Clallam and Jefferson get $8.5 million from salmon board

By Brian Gawley, Peninsula Daily News

Article published Dec 20, 2007

Clallam and Jefferson counties received $8.5 million from the state's Salmon Recovery Funding Board for habitat restoration projects.

Clallam received $5,096,327, the third highest amount among the state's counties, and Jefferson received $3,472,642, eighth among counties.

The funding was announced on Wednesday.

"Back in 1998, when the Legislature faced Endangered Species Act listings, this board was formed to address habitat restoration to improve survival chances for salmon," said Steve Tharinger, Clallam County commissioner, D-Dungeness, and the chairman of the Salmon Recovery Funding Board, which is appointed by the governor.

"The board focuses on restoration projects such as improving stream channels and placement of large woody debris in rivers."

Some funding also goes to irrigation districts to line irrigation ditches, he said.

Tharinger said Clallam received so much money because it was a member of Shared Strategy for Puget Sound.

That group is part of the Puget Sound Partnership restoration effort being championed by Gov. Chris Gregoire.

Jefferson County received a large share because it is a member of the Hood Canal Coordinating Council, which also is a part of the partnership, he said.

Jefferson County Commissioner Phil Johnson, D-Port Townsend, was delighted by the news.

"We've been working really hard on this Tarboo-Dabob project," he said.

That project, which received $693,186, will buy 10 acres on the Tarboo-Dabob Bay waterfront and pay for half of 4,000 feet of tidelands, with the Nature Conservancy paying the other half, Johnson said.

The project also involves Jefferson County, state Department of Natural Resources, Jefferson Land Trust, Pope Resources and the Northwest Watershed Institute, Johnson said.

"These projects are developed and supported by local watershed groups and reviewed by a panel of scientific experts to ensure that the projects funded will be the most effective in bringing salmon populations back from the brink of extinction," Tharinger said.

"This strategic approach, linking local priorities with scientific review, has made Washington a national model," he said.

The money is part of more than $60 million in state grants to restore salmon habitat, including $35.5 million from Governor Gregoire's Puget Sound Partnership.

Since 2000, the Salmon Recovery Funding Board has awarded more than $233 million in grants, funded by federal and state dollars, for 889 projects.

Grantees have contributed about $100 million in matching resources, bringing the total investment to more than $333 million.

Information about the Salmon Recovery Funding Board is available online at www.rco.wa.gov.________
Reporter Brian Gawley can be reached at 360-417-3532 or brian.gawley@peninsuladailynews.com.

RELATED ARTICLE:

List of North Olympic Peninsula salmon-recovery projects receiving funding

Peninsula Daily News

Article published Dec 20, 2007

Here is a list of the 23 projects funded by the Salmon Recovery Funding board in Clallam and Jefferson counties.Clallam County: $5,096,327
·  Clallam Conservation District: $305,000 to decommission Goodman Creek Road.

The district will help the U.S. Forest Service - which will contribute $60,000 in labor and donations of equipment, materials and labor - remove four miles of Forest Service Road 2931-100 along Goodman Creek, a tributary of the Sol Duc River and home to coho, Chinook, steelhead and cutthroat trout.

Crews will remove culverts, fills and unstable banks, as well as improve drainage from the former road bed and control noxious weeds.
·  Clallam County: $953,200 to move lower Dungeness River dikes.

Clallam County - which will contribute $100,000 in donated labor - will plan, design and get necessary permits for moving the dikes on both sides of the lower Dungeness River in Sequim and restoring habitat along 1.8 miles of the river.

Setting back the dike and restoring the river channel will create flood plain and side channel habitat for summer chum, lower river pink salmon, Chinook, bull trout, steelhead and other fish.
·  North Olympic Salmon Coalition: $380,250 to restore Pitship Pocket estuary.

The coalition - which will contribute $80,000 in equipment, materials and donated labor - will replace an undersized culvert under West Sequim Bay Road with a bridge, restoring fish passage to Pitship Marsh from Sequim Bay.

That will add 4.2 acres of restored tidal function in the salt marsh for summer chum.

The upland area is zoned for commercial use and is scheduled for development soon.
·  Clallam Conservation District: $380,000 to replace Sequim ditches.

The district - which will contribute $300,000 from a federal grant - will replace seven open ditches (about 2.8 miles) with pipes to conserve water and cut contamination of water flowing into Dungeness Bay.

