Local salmon recovery efforts are getting a boost after state leaders approved three Clallam County projects among nearly $18 million in grants.
The Washington Salmon Recovery Funding Board on Dec. 5 announced the grants to restore salmon habitat, with an estimated 75 percent of the funded projects to benefit Chinook salmon — which make up a large part of the southern resident orca whale diet.
“This funding helps protect one of our most beloved legacies,” said Gov. Jay Inslee. “Together we’re taking a step forward for salmon, and in turn dwindling southern resident orca whales, while also looking back to ensure we’re preserving historic tribal cultural traditions and upholding promises made more than a century ago.”
Local projects include $199,962 to the North Olympic Salmon Coalition for restoration of about 22 acres of the Dungeness River estuary, $447,147 to the North Olympic Land Trust for further protecting the Morse Creek shoreline, and $115,311 to Trout Unlimited for restoring Sitkum River habitat.
In Sequim, the North Olympic Salmon Coalition (NOSC) will use the grant to complete final designs for a project that will remove about 500 feet of the northern end of a levee on the right bank of the Dungeness River. The levee removal will reconnect the river to its right bank estuarine marsh.
State officials said this project will benefit Chinook and chum salmon and steelhead, all of which are listed as threatened with extinction under the federal Endangered Species Act, and coho salmon, which is a federal species of concern.
The levee slated for removal is on land belonging to the Dungeness Duck Club, a project partner and a long-time supporter of Dungeness River restoration.
Cheryl Baumann, North Olympic Peninsula Lead Entity Coordinator, said the levee is a portion of the Army Corps levee, a portion of which a bit further upstream will be set back to reclaim acres of lost floodplain. Clallam County is leading that effort, with construction expected to begin in 2019.
NOSC has two other restoration efforts pending 2019 legislative funding.
Baumann said this project builds on the Salmon Coalition’s successful, large scale estuary project nearby at 3 Crabs. NOSC will host an open house at the 3 Crabs site — the former location of the 3 Crabs Restaurant — from 2:30-4 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 18. For more information or to RSVP, call Sarah Albert at 360-379-8051 or email to salbert@nosc.org.
The North Olympic Land Trust (NOLT) will use the organization’s is grant to buy 97.3 acres along Morse Creek, conserving about 1 mile of important salmon and shoreline habitat. The land trust also will remove the hydroelectric operation and spillway near Morse Creek.
NOLT will contribute $120,825 in cash donations to the project, which is part of a larger effort the Salmon Recovery Funding Board approved to receive Puget Sound Acquisition and Restoration funding, pending approval by the Legislature.
Baumann lauded the perseverance of the North Olympic Land Trust and their conservation manager Michele Canale, who advanced proposals for four major protection actions on the Elwha, Morse Creek and in Clallam Bay — including two that were “well-vetted” in earlier grant rounds but not funded because of lack of funding, Baumann said.
Trout Unlimited will use the funds to abandon U.S. Forest Service Road 2952 and return the area to a more natural state.
These local salmon restoration and protection projects are designed to further advance salmon habitat restoration and protection and recovery of salmon threatened with extinction and declining populations.
“Even on our remote and beautiful North Olympic Peninsula, our salmon populations are but a shadow of their former selves,” Baumann said.
“Science shows that loss of habitat by destroying floodplains, channelizing rivers, armoring marine shorelines and removal of wood from rivers has severely impacted salmon survival.”
Baumann noted the Clallam-area projects were developed, vetted and selected by local watershed councils the North Olympic Peninsula Lead Entity which covers all watersheds that empty into the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the North Pacific Coast Lead Entity which covers watersheds in Clallam and west Jefferson County which empty into the Pacific Ocean. Both lead entities include government representatives, technical and citizen members.
Projects are designed by area tribes, nonprofits and governments. The lead entities make decisions about whether projects are scientifically and technically sound and decide which projects will be forwarded for funding.
There are similar efforts underway throughout Washington state. The need for increased habitat restoration was highlighted earlier this year because of the plight of the Southern Resident Killer Whale population which is starving because of lack of salmon. The sight of an orca pushing her dead calf over 1000 miles for 17 days this past summer highlighted the crisis, according to Stephanie Solien, the co-chair of Gov. Inslee’s Orca Task Force.
“It captured the world’s attention,” Solien told the Salmon Recovery Funding Board at their meeting last week. “The Orca is helping people understand the importance of the salmon, the forage fish and the zooplankton,” she added.
Solien’s Orca Task Force co-chair Les Purce also met with the Salmon Recovery Funding Board Thursday and said they received more than 18,000 comments from not only Washington, but also people throughout the United States and overseas who care about Orca survival.
The Salmon Recovery Funding Board awarded grants to organizations for 95 projects in 30 of the state’s 39 counties.
Since the creation of the Salmon Recovery Funding Board in 1999, the board has awarded more than $700 million in state and federal funds to more than 2,650 projects across the state. With matching funds provided by grant recipients, the amount invested in board-funded salmon recovery projects is $987 million.
