The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Wednesday that it will award $5 million to six wetland restoration projects in Washington state, including two in Snohomish County along the Snohomish River.
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife will spend $1.77 million, in cooperation with the Salmon Recovery Funding Board, to buy 243 acres of slough marshland near the mouth of the Snohomish River.
It also will work to restore 353 acres of marsh. The goal is to provide habitat for salmon, as well as wintering grounds for migrating waterfowl and shorebirds.
Cascade Land Conservancy, Ducks Unlimited and Pacific Coast Joint Venture are partners on the project, kicking in $373,000.
Also, the state Department of Ecology will acquire about 36 acres of wetlands in the Snohomish River delta for the Owuloot Project. The land is the final property needed to restore 390 acres of wetlands and access to a coastal stream currently blocked to fish.
The completed project will cost about $650,000 and will provide a place for birds to nest and a nursery for bull trout and chinook and other salmon species.
Other partners on the project — the Tulalip Tribes, the city of Marysville, Natural Resource Damage Assessment Trustees, Pacific Coast Joint Venture and the Natural Resources Conservation Service — will contribute $327,500.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife awarded $17 million in coastal wetlands restoration grants to projects in 10 states.
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