- Woodard Bay Natural Resources Conservation Area (dnr.wa.gov)
Woodard Bay Natural Resources Conservation Area was designated by the legislature in 1987, one of the first in the state. A wildlife sanctuary that is just minutes from downtown Olympia, this 922-acre site protects habitat ranging from marine shoreline and wetlands to mature second growth forest. The site has a rich and varied human history that includes Native Americans, early settlers to southern Puget Sound and the logging and shellfish industries.
- Crowberry Bog Natural Area Preserve (dnr.wa.gov)
This 321-acre preserve protects the only known example of a “raised plateau” bog in the western coterminous United States, as well as occurrences of a state-candidate butterfly species, a state-sensitive plant, and two rare moss species. Raised plateau bogs have a central plateau that is noticeably elevated above the surrounding land due to thousands of years of peat accumulation slowly building up the surface of the bog. In the case of Crowberry Bog, the center of the plateau is approximately nine feet higher than the surrounding land. This creates ombotrophic conditions, meaning the bog only receives water and nutrients from direct precipitation rather than from the surrounding landscape. Vegetation in the bog is adapted to these conditions and includes plants such as sphagnum moss, bog laurel, Labrador tea, bog cranberry and black crowberry - after which the bog is named.