Nearly 70 projects to restore salmon habitat across the state were funded through the Climate Commitment Act, including about $6.375 million for 10 Kitsap projects, the Recreation and Conservation Office announced April 28.

In total, $71.3 million was awarded to 69 projects in 21 of Washington’s 39 counties. Grant recipients provided an additional $30.6 million in matching resources or other grants for a total investment of nearly $102 million in salmon recovery, per a news release.

Nearly $2.18 million will go toward the Ruby Creek culvert at Sidney Road in Port Orchard, about $1.49 million for the Shore Friendly Kitsap Program, $857,143 for Port Gamble Bay design restoration, $854,665 for Cooper Creek culvert restoration on Bainbridge Island, $615,146 for Flecther Bay Road fish passage restoration on BI, $500,000 for the Annapolis Creek culvert removal at Bay Street in PO, $375,109 for Barnabee Farms Springbrook Creek restoration on BI, $338,000 for the South Fork Dogfish Creek culvert replacement in Poulsbo, $271,210 for removing a fish blocking culvert in Dickerson Creek and $260,000 for the Finn Creek Estuary restoration project in Hansville.

Lawmakers passed the act in 2021 and voters reaffirmed it in November. The act created a program to require the state’s largest polluters to reduce greenhouse gas pollution. Money from the act is invested in programs to help communities reduce climate pollution.

“These Climate Commitment Act-funded projects will reroute creeks, reconnect rivers to their floodplains to reduce flooding, restore streams to provide better habitat for salmon and remove barriers to salmon migration, allowing us to take big steps forward in our effort to recover salmon, steelhead and bull trout from extinction,” said Megan Duffy, RCO director.

Kitsap projects (information per RCO)

Ruby Creek: The city of Port Orchard will use this grant to remove a culvert in Ruby Creek that is blocking fish access to more than a three-quarter mile of spawning and rearing habitat. The culvert is under Sidney Road, just north of the intersection with Sedgwick Road. This is the lowest, most significant, and final barrier in Ruby Creek before it merges with Blackjack Creek. The two creeks are used by steelhead trout, which is a species listed as threatened with extinction under the federal Endangered Species Act, as well as by chinook, chum, and coho salmon and cutthroat trout. Several other barriers are being removed upstream and downstream of the Sidney Road barrier, leaving this culvert the last one on Ruby Creek.

Shore Friendly Kitsap: Kitsap County will use this grant to support its Shore Friendly Kitsap, which provides incentives to waterfront landowners to reduce marine shoreline armor. Armor is a barrier, such as seawalls, large boulders, or riprap, placed on shorelines to prevent erosion. It damages salmon habitat because it disrupts the natural erosion that supplies sand and gravel to beaches, where salmon and the animals they eat live. The program aims to get landowners to consider alternatives to bulkheads, remove bulkheads or replace them with soft-shore alternatives, and plant shorelines with native plants.

Port Gamble Bay: The Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe will use this grant to complete preliminary and final designs and permitting to restore over eight acres of shoreline and tidelands on the west side and at the mouth of Port Gamble Bay. Much of the area was armored and filled and is devoid of plants. The restoration project aims to restore the physical processes that create and maintain sand and gravel beaches and the shallow habitats used by salmon and the fish they eat. Port Gamble Bay is home to chinook salmon and steelhead trout, both of which are species listed as threatened with extinction under the federal Endangered Species Act, as well as Pacific herring, surf smelt, sand lance, shellfish, cutthroat trout, and chum, coho, and pink salmon.

Cooper Creek: The city of Bainbridge Island will use this grant to design and improve fish passage in Cooper Creek, at the head of Eagle Harbor. The creek flows under Eagle Harbor Drive through a culvert that partially blocks fish migration. The city will replace the culvert with a larger one. Restoration of the stream channel under the road will increase connectivity and tidal inundation to a large wetland. Removing the barrier will also give fish access to nearly three-quarters of a mile of high-quality habitat. The waterways are used by coho and chum salmon and coastal cutthroat trout. Replacing the culvert is part of a larger project to increase connectivity for cyclists and pedestrians across the stream.

