Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation awards local grants

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation will be providing grants for habitat improvement and research in Cowlitz and Skamania counties in 2015.

The two Southwest Washington grants are among 15 the Montana-based conservation organization is awarding for projects in Washington. The total of the grants is $212,000.

In Skamania County, the money will provide for continuing research on forage availability and nutritional quality within the blast zone of Mount St. Helens in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest compared to state and federal land outside the zone.

Herbicide treatments on 125 acres of meadows providing summer range for the Mount St. Helens also will be continued.

In Cowlitz County, the money will be used to apply lime and fertilizer to 150 acres of existing forage and to seed 40 acres where the desirable plant cover is low to maintain winter range for 600 to 800 elk on the Mount St. Helens Wildlife Area.

Volunteers will plant trees and shrubs on 10 additional acres to aid in erosion control on the Toutle River floodplain and apply herbicides on 150 acres of national forest and state lands to contain isolated weed populations.