By Martin Johncox
Washington News Service
Nearly $22 million in grants have been approved to improve salmon habitat in Washington and most of the projects will involve repairing and improving streams and ditches in Washington’s urban and suburban areas.
The funding, which was approved by the Salmon Recovery Funding Board (SRFB) earlier this month, will target 70 habitat restoration and improvement grants across the state. Typical projects include planting trees over streams and ditches, which keeps the water cooler and holds the soil in the banks; placing large roots or pieces of wood in streams to give salmon places to rest; modifying streams so fish and swim upstream more easily; purchasing land around a stream to preserve it from development; and studying the possibility of future projects.
Many of these projects will be in areas that have been recently developed, such as suburbs, where development has removed the natural stream features.
“A lot of times, the salmon need to go through a city to get to their spawning grounds,” said Tammy Ownings, board coordinator for the interagency committee for the salmon recovery board. “But there can be problems – the water is too hot, or there’s a culvert they can’t get through.”
This is the fourth year the SFRB has reviewed and funded projects. For this year’s projects, it funded 70 of the 207 requests it received. The funded projects are located across the state, in 23 different watershed or regional areas. Local governments, utilities and other groups interested in salmon conservation applied for the grants and groups of SFRB scientists and local representatives recommended which proposals should be funded.
Combined with local matching funds, the total value of the approved project list is more than $32.7 million. An additional $3 million in projects have been identified for possible approval in future years.
“In these difficult budgetary times it is terribly important that we are spending the SRFB money wisely and getting a return for the money that’s being invested,” said William Ruckelshaus, chair of the Salmon Recovery Funding Board. “The board will do its best to honor our commitment to the local watershed groups and at the same time protect salmon by funding the best salmon projects possible.”
Gov. Gary Locke said the projects are an important part of the state’s efforts to protect salmon.
“I commend the board for its diligence in the selection process and funding of the most qualified projects across the state,” Locke said. “Through its work with local watershed and regional groups, the state can continue its commitment to salmon recovery efforts.”
Kathleen Casey, regional representatve for the Sierra Club Northwest Alaska Office in Seattle, said the restoration projects are good news, particularly since so much development has occurred in previously rural areas where salmon once migrated freely. However, she cautioned against people thinking these will solve salmon recovery problems, particularly in the Columbia and Snake rivers. Most of the SRFB projects are for Washington’s smaller rivers.
And there are signs salmon recovery efforts need more work in other areas. Last week, a federal judge ruled the federal salmon plan to protect threatened and endangered salmon runs in the Columbia and Snake Rivers wouldn’t do enough to reduce the number of salmon killed in dams, and that the plan doesn’t meet the requirements of the Endangered Species Act.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
