Seven salmon recovery projects in Clallam and Jefferson counties will get a share of $18 million in annual grants awarded this month to 91 projects statewide by the state’s Salmon Recovery Funding Board.
Three projects in Clallam County will receive a combined $863,864 while four projects in Jefferson County will get $425,767, according to a Sept. 17 announcement by the state Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO).
“These projects are making a difference, not only to salmon, but to the other animals that rely on salmon for food, such as orcas, and to the people that rely on them for their livelihoods,” board Chair Phil Rockefeller said in an RCO press release.
In Clallam County, $647,109 will help the state Department of Fish and Wildlife purchase 216 acres of habitat within the Hoko-Lyre River Watershed.
Another $134,640 will help the Pacific Coast Salmon Coalition restore deteriorating fish passageways on the Bogachiel and Dickey rivers, and $82,115 will help the Clallam Conservation District design a project to replace three undersized and deteriorating culverts that carry the Sitkum River under a forest service road.
In Jefferson County, $244,601 will allow Trout Unlimited to fix a barrier to migrating fish in a tributary to Methany Creek below a forest service road, and another $111,920 will help the nonprofit evaluate and develop a restoration plan for about 1.7 miles of Owl Creek and its floodplain.
Some $23,546 will help the Pacific Coast Salmon Coalition design a project to fix a failing wooden embankment and fish passageway at the outlet of Morganroth Springs wetland.
Another $45,700 will help the Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group appraise and review 11.45 acres in the Big Quilcene River estuary in the upper west corner of Quilcene Bay in Hood Canal.
The funding board also approved Puget Sound projects requesting $38 million. That money, which would come from the Puget Sound Acquisition and Restoration Fund, still needs approval from the state Legislature, which is expected next year.
