A gray wolf’s ideal territory averages 140 to 400 square miles. A pair of northern spotted owls require mature conifer forests, spanning up to 27,679 acres. The wolverine’s home range can cover anywhere from 40 to over 770 square miles. 

For over a century, Washington’s wildlife habitat has been fragmented by human development—from the frenzied days of the railroad empire in the 1870s to the completion of Interstate 90 in 1993. As the state’s population grows and recreation and development increases, it’s the work of land trusts like Forterra that reconnect and preserve our Cascade wildlife corridors and ensure the land is for nature as much as it is for people. 

On December 7, 2011, Forterra conserved 480 acres of forest habitat a few miles northeast of Easton near the shores of Lake Kachess. This was one of many acquisitions that would contribute to Forterra’s Cascade Agenda, recognizing the importance of connectivity in the very heart of Washington state.   

The agenda, as stated in Forterra – Land for People. Land for Nature. Land for Good.™, sought to avoid a future where “unmanaged growth, sprawl, dependence on the car and the highway have defined a reality in which daily congestion, frustration and the loss of green and open space leave people looking for a better place to live.”

Read more in Forterra – Land for People. Land for Nature. Land for Good.™ about how Forterra has worked to strike a balance between forestlands and urban and developed areas.