Fletcher Bay: The city of BI will use this grant to complete final designs to replace the Fletcher Bay Road Northeast culvert in Springbrook Creek and restore about 400 feet of stream channel. The culvert under Fletcher Bay Road is a partial barrier to fish and includes a series of concrete weirs, bank armoring, and an undersized culvert. Restoration at this location is the highest priority restoration project in the watershed. The work will restore fish passage and habitat conditions low in the Springbrook Creek watershed to benefit salmon populations and improve the capacity of the stream to accommodate water flow changes resulting from climate change. The creek is used by steelhead trout, which is a species listed as threatened with extinction under the federal Endangered Species Act, and by coho and chum salmon, and cutthroat trout.

Annapolis Creek: The city of PO will use this grant to complete designs for a project to remove a culvert in Annapolis Creek at the intersection of Arnold Avenue and Bay Street in downtown Port Orchard, next to Sinclair Inlet. Removing the barrier will help reconnect Annapolis Creek and Sinclair Inlet, improving passage of their populations of Endangered Species Act-listed steelhead trout, as well as coho and chum salmon and cutthroat trout. The city plans to extend its shoreline pathway over the top of this barrier in the next five years, providing walking and beach viewing opportunities and a platform to see salmon and steelhead returning to the creek.

Springbrook Creek: The BI Land Trust will use this grant to complete a design and remove an undersized culvert in Springbrook Creek. The land trust will replace the culvert with a bridge and place large woody materials along the banks. Adding woody materials, such as tree root wads and logs, 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. Planting trees and bushes along a creek shades the water, keeping it cool for fish. The plants also drop branches and leaves into the water, which provide food for the insects that salmon eat. Finally, the roots of the plants keep soil from entering the water, where it can smother fish spawning gravel. This project is on private land. It will open fish access to more than 3.7 miles of habitat, widen this section of the creek to reflect natural conditions, improve connections between creek reaches, allow the creek to withstand higher flows anticipated in a changing climate, and allow for movement of wood and sediment. The federal government has designated the creek as critical habitat for steelhead trout, which is a species listed as threatened with extinction under the Endangered Species Act.

Dogfish Creek: The city of Poulsbo will use this grant to develop final designs for a project to correct a barrier to fish passage in the South Fork Dogfish Creek at Eighth Avenue. The project is the city’s top salmon recovery project and is the culmination of more than fifteen years of planning, land purchases, and stream restoration activities. When restoration is completed, fish will have access to more than half a mile of habitat, a 36 percent increase in accessible habitat in the creek’s watershed. The creek is used by coho salmon and steelhead trout, both species listed as threatened with extinction under the federal Endangered Species Act, and by chum salmon and sea-run cutthroat and resident trout.

Dickerson Creek: The Kitsap Conservation District will use this grant to replace a culvert with a bridge over Dickerson Creek, a tributary to Chico Creek. The culvert is on private land and the crossing provides access to two homes. The conservation district will also remove five bathtubs and concrete slabs that were used as bank armoring and redistribute cobble on the streambed in the floodplain. The culvert is inhibiting fish access to one mile of habitat. The creek is used by chinook and coho salmon, both of which are species listed as threatened with extinction under the federal Endangered Species Act; by steelhead trout, which is also listed as threatened with extinction under the Act; and by chum salmon and cutthroat trout.

Finn Creek: The Wild Fish Conservancy will use this grant to complete final designs and permitting for a project to restore Finn Creek estuary in Norwegian Point County Park in Hansville. The restoration includes removing a failing culvert and tide gate at the beach, removing a second culvert, removing fill, building a berm around the park to protect adjacent land, planting native plants, placing large woody materials in the estuary, and removing derelict creosote pilings. In addition, the fish conservancy will complete preliminary designs for a project to replace a culvert under a county road with a bridge and return the ditched channel upstream from the intersection to a more natural state. The full project will restore natural processes in the estuary, improve nursery conditions for young salmon there, restore fish passage to two miles of stream, and reduce community flooding risk. The project is intended to benefit Puget Sound chinook and steelhead trout, both of which are species listed as threatened with extinction under the federal Endangered Species Act, as well as sea-run cutthroat trout and coho, chum, and pink salmon.