The diverse forests of the central Cascades of Washington include wet westside forests with Douglas firs up to 800 years old. To the east, the forest changes to dry, open park like settings with large ponderosa pines. The lands include alpine meadows and steep slopes. Herds of elk and deer migrate across these lands, while hawks and eagles roost in gray snags.
Salamanders slither through the damp undersides of rotting logs and the vegetation along streams.
As many as 1,000 species of plants and animals are considered dependent upon or associated with late successional forests like those found in the project area. Of prominent importance to The Cascade Conservation Partnership is that this effort would protect most of the remaining old-growth forests left on private land in this region, much of which is threatened by logging within the next one to three years. The habitat offered by ancient forests of the Pacific Northwest is irreplaceable. Adding additional urgency to the protection of acquisition lands proposed by the Partnership is the fact that if we protect the remaining habitat in this area we are protecting only the minimum required to maintain and restore wildlife corridors between the North Cascades and Mount Rainier. If we lose more habitat in these essential wildlife corridors, we are threatening the very viability of numerous species of rare and endangered wildlife species.