OLYMPIA–The Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO) today announced the award of $9.2 million in grants for projects that will restore habitat, create jobs and improve the resiliency of Washington’s Coastal communities.
The grants were awarded to eight projects including ones that will remove invasive plants, restore rivers, work with landowners on conservation grazing practices and create habitat for salmon by placing logjams in streams.
The grants are from the Washington Coast Restoration and Resiliency Initiative, which was created by the Legislature in 2015 to protect and restore ecological systems of the Coast while creating jobs and reducing hazards, such as flooding and infrastructure damage. The initiative is jointly administered by RCO and the Washington Coast Restoration and Resiliency Initiative Steering Committee.
Since 2015, the initiative has invested nearly $71 million in coastal communities. In 2024, 22 grant applications were submitted, requesting more than $27 million–with just more than one-third of the projects being funded today.
“There is so much work for us to do to protect the gem that is the Washington Coast,” said Megan Duffy, RCO director. “The goals are to make sure coastal communities can keep their water clean, their forests healthy and fish in their rivers. These grants are a solid investment in helping to ensure that future.”
Grants were awarded to projects in the following counties:
- Clallam County Grants Awarded: $1,042,534
- Grays Harbor County Grants Awarded: $2,096,465
- Jefferson County Grant Awarded: $644,504
- Multiple Counties Grants Awarded: 3,469,670
“These grants are doing important work,” said Jane Atha, executive director of the Coast Salmon Partnership. “The projects will go a long way to address problems such as invasive species and fish passage barriers and restore damaged habitat so that the Coast can continue to be a place where salmon, other wildlife and people thrive.”
Project Descriptions
Clallam County
Wild Salmon Center: $451,602 Grant
Improving Resiliency of the Dickey Watershed
The Wild Salmon Center will use this grant to remove artificial structures and restore natural processes in the Dickey River basin on the Olympic Peninsula. About thirty years ago, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife altered areas to improve habitat for coho salmon. Today, many of the structures put in place are deteriorating, outdated, and block fish passage. In addition to removing structures and returning the area to a more natural state, the center will assess and prioritize reaches in the Dickey River basin for restoration. Visit Project Snapshot for more information and photographs of project 24-1209.
Quileute Tribe: $590,932 Grant
Designing Restoration of the Lower Bogachiel River
The Quileute Tribe will use this grant to advance engineering designs for a project that will increase salmon habitat, improve climate resiliency, and improve floodplain connection, as well as identify options to decrease flood and avulsion risks that threaten State Route 110. The project will address the Bogachiel River, from the State Route 110 bridge upstream to near the confluence with Maxfield Creek. The river in this area is dynamic, prone to flooding, and at risk of forming alternative river channels that would result in degraded fish habitat. A stretch of the highway immediately east of the bridge is regularly flooded and also at risk of severe damage. The Tribe will complete a risk assessment and hydraulic modeling to advance engineering designs to the preliminary design stage. Five species of salmon and steelhead use the Bogachiel River, but it lacks habitat-forming large wood and floodplain connection, and has warming water temperatures. Visit Project Snapshot for more information and photographs of project 24-1423.
Grays Harbor County
Grays Harbor Conservation District: $1,534,965 Grant
Placing Log Structures in West Fork Satsop River Headwaters
The Grays Harbor Conservation District will use this grant to place log structures in up to six miles of the West Fork Satsop River headwaters. Adding log structures to the water creates places for fish to rest, feed, and hide from predators. It also slows the water, which reduces erosion and allows small rocks to settle to the bottom, creating areas for salmon to spawn. Finally, it changes the flow of the water, creating riffles and pools, which give salmon more varied habitat. The conservation district also will develop a comprehensive outreach video to showcase the social, economic, and environmental benefits from this type of project. The outreach will include volunteer opportunities and site visits with timber landowners, restoration practitioners, and others. The river is used by Chinook, chum, and coho salmon and cutthroat trout. Visit Project Snapshot for more information and photographs of project 24-1517.
