OLYMPIA–The Washington State Salmon Recovery Funding Board and Puget Sound Partnership today announced the award of more than $61 million in grants to 155 projects across the state aimed at restoring salmon habitat.
“These grants fund important work,” said Jeff Breckel, chair of the Salmon Recovery Funding Board. “They are funding organizations to undo the damage we have done to our rivers, bays and shorelines in the past and helping us make our waterways more hospitable to salmon.”
As Washington’s population grew, the number of salmon dwindled. By 2000, the federal government had declared wild salmon and steelhead species in nearly three-fourths of the state as threatened or endangered. The Legislature created the Salmon Recovery Funding Board in 1999 to determine how best to distribute state and federal funding to recovery projects.
The grants fund a range of projects, from planting trees on riverbanks to shade and keep the water cool for salmon, to removing pipes that carry rivers under roads and often get clogged or are too high for salmon to reach, to digging channels off fast-flowing rivers to create slower moving water where fish can rest.
Many grants also target restoration work in Puget Sound and are funded through the Puget Sound Acquisition and Restoration program.
“Recovering salmon in Puget Sound is urgent work,” said Larry Epstein, deputy director of the Puget Sound Partnership. “We have seen significant declines in salmon populations, and we cannot afford to lose ground. We also have seen that when we do the right things in the right places, salmon can begin to recover. These grants represent the collective effort of many organizations, agencies and communities working together to restore habitat and ensure salmon remain a vital part of our environment, culture and economy.”
The grants will go to projects in the following counties:
“Projects are based on federally approved salmon recovery plans and selected as priorities by local groups who know their waterways the best,” Breckel said. “Salmon recovery is painstaking work and requires long-term investments of money, time and resources. But with each project, we move a step closer to recovering salmon and helping not only the fish but all the other wildlife that depend on them, including our endangered Southern Resident orcas.”
Why is Recovery Important?
Salmon is a keystone species upon which many other animals rely. One report documented 138 species of wildlife, from whales to flies, that depend on salmon for their food. In addition, salmon fishing is important to Washington’s economy. Commercial and recreational fishing in Washington is estimated to support 16,000 jobs and $540 million in personal income.
“We see many benefits to investing in salmon recovery,” said Megan Duffy, director of the Recreation and Conservation Office, which administers the grants for the funding board. “When we restore our rivers for salmon, we also are reducing flood risk, restoring habitat impacted by wildfire, adding carbon-storing trees to help build climate resilience and helping local businesses that rely on fishing for tourism and jobs.”
Every $1 million spent on forest and watershed restoration generates between 15.7 and 23.8 jobs. About 80 percent of that funding stays in the county where the project is located, helping many rural communities. Salmon recovery projects also help Washington State uphold treaty-reserved fishing rights for Indian Tribes and ensure salmon are present and available for harvest.
The grants are funded by the Climate Commitment Act, the Puget Sound Acquisition and Restoration grant program, the Riparian Grant Program, and the Salmon Recovery Program.