Browse Ambrook’s collection of funding programs by Washington State Department of Natural Resources (WA DNR)

Apply online (SurveyMonkey form) or by mail-in paper application. A field technician then contacts the landowner for a site visit; culverts are funded when they become a high priority.

Deadline text on the page: Applications are taken year-round.

Chris Dwight

Family Forest Fish Passage Program Manager

General office

Small Forest Landowner Office

Pays to replace culverts and other road stream crossings on private forestland that block trout and salmon from reaching upstream habitat. A field technician evaluates and ranks each barrier, and the highest-priority barriers are fixed first by a program-provided project sponsor who handles engineering, permits and contractors. Applying also relieves the landowner of state Forest Practices obligations to correct the fish barrier.



- Private or small forest landowner who harvests less than 2 million board feet of timber per year from lands owned in Washington
- Culvert is on forestland and associated with a road; land is capable of supporting a merchantable stand of timber
- Structure is on a fish-bearing stream (wider than 2 feet in western WA / 3 feet in eastern WA, gradient under 20 percent, or site-specific evaluation)

A payment that requires some percentage of matching contributions by the recipient.

Cost Share

Barrier replacement funded and managed by the program's project sponsor. Applying relieves the landowner of any state Forest Practices obligation to correct the fish barrier.

Published amounts: The program funds the replacement of eligible barriers with new structures. Program provides a project sponsor who manages engineering, permits, contractors and accounts. No dollar cap or cost-share percentage published on the page.

Contact your DNR region (Find Your Forester tool or regional email) to schedule a consultation; a local forester visits, then you apply for cost-share and are notified of the approved amount.

Deadline text on the page: No deadline published; consultations scheduled in the order inquiries are received; cost-share approval typically takes 1-2 weeks.

Matt Provencher

Service Forestry Program Manager

Northeast Region landowner assistance

Southeast Region landowner assistance

Gary Bell

District Manager, Olympic Region

Gene Phillips

District Manager, Northwest Region

Matt Axe

District Manager, South Puget Sound Region

Dan Friesz

District Manager, Pacific Cascade Region

Myron Boles

District Manager, Northeast Region

Thomas Schoenfelder

District Manager, Southeast Region

DNR shares the cost of forest health and wildfire-risk treatments such as thinning and pruning ladder fuels, and can help pay a consulting forester to write a forest stewardship plan. A local DNR forester visits for a free consultation, then qualifying landowners are told how much of the work DNR will cover. Formerly eastern Washington only, it now covers the whole state.



- Non-federal owners of forestland who own less than 5,000 forested acres in Washington state
- Eastern and Western Washington (regional DNR offices handle intake)

Cost-share up to a predetermined amount set per landowner; landowners may do the work themselves and be reimbursed.

Published amounts: We do not have resources to do the work, but we will share the cost of the work up to a predetermined amount for qualified property owners.

Apply online or by mail-in application. A conservation easement forester schedules a field visit and the application is added to the funding list; status is posted on the monthly FREP Application List.

Deadline text on the page: No deadline; applications are added to the FREP application funding list. Our funding is based on biennial state allotments to this program.

Emily Fales

Riparian Easement Program Manager

FREP program inbox

Compensates small forest landowners for the timber they must leave standing next to streams, wetlands, seeps or unstable slopes to protect fish habitat. In exchange for a 40-year conservation easement on those trees, DNR pays 90% of the timber value. The easement covers the trees only and does not give the public access to the land.



- Eligible small forest landowner harvesting less than 2 million board feet per year on average
- Harvest does not convert the qualifying land to a use incompatible with forestry
- Has completed a harvest and left a buffer of trees next to a stream, river, wetland, lake, pond or adjacent unstable slopes (may still be eligible if harvest is not possible due to Forest Practices rules)
- Individual, partnership, corporation or other nongovernmental for-profit legal entity
- Owns a parcel larger than 20 contiguous acres or more than 80 forested acres in Washington

Payment per unit of land to do or avoid certain practices related to land management.

Easement

40-year conservation easement on qualifying timber only; compensation for 90% of timber value; no public access. Funding follows biennial state allotments.

Published amounts: The program provides compensation for 90% of the timber value and applies to trees adjacent to streams, wetlands, seeps, or unstable slopes. May also reimburse compliance costs such as marking streamside buffer trees.

Submit the annual Forest Legacy Application to DNR's Forest Legacy Program; projects are scored using the FY28 Forest Legacy Project Scoring Guidance.

Deadline text on the page: 2028 Forest Legacy Application for projects to be funded in federal fiscal year 2028 (beginning March 30, 2026) will be accepted through June 5, 2026.

Mark Reed

Forest Legacy Program Coordinator

Forest Legacy Program

Federal Forest Service grant funds, run in Washington by DNR, buy conservation easements that remove development rights from working forests at risk of conversion, so owners can keep managing them for forestry. Landowners apply through DNR each year; projects must sit inside a state Forest Legacy Priority Area and are scored by the state committee and a national panel.



- Forestland located within a Washington Forest Legacy Priority Area
- Landowner willing to accept the mandatory clauses in the state conservation easement or deed template before applying
- Only a unit of government may hold the interest acquired with Forest Legacy funds

Permanent conservation easement (or fee acquisition) held by a unit of government; landowner continues long-term forestry.

Published amounts: Federal grant funds pay for conservation easements that remove the development rights from forestland; fee acquisitions also allowed. No dollar range published.

Choose the Critical Habitat or Channel Migration Zone application and instruction booklet; include a land description, the method used to determine qualification, and a boundary map. Mail to Washington Department of Natural Resources Forest Practices Division, Rivers and Habitat Open Space Program MS 47012, Olympia, WA 98504-7012.

Deadline text on the page: The application window for the coming 2027-2029 funding period is now open. Please submit your application by 05/31/2026. The program receives funding every two years, at the discretion of the WA State Legislature, so watch for the next application window. Lands may be donated for a conservation easement at any time.

KelliAnne Ricks

Questions and information requests

DNR buys permanent conservation easements on forestland that is critical habitat for state-listed threatened or endangered species, or that sits in an unconfined channel migration zone of a river. Applications are ranked on habitat quality, risk of loss and species factors, and funded in priority order each biennium. Unfunded eligible applications can be carried forward to future funding rounds.



- Forest land containing critical habitat for state threatened or endangered species designated by the Forest Practices Board, or a Channel Migration Zone as described in the Forest Practice Rules
- Identified as designated forestland or current use forestland on county assessor records
- Free of unacceptable liabilities such as hazardous substances
- Must allow DNR legal access, and everyone with a legal interest must convey or subordinate their interest

Permanent conservation easement sold to the state. Biennial legislative funding.

Published amounts: For the current (2025-2027) Washington State Department of Natural Resources has $4.6million available to purchase Rivers and Habitat Open Space conservation easements. Roughly 70 percent for Critical Habitat and 30 percent for channel migration zones when funding exceeds $1 million.

List of Washington State Department of Natural Resources (WA DNR) Funding Opportunities