Friends of Rocky Prairie – An Overview

Friends of Rocky Prairie is a group of concerned homeowners and residents in Washington’s South Puget Sound region, including the Thurston County rural communities of Maytown and Tenino.

West Rocky Prairie is located 13 miles south of Olympia, and 1/2 mile from Millersylvania State Park, and forms a rare habitat matrix unique to Western Washington. This fragile environment includes rare oak woodland, wetlands, and native outwash prairie and is home to numerous state and federally threatened and endangered species. The prairie lies within the Black River watershed where agency and organizational partners have conserved over 5,500 acres spanning more than 40 individual sites. Rocky Prairie also forms the headwaters for two salmon-bearing streams running through it, and its hydrology is important to 100’s of residents living nearby. In 2006, approximately 800 acres of Rocky Prairie were purchased by the WA. Dept. of Fish and Wildlife for conservation and restoration purposes. That agency, in conjunction with the Nature Conservancy, has spent 15 years attempting to procure the entire 1650 acres of valuable habitat.

History:  In 2006, the Port of Tacoma, in conjunction with the Port of Olympia, purchased the remaining 745 acres of this biologically diverse area to develop the South Sound Logistics Center (See also Background). Their plans contained numerous possibilities including a rail switching yard, chemical manufacturing plant, solid waste transfer station, warehousing and a truck to rail distribution site. This would have created a massive 24 hour per day industrial complex the size of Olympia, and would inundate roads from Olympia to South Thurston County with 1000’s of trucks and blocked railroad crossings.

The Friends of Rocky Prairie, a community group responding to the Port’s plans, formed in February of 2007 and has expanded into a large alliance of over 2000 citizens, with a growing coalition of businesses, churches and conservation groups. They believed this facility was a serious threat to this rare prairie environment, to Millersylvania State Park, to the Black River watershed, and to the rural treasure of South Thurston County.

In June of 2008, Friends of Rocky Prairie were successful in helping the Ports of Olympia and Tacoma realize that an SSLC was not a good idea for South Thurston County.

Now the effort has shifted to working with state and federal agencies and non-profit conservation organizations to preserve this unique habitat into the future!

For information and updates, or to join us, email: FORPrairie@hotmail.com