The state Salmon Recovery Funding Board recently announced the award of the local grants, part of nearly $30 million in grants to organizations around the state.
“These grants do two things: They provide needed money for local organizations to help repair damaged rivers and streams and protect the most pristine areas,” Don Hover, board chairman, said in a news release.
“They also create jobs. They will put people to work improving the environment and restoring something that is important to Washington’s economy, salmon,” he added.
A state Department of Fish and Wildlife study in 2006 said commercial and recreational fishing in Washington supports an estimated 16,374 jobs and $540 million in personal income.
This new round of grants is expected to provide more than 300 jobs during the next four years.
The projects will reconnect rivers and streams, replace failing pipes that block fish passage, and replant riverbanks with the goal of improving places salmon use to reproduce and grow on their way to and from the ocean, said the release.
“Salmon recovery does more than just help salmon; it also helps the many businesses dependent on healthy fish populations,” said Hover, who also is an Okanogan County commissioner. “There are many families that rely on salmon, from your mom-and-pop tackle shops to your large commercial fishing fleets. They all need salmon and trout populations to be healthy and harvestable.”
Funding for the grants comes from the federal Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund and from the sale of state bonds. In addition, nearly $11.6 million is dedicated to projects in Puget Sound, as part of Gov. Chris Gregoire’s initiative to restore the health of Puget Sound.
“This local, state and federal partnership has made Washington a national model in salmon recovery,” Hover said. “This process ensures that we are funding the projects that the local citizens want and that scientists agree will do the most to recover salmon.”
PIERCE COUNTY
NISQUALLY LAND TRUST: $330,530 for protecting the Mashel River shoreline. The trust will buy 29 acres with river shoreline, expanding the block of protected shoreline to 250 acres. The purchase will protect the land permanently. The trust will contribute $58,328 in conservation futures.
NISQUALLY LAND TRUST: $225,000 for protecting the middle Ohop Creek. The trust will use this to protect 38 acres and nearly a half-mile of streambank using a conservation easement to protect the land permanently. The trust will contribute $76,050 from a local grant and donated land.
NISQUALLY LAND TRUST: $400,000 for protecting the Ohop Valley. The trust will use this grant to buy for permanent protection about 114 acres in the lower valley. The acquisition will make it possible to proceed with the next phase of the channel realignment and valley restoration of lower Ohop Creek, and will protect permanently the bluffs and forest adjacent to the Ohop Creek floodplain. This project will allow for an additional 2 miles of new stream. The trust will contribute $270,000 in conservation futures.
ORTING: $689,226 for building the Calistoga setback levee. The City of Orting will use this grant to remove 1.5 miles of an existing levee and construct a new levee away from the existing river channel to reconnect about 53 acres of Puyallup River floodplain and an additional 46 acres of side-stream habitat. Orting will contribute $138,080.
PIERCE COUNTY: $489,656 for beginning restoration of the south fork of the Puyallup River. Pierce County Surface Water Management will use this grant to construct a major side channel in the left overbank floodplain. This is the first phase of a larger project to reconnect and restore the floodplain of the south fork for salmon and other fish species. The proposed major side channel is nearly a half-mile long. The county will contribute $86,410.
PIERCE COUNTY: $393,225 for restoring the floodplain at Fennel Creek. Pierce County Surface Water Management will use this grant to design, get permits, remove a revetment and plant trees in a floodplain along the Puyallup River. Fennel Creek provides important spawning and rearing habitat to multiple species of salmon and has been degraded. The county will contribute $69,392.
PIERCE COUNTY CONSERVATION DISTRICT: $55,250 for eradicating knotweed. The district will use this grant to inventory and eradicate Japanese knotweed from the Nisqually River basin. The district will survey 75-plus river miles of the Nisqually and tributaries in Pierce, Thurston and Lewis counties and treat about 150 acres. Knotweed degrades habitat for fish along the river. The conservation district will contribute $9,750.
SOUTH PUGET SOUND SALMON ENHANCEMENT GROUP: $60,000 for removing a road over the Clearwater River. The group will use this grant to remove more than a quarter-mile of road, remove fill and surfacing material and grade the former roadbed. The project expands the length of road being removed by Hancock Forest Management, which already is abandoning a section of road. The group will contribute $60,000.
SOUTH PUGET SOUND SALMON ENHANCEMENT GROUP: $328,100 for removing Penrose Point State Park bulkhead. The group will use this grant to remove a creosote bulkhead, rip rap armor and fill along a bluff-backed beach in the Carr Inlet park. The 700-foot-long bulkhead has damaged the habitat and habitat-forming processes in the park. The group will contribute $57,900 from a grant and donated labor.
THURSTON COUNTY
CAPITOL LAND TRUST: $160,714 for protecting and restoring Spurgeon Creek. The trust will use this grant to conserve more than a quarter-mile of creek shoreline and uplands and replace a pair of failing culverts that are blocking fish passage. The trust will purchase a conservation easement on 14 acres. The trust will contribute $28,361 from a federal grant and donated property interest.
CAPITOL LAND TRUST: $136,000 for protecting the Deschutes River. The trust will use this grant to buy 29 acres southeast of the Olympia Airport to conserve more than a quarter-mile of the river. The trust will contribute $24,000.
PORT OF OLYMPIA: $60,000 for restoring Mission Creek estuary. The port will use this grant to remove a road embankment, culvert, beach armor, invading plants and sediment to reclaim the small estuary. Mission Creek flows through Priest Point Park and into Budd Inlet. The port will contribute $120,000.
WILD FISH CONSERVANCY: $117,000 for assessing water type in the Chehalis River basin. The conservancy will use this grant to document and correct water type classifications in about 55 miles of at-risk streams in Beaver Creek and in the Chehalis River watershed. The conservancy will contribute $20,650 from a private grant and donations of equipment and materials.
