OLYMPIA — The Washington Salmon Recovery Funding Board and the Puget Sound Partnership have awarded $7.8 million in grants to projects on the North Olympic Peninsula.
The grants — $6,142,176 for eight projects in Clallam County and $1,693,673 for seven projects in Jefferson County — are among the more than $53 million awarded projects to protect and restore salmon habitat statewide.
The grants will be used to remove barriers that prevent salmon from migrating, increase the types and amount of habitat for salmon, protect pristine areas and restore critical habitat so salmon have places to spawn, feed, rest and grow.
Peninsula grants are:
Clallam County
• Clallam Conservation District — $59,345 to fix five culverts under Forest Service Road 2900 that pose barriers to fish passage in Sitkum River tributaries on the West End.
The watershed is used by steelhead, rainbow, and cutthroat trout. Coho, chinook and sockeye salmon also are present about 1.5 miles downstream in the Sitkum River.
• Clallam County Department of Community Development — $3 million to set back the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers east bank levee built in 1963 on the Dungeness River and reconnect the lower river with about 112 acres of its historic floodplain.
The river is used by chinook and chum salmon, bull trout and steelhead.
Clallam County will contribute $500,000 from a state grant.
• Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe — $113,000 to restore the Pysht River floodplain.
The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe — in partnership with the Makah Tribe, Merrill and Ring, the North Olympia Land Trust and two private landowners — will use the grant to complete the final portion of a larger project that includes the installation of 32 logjams and 350 feet of floodplain fencing, and planting on the banks of the Pysht River to improve salmon habitat in the river and its major tributaries.
The Pysht River is used by chinook, coho and chum salmon and steelhead and cutthroat trout.
The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe and the Makah Tribe, along with others, will contribute $281,000.
• Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe — $1,325,210 to place large tree root wads and logs in the Little River, a tributary of the Elwha River and one of the first habitats upstream of the area from which the Elwha Dam was removed in 2012.
Little River is used by chinook salmon, steelhead and bull trout, as well as coho and pink salmon.
The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe will contribute $237,000 in donations of cash and volunteer labor.
• Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe — $1,041,845 to buy, restore and conserve more than 16 acres of floodplain along the Dungeness River near Sequim. It will remove armoring and levee structures.
The river is used by
chinook salmon, steelhead and bull trout, as well as coho, chum and pink salmon.
The tribe will contribute $183,855 from another grant.
• North Olympic Land Trust — $129,393 to help conserve salmon habitat in the lower Elwha River watershed using a conservation easement.
The land contains more than 1 mile of Elwha River shoreline and a mature forest, which shades the river, keeping the water cool for fish.
The river is used by chinook salmon and steelhead, and by coho salmon, chum, pink and sockeye salmon and cutthroat trout.
The project needs additional funding to be completed. The land trust will contribute $113,485 in donation of land.
• North Olympic Land Trust — $284,822 to buy conservation easements for up to 30 acres along the upper Elwha River.
The river is used by chinook salmon, steelhead, and bull trout, and by coho, chum, pink and sockeye salmon and cutthroat trout.
The project will include $50,263 in donated land value.
• North Olympic Salmon Coalition — $188,561 for restoration planning for up to 130 acres of salmon habitat in the lower 3.4 miles of the Hoko River on the West End.
The river is used by chinook, chum, coho and steelhead salmon.
Jefferson County
• Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group — $45,463 for outreach to landowners downstream of a proposed restoration project in the Moon Valley reach of the Big Quilcene River.
Group members will talk with landowners and evaluate all the land in the floodplain and downstream of the Moon Valley Reach for reconnecting at least 100 acres of floodplain.
The river is used by chum and coho salmon and steelhead.
The Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group will contribute $30,000 from a federal grant.
• Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group — $135,234 to buy 2.4 acres in the estuary and historic floodplain of the lower Duckabush River.
The river is used by chinook, chum and coho salmon and steelhead.
This project is part of a larger project that was funded partially by the Salmon Recovery Funding Board in December.
The Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group will contribute $276,441 in grants from the state Estuary and Salmon Restoration Program and the state salmon recovery program.
• Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group — $856,366 to develop the final design for a restoration project on the lower mile of the Big Quilcene River to allow the river to reconnect to historic floodplain areas.
The river is used by chinook and chum salmon and steelhead.
The Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group will contribute $814,375 from another grant.
• Jefferson County — $145,472 to remove a pipe under West Uncas Road and build an 80-foot-long bridge over Salmon Creek instead.
Jefferson County will contribute $164,872 in cash and a federal grant and $788,800 in a previously awarded salmon recovery grant.
• Jefferson County — $82,660 to plan a restoration project in the lower mile of the Big Quilcene River and work with willing landowners near the area.
The river is used by chinook, chum and coho salmon and steelhead.
Jefferson County will contribute $50,000 in a state grant.
• North Olympic Salmon Coalition — $215,819 to control invasive knotweed and reed canarygrass on 30 acres of shoreline along Snow and Chimacum creeks.
It is expected to restore rearing and spawning habitat for chum and coho salmon and steelhead.
The North Olympic Salmon Coalition will contribute $54,300 in a federal grant and donation of materials.
• Pacific Coast Salmon Coalition — $212,659 to place large logs and tree root wads in Goodman Creek on the West End to help create deep cold pools.
The creek is used by coho salmon, steelhead and resident trout.
The Pacific Coast Salmon Coalition will contribute $37,529 in donations of labor and materials.
• Jefferson County is included in a Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group grant of $188,314 that also includes Kitsap and Mason counties.
The grant will fund removal of knotweed along more than 30 miles of stream and plant 15 acres of shoreline on the lower sections of the Union, Tahuya, Dewatto, Dosewallips, and Big and Little Quilcene rivers, and on Big Anderson and Big Beef creeks.
The waterways are used by chinook, chum coho and pink salmon and steelhead.
The Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group will contribute $33,380 in a state grant and donate volunteer labor and materials.
