Nine counties in Washington will receive nearly $180,000 in funding for habitat enhancement projects and research thanks to grants provided by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, including Jefferson County.

The 2014 grants will affect nearly 1,600 acres in Jefferson, Asotin, Cowlitz, King, Okanogan, Pend Oreille, Pierce, Skamania and Yakima counties.

In Jefferson County, the funds are aimed to enhance the forage on 60 acres of previously pre-commercially thinned habitat for Roosevelt elk by piling slash to improve animal movement in Olympic National Forest.

“There is a great need to conserve and improve habitat in Washington through the use of prescribed burns, forest thinning, meadow restoration, noxious weed treatments and other projects,” said David Allen, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation president and CEO.

“We also committed considerable resources toward three different elk studies including one focused on determining the cause of hoof rot,” he said.