Species of Interest in King County

We are still working hard to build this site. As each of the pages below becomes finished, the link to it will go live. Each page will eventually feature information and photographs relevant to the species of King County.

Regulated Species

Many wildilfe and invertebrate species found in King County are protected under the County's Critical Areas Ordinance and policies found in the King County Comprehensive Plan. Lists of King County Species of Local Importance on our Regulations page, updated regularly (it changes based on State and Federal status of animals). This will be useful to all permitting agencies and related land managers and policy people. The Regulations page also discusses Federal wildlife laws, which also apply to wildlife in the County.

Urban Wildlife

Urbanization is a primary threat to our native biodiversity, and our Urbanization and Biodiversity page discusses the problems associated with urbanization, as well as what King County is doing about it.

Our wildlife in urban and urbanizing areas page addresses wildlife issues in both urban areas and those areas that are currently being developed ("urbanizing"). Read about how to intentionally create wildlife habitat as well as learn what wildlife may show up in your back yard when you least expect it.

Wildlife Databases (external web sites)

• ebird, "Launched in 2002 by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society, eBird provides rich data sources for basic information on bird abundance and distribution at a variety of spatial and temporal scales."
• NatureServe, a non-profit conservation organization whose mission is to provide the scientific basis for effective conservation action. NatureServe Explorer is an authoritative source for information on more than 70,000 plants, animals, and ecosystems of the United States and Canada.
• Global Amphibian Assessment. The IUCN Red List includes data on each of the 6,260 amphibian species currently known to science (as of the end of 2007).

Special Species

Rare Species and Habitats in the county (not live yet).

Keystone Species in King County (not live yet).