OLYMPIA–Nearly 70 projects to restore salmon habitat across the state were funded thanks to the Climate Commitment Act, the Recreation and Conservation Office announced today.
Lawmakers passed the act in 2021 and voters reaffirmed it in November. The act created a program to require the state’s largest polluters to reduce greenhouse gas pollution, a known cause of climate change. Money from the act is invested in programs to help communities reduce climate pollution and be more resilient, create jobs and improve public health. More information about the act is online at www.climate.wa.gov.
In total, $71.3 million was awarded to 69 projects in 21 of Washington’s 39 counties. Grant recipients provided an additional $30.6 million in matching resources or other grants for a total investment of nearly $102 million in salmon recovery.
“These Climate Commitment Act-funded projects will reroute creeks, reconnect rivers to their floodplains to reduce flooding, restore streams to provide better habitat for salmon and remove barriers to salmon migration, allowing us to take big steps forward in our effort to recover salmon, steelhead and bull trout from extinction,” said Megan Duffy, director of the Recreation and Conservation Office.
Grants were awarded to projects in the counties below. Descriptions of the grants are on the office website.
| Grant Awarded | Grant Awarded | |||
| Chelan County | $4,094,713 | Mason County* | $5,092,651 | |
| Clallam County | $709,405 | Pacific County* | $4,817,344 | |
| Clark County | $1,892,710 | Pierce County | $2,772,344 | |
| Columbia County | $4,990,100 | San Juan County | $116,200 | |
| Cowlitz County | $4,994,564 | Skagit County | $2,444,926 | |
| Grays Harbor County | $4,541,075 | Snohomish County | $1,983,000 | |
| Island County | $4,963,356 | Thurston County* | ||
| Jefferson County | $2,570,592 | Wahkiakum County* | ||
| King County | $2,583,978 | Whatcom County | $3,097,611 | |
| Kitsap County | $6,374,600 | Yakima County | $3,820,872 | |
| Kittitas County | $1,676,287 | Multiple Counties | $7,779,578 |
*Funding was awarded to this county and included in “Multiple Counties.”
The grants were awarded to projects across a variety of grant programs administered by the office. They included projects to restore salmon habitat in the Washington State Salmon Recovery Funding Board grant program, projects to restore Washington’s coast in the Washington Coast Restoration and Resiliency Initiative, and projects to remove barriers to fish migration in the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Brian Abbott Fish Barrier Removal Board program and to restore estuaries and shorelines in the department’s Estuary and Salmon Restoration Program.
“Voters reaffirmed the critical pieces of the Climate Commitment Act in November and we are getting projects on-the-ground,” Duffy said. “We’re grateful that Washingtonians have such a strong commitment to making sure this state stays a great place to live for people and our salmon.”