A public-private partnership of the Cline Irrigation District, Clallam Ditch Company and the Dungeness Irrigation Group already has replaced about 17 miles of open ditches with 15 miles of pipelines.

When completed, the entire project is expected to save an estimated 44 gallons per second of water, increasing late summer and drought year flows in the river by about 10 percent.

The Dungeness River is used by Puget Sound Chinook, Hood Canal summer chum, steelhead and bull trout.
·  Clallam County: $267,000 to restore the Elwha River estuary.

Clallam County - which will contribute $56,000 in labor and donated equipment - will begin restoring the Elwha River estuary.

Work will include installing a fish passage structure, opening seven acres of the west estuary to fish and investigating the feasibility of buying voluntary land preservation agreements for the west estuary.

Removing the dam will reopen 70 miles of habitat in the river, but does not restore all estuary functions.

Long-term estuary restoration goals for the estuary include conservation easements and additional dike modifications.
·  Ducks Unlimited Inc.: $67,991 to plant restoration of Meadowbrook Creek.

Ducks Unlimited Inc. - which will contribute $11,999 in labor - will develop partners, complete biological and engineering designs and get permits for the restoration of Meadowbrook Creek.

The creek is a tributary of the Dungeness River, which is used by fall Chinook, coho, pink, summer chum, steelhead, bull trout and cutthroat.
·  Lower Elwha Klallam tribe: $380,000 to study restoration of the Pysht River estuary.

The Lower Elwha Klallam tribe - which will contribute $75,000 in donated labor - will complete an engineering feasibility assessment for four restoration scenarios for the Pysht River estuary, the second largest in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

The feasibility assessment will consider removal of dredge deposits lining both banks of the river, of suction dredge deposits, of a log sheet pile on the lower river and of roads associated with log storage.

These actions could result in the restoration of 60 acres of salt marsh and tidal channels, 20 acres of sand spit and more than one mile of flood plain.
·  Lower Elwha Klallam tribe: $337,000 to place woody debris in Pysht River.

The tribe - which will contribute $73,750 in donations of cash, labor and materials - will place large pieces of wood in the Pysht River to create more complex habitat for Chinook, coho and chum salmon, steelhead and cutthroat trout.
·  Clallam County: $846,800 to acquire lower Dungeness River flood plain.

Clallam County - which will contribute $145,000 from a federal grant - will purchase three properties to allow a dike to be set back.

Moving the dike will provide flood plain and side channel habitat for chum, pink and Chinook salmon, bull trout and steelhead.
·  Lower Elwha Klallam tribe: $979,086 to replace culverts in Salt Creek watershed.

The tribe - which will contribute $1 million in a federal grant and donations of cash and labor - will replace four culverts on two tributaries to Salt Creek.

Replacing the culverts - which block fish passage - will open up more than five miles of habitat for coho, cutthroat and steelhead.
·  North Olympic Salmon Coalition: $200,000 to design restoration of Morse Creek.

The coalition will develop final designs for restoration of Morse Creek, which runs into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and which is used by chum, pink and coho salmon, bull trout and steelhead.

Jefferson County: $3,472,642

·  Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group: $75,000 to remove the Big Quilcene estuarine dike.

The group - which will contribute $150,000 from a state grant - will remove about .4 mile of saltwater levee surrounding an abandoned fish pond, and restore tidal wetlands.

This project is part of a larger effort to restore 50 acres of coastal wetlands.

The Hood Canal Water Resources Inventory Area 17 has identified this project as the most important project for recovering several Hood Canal salmon species.
·  Wild Fish Conservancy $80,000 to protect and restoring Right Smart Cove

The conservancy - which will contribute $122,000 from another grant - will use this grant to restore Right Smart Cove, an 11-acre pocket estuary three miles north of the Dosewallips River.

The conservancy will remove 1 acre of fill from the estuary and restore native plant communities.
·  Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group: $255,025 to protect Quilcene Bay by purchasing the Ward property.

The group - which will contribute $50,000 from two grants - will buy 80 acres along the north side of the Little Quilcene River and estuary.

The acquisition will allow continuation of the breaching of the north Little Quilcene River dike as part of a project to protect salmon habitat.

The estuary is home to Chinook, pink, chum, steelhead, coho, sturgeon and cutthroat.
·  North Olympic Salmon Coalition $642,243 to remove wood waste and restore an estuary.