Grays Harbor County Weed Board: $561,500 Grant
Controlling Invasive Species in the Chehalis River Basin
The Grays Harbor County Weed Board will use this grant to remove noxious weeds, focusing on knotweed along the Wynoocheee, Satsop, and Chehalis Rivers. The board also will tackle Scotch broom, gorse, and phragmites in coastal dunes and shorelines. This is the third phase of a project focusing on education, prevention, and control of invasive species throughout the Chehalis river basin. Invasive species threaten environmental, economic, and cultural resources. They also threaten salmon habitat by preventing tree establishment. Trees on riverbanks shade the water, keeping it cool for fish. They also drop branches and leaves into the water, which provide food for the insects that salmon eat. Finally, tree roots keep soil from entering the water, where it can smother fish spawning gravel. Visit Project Snapshot for more information and photographs of project 24-1406.
Jefferson County
The Nature Conservancy: $644,504 Grant
Restoring the Hoh River Watershed
The Nature Conservancy’s will use this grant to continue restoration of about 486 acres in the Hoh River watershed in Jefferson County. The conservancy will return a road prism, along a five-acre wetland, to a more natural condition and remove eight failing culverts. Culverts are pipes or other structures that carry streams under roads and block fish passage when they are too small or too high. Additionally, the conservancy will thin 122 acres of young trees in an industrial forest to allow other plants to grow there. Finally, the conservancy will treat invasive plants including removing Scotch broom on 7.2 miles of roads, and assess three tributaries to the Hoh River for future projects. The goal is to improve habitat for species listed under the federal Endangered Species Act and on state endangered species lists, including coho salmon, steelhead and bull trout, Olympic mud minnow, Pacific lamprey, wolverine, marbled murrelet, and northern spotted owl. Visit Project Snapshot for more information and photographs of project 24-1194.
Multiple Counties
Jefferson, Clallam, and Grays Harbor Counties
10,000 Years Institute: $1,473,670 Grant
Controlling Invasive Weeds
The 10,000 Years Institute will use this grant to prevent the spread of invasive plant species on twenty-nine acres for two years in coastal watersheds in three counties through its Pulling Together in Restoration Project. This is a landscape‑scale Jobs‑in‑Restoration program. The program develops cutting‑edge methods for effective and safe containment, responds quickly to emerging or untreated needs, creates jobs, and offers community‑based. Education. Visit Project Snapshot for more information and photographs of project 24-1602.
Grays Harbor, Lewis, and Thurston Counties
Ecostudies Institute: $2,000,000 Grant
Training Landowners on Conservation Practices
The Ecostudies Institute will use this grant to support about twenty-five employees in eleven organizations to educate landowners about ways to enhance six hundred acres of grassland for rare plants, butterflies, and birds in the Chehalis River basin. The institute will educate more than sixty producers and technical service providers on conservation grazing practices and train landowners, producers, and others on prairie pollinators. This is the second phase of the project and will prioritize land in Grays Harbor County adjacent to or containing water bodies. Visit Project Snapshot for more information and photographs of project 24-1567.
Grays Harbor and Jefferson Counties
Quinault Indian Nation: $1,996,000 Grant
Continuing Restoration of the Upper Quinault River
The Quinault Indian Nation will use this grant to complete designs and build twelve logjams in the Wilson’s Slough reach of the upper Quinault River. The Tribe also will plant, maintain, and protect conifers on twenty acres of floodplain terraces. The work will protect up to two miles of side channel habitat and promote the creation of more side channels. This is the sixth phase of work and it builds off a fifteen‑year effort that has installed 102 logjams, planted trees on 732 acres, and protected four miles of stable side channels and 235 acres of forested islands in the floodplains of the upper Quinault River in Grays Harbor and Jefferson Counties. The Tribe also will complete and implement the outreach plan currently in development. The river is used by Chinook, coho, and sockeye salmon, steelhead trout, and native char. Visit Project Snapshot for more information and photographs of project 24-1460.