Grant aims to develop habitat for hunters, fishers

Pheasant hunting in Whitman County stands to see a significant boost in the next two years if all goes as planned under a new federal grant recently awarded to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

A $993,231 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to WDFW has a three-pronged goal of opening up more private land to hunting and fishing in 11 counties on the east side of the state.

Those three goals include financial incentives for farmers in certain counties to allow hunting on their land, working with farmers with land in CRP to improve that land’s habitat for game animals and...