The coalition - which will contribute $113,337 from two grants - will remove toxic wood waste from the nearshore and increase the amount of estuarine habitat for young salmon, especially summer chum.

Wood waste was placed atop the estuary at the head of Discovery Bay mid-century during a brief history of log peeling and veneer making at the site.

Groundwater seeping through the wood waste leaches natural chemicals that become toxic in large quantities.
·  Jefferson County Conservation District: $185,692 to plant the banks of Snow and Salmon creeks.

The district - which will contribute  $32,770 from two grants and cash donations - will plant native trees and shrubs along two miles of Snow and Salmon Creeks at the south end of Discovery Bay, and build fences and watering systems to prevent livestock from entering the creeks.

The work will cool the water and provide different types of habitat for chum, coho, steelhead and cutthroat.

Work will include building a bridge, water systems and fences.
·  Hood Canal Salmon Enhancement Group: $99,400 to remove the Duckabush Robinson Road levee.

The group - which will contribute $200,000 from a state grant - will remove 565 feet of the Robinson Road levee on the Duckabush River to restore 2.6 acres of salt marsh.

The watershed is home to Chinook, steelhead, chum and bull trout.
·  Wild Fish Conservancy: $202,000 to restore the lower Dosewallips flood plain and estuary.

The conservancy - which will contribute $609,000 from a state grant - will remove nearly .2 mile of bank armoring and levee, and recreate a natural shoreline with tree stumps, logs and plants.

The work will restore natural processes to more than 5 acres of flood plain.

The project will continue the restoration work at the mouth of the Dosewallips River, which is the second largest tributary watershed to the Hood Canal and is home to Chinook, steelhead and chum salmon.
·  Jefferson County: $437,829 to acquire mid-Hood Canal land.

Jefferson County - which will contribute $74,252 from donated land - will buy 15.7 acres to permanently protect salmon habitat in the Dosewallips and Duckabush Rivers.

The targeted Duckabush properties are at the upper end of the estuary and include a tributary, wetlands and flood plain forest.

The Dosewallips target properties are next to more than 75 acres of flood plain purchased by the county.
·  Wild Fish Conservancy: $439,140 to design Dosewallips and Duckabush engineered log jams.

The conservancy will design a program for large woody debris placement in the Dosewallips and Duckabush Rivers.

Work will include producing designs for up to 10, large, engineered logjams in the upper reaches of each of these rivers.

This project will consist of assessment and design work only.
·  Jefferson Land Trust: $96,347 to protect the Chimacum Creek S curve.

The land trust - which will contribute $17,003 in donations of labor, property interest and cash - will buy 2.3 acres and a land preservation agreement along Chimacum Creek.

The lower main stem and estuary of Chimacum Creek are used by summer chum, coho, cutthroat trout and steelhead.

The land is part of 155 acres that have been the focus of restoration efforts by such organizations as the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, Jefferson County, North Olympic Salmon Coalition, Jefferson County Conservation District, Trout Unlimited, Hood Canal Coordinating Council, Washington State University Cooperative Extension and Jefferson Land Trust.
·  Northwest Watershed Institute: $693,186 to buy land and restore Tarboo-Dabob Bay.

The Northwest Watershed Institute - which will contribute $300,000 in donated property interest - will buy and restore 50 acres of nearshore habitat for summer chum salmon and Chinook salmon.

Purchase of the land is the first step in forming a nature preserve around Tarboo-Dabob Bay to provide protection for juvenile salmon in the Tarboo-Dabob estuary.

This project is part of a larger project being conducted by the institute, Jefferson Land Trust, Jefferson County and The Nature Conservancy to protect the headwaters of the estuary.

During the past 15 years, 875 acres have been purchased.
·  State Parks and Recreation Commission: $266,780 to buy Port Townsend Bay shoreline and nearshore.

The commission - which will contribute $2.6 million in federal, state and local grants and donations of cash and labor - will add property to Old Fort Townsend State Park to preserve a nearshore habitat that serves as a food source, refuge and nursery for the nearby Chimacum Creek native summer chum and coho salmon.

Through a combination of purchases and voluntary land preservation agreements, state parks will protect 45 acres of tidelands along Glen Cove and 205 acres of wooded lands.

If this acquisition fails, the landowner likely will sell the property for development.