Peninsula Daily News news sources
WASHINGTON — Northwest members of Congress are crying foul over the Obama administration eliminating a popular fund for improving salmon habitat.
The Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund was established in 2000 to address the Endangered Species Act listings of 26 stocks of threatened or endangered runs of seagoing salmon and steelhead on the West Coast.
The fund is relatively small compared with the overall federal commitment to salmon recovery, but it’s highly prized because it directly underwrites on-the-ground projects undertaken by local groups.
“The jobs produced by road decommissioning, revegetation efforts and fish passage projects represent valuable employment opportunities in today’s depressed job market,” according to a letter authored by U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Freeland.
It was signed by 29 other Western members of Congress, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.
The funding varies year to year, but last year it included $80 million.
Appeal to Gary Locke
President Barack Obama dropped it from the first budget he proposed to Congress, prompting a swift reaction from members of Congress in the six states benefitting from the fund — Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, California and Nevada.
They appealed directly to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, a former two-term Washington governor.
The letter was addressed to Locke, as well as Peter Orszag, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, and Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration.
‘On his radar screen’
A spokesman for the National Marine Fisheries Service said the letter definitely caught Locke’s attention.
“The secretary’s obviously very, very interested and knows the importance of salmon in the Pacific Northwest,” said David Miller, a spokesman for the National Marine Fisheries Service in Washington, D.C.
“He directed the NOAA administrator to work with congressional members and staff to make sure there is adequate funding.
“It’s very much on his radar screen.”
Nonetheless, Miller noted that the administration estimates it will spend $800 million overall on salmon-related programs among all federal agencies — an 11 percent boost from last year.
