OLYMPIA – Organizations in 29 counties were given $18 million in grants to restore salmon habitat and conserve pristine areas, helping bring salmon back from the brink of extinction, the Washington Salmon Recovery Funding Board announced Dec. 4.
Kitsap County will receive $144,655 in grant money for three projects.
The Great Peninsula Conservancy was awarded $33,000 for asssessing how to protect Curley Creek.
The Great Peninsula Conservancy will use this grant to determine how best to protect some of Curley Creek’s most important salmon habitat. Curley Creek is in South Kitsap and flows north to Yukon Harbor near Blake Island in central Puget Sound.
The creek is one of the largest and most productive salmonid streams in the area and is used by steelhead, which are listed as threatened with extinction under the federal Endangered Species Act as well as coho salmon and cutthroat trout.
The Great Peninsula Conservancy will work with Kitsap County, the Suquamish Tribe, and landowners to identify the best strategy to protect permanently the shorelines of the creek and tributaries, forests, and wetlands on the lower two miles of Curley Creek, from Sedgwick Road to the estuary.
The conservancy and its partners will inventory undeveloped land, talk with landowners, clarify encumbrances and easements, and get appraisals. The Great Peninsula Conservancy will contribute $6,000 in donations of labor.
Kitsap County was awarded $50,030 for gathering information to plan for steelhead recovery.
The Department of Community Development will use this grant to summarize existing information on the habitats and population of Puget Sound steelhead in the east Kitsap Demographically Independent Population. This assessment will encompass the entire east Kitsap population from Foulweather Bluff in the north, to the Tacoma Narrows in the south, including all freshwater lowland streams.
The county will develop information not currently available on fish use of streams and shorelines, relative abundance by sub-watershed, and the types of streams in the area. Once complete, this information will give planners a basis for the development of a recovery plan for steelhead, which are listed as threatened with extinction under the federal Endangered Species Act. Kitsap County will contribute $8,804.
Bainbridge Island Land Trust (BILT) was awarded $61,625 for assessing restoration and conservation projects for Springbrook Creek
BILT will use this grant to assess the watershed of Springbrook Creek and develop conceptual designs for projects to improve or conserve salmon habitat.
Springbrook Creek is on the west side of Bainbridge Island and is one of the most productive salmon streams on the island supporting populations of cutthroat trout, and coho and chum salmon. The land trust will examine the benefits of projects including removing fish passage barriers, enhancing shorelines, returning the creek to its historical path and conserving intact fish habitat.
The land trust also will evaluate the watershed by collecting stream data and completing geomorphic and hydrologic assessments to help understand the dynamics of the creek. Compiled information will lead to the identification of five restoration or conservation projects to be implemented in the future. Conceptual designs for restoration projects will be produced.
The Bainbridge Island Land Trust will contribute $10,875 in donations of labor.
In addition, the salmon board awarded $250,000 to replace culverts on salmon-bearing streams damaged by the Carlton Complex fire and subsequent flooding this past summer near Twisp. The money will be used to construct two additional bridges on Frazer Creek. Previously, the salmon board and Washington Department of Transportation funded replacement of five other bridges in the area.
“Salmon are important to Washington because they support thousands of jobs in Washington – fishing, seafood processing, boat sales and repair, tourism and more,” said Gov. Jay Inslee. “When we restore land and water for salmon we also are helping our communities. We get less flooding, cleaner water and better beaches. We also make sure that our grandchildren will be able to catch a fish or enjoy watching the return of wild salmon.”
Grant recipients will use the money to remove barriers that prevent salmon from migrating, reshape rivers and streams, conserve pristine areas and replant riverbanks so there are more places for salmon to spawn, feed, rest, hide from predators and transition from freshwater to saltwater and back again.
