammals and amphibians.

The Foundation recently committed $1 million toward purchase of 300 acres for sale in the southern portion of the City.  The land, suitable for threatened Olympia pocket gopher subspecies habitat of the Mazama pocket gopher, also has wetlands that would be habitat for endangered Oregon spotted frogs.

“The Foundation’s contribution provides seed money as we work to raise the additional funds required to purchase the property and set it aside for wildlife,” said Lisa Parks, City Administrator.

“Like many cities around the state, we are in a challenging position of needing to meet the development needs of the community as well as protecting the species and habitat as well,” said Brad Medrud, Tumwater Community Development Department Director.

The funding opens potential for both habitat mitigation and economic growth.  Specifically:

• By gathering the resources to purchase mitigation land, the City will create habitat for endangered and threatened species in perpetuity in large, connected spaces.
• Purchase of the land would help avoid expensive, inefficient, piecemeal development in unconnected, smaller mitigation lands.
• This would fulfill habitat conservation requirements of the US Fish and Wildlife Service, reflected in the City’s draft Habitat Conservation Plan and consistent with the State’s Growth Management Act.
• If the City cannot find ways to set aside suitable habitat for Endangered Species Act listed species, development projects that support community housing and jobs as well as City services would not be built.
• The planned purchase of the 300 acres of habitat is another step toward the larger effort to secure the City’s natural diversity. Over the next 30 years, the City’s Habitat Conservation Plan is intended to set aside approximately 1,650 acres of prairie habitat critical for conservation and sequestering greenhouse gasses.
• Purchase of the property for habitat mitigation is consistent with the City’s values to protect nature and to provide opportunities for people in the community.

“If we can gather the funding and bring this habitat project to fruition, we will conserve prairie habitat that is crucial to nature in Tumwater,” Parks said.  “We will also unlock potential for commercial, housing, and other development that supports our distinct quality of life, creates jobs, and funds most aspects of the City’s work.

“We are grateful to have the Angela J. Bowen Conservancy Foundation support us in this work,” added Parks.