Salmon projects get $5 million

Salmon projects get $5M

By Christopher Dunagan
Bremerton Sun Staff

• The West Sound region obtained more for salmon than most anywhere in the state.

4/16/02 - Seventeen salmon-restoration projects involving West Sound streams and shorelines have been granted more than $5.2 million in federal and state funds.

The Washington Salmon Recovery Funding Board has approved 128 projects across the state for a total of $36.8 million.

Many of the West Sound projects — such as restoring Dogfish Creek in Poulsbo, Barker and Steele creeks in Central Kitsap and the Gorst estuary in South Kitsap — had been widely discussed locally before they reached the state board for approval.

West Sound was one of the most heavily funded regions in the state.

"I think we did very well," said Roger Fuller, coordinator for the East Kitsap projects, which received $3 million — $1 million more than last year.

"Overall, I'd say there was about as much money available as last year," Fuller said. "It was probably more competitive this year. The quality of applications is much higher than when the program began."

The SRF Board, appointed by the governor, is the conduit for most federal and state dollars allocated to salmon restoration.

East Kitsap projects, in order of state ranking:

• Barker Creek: $761,000 was approved to buy about

50 acres of property and acquire conservation easements for another 50-plus acres along Barker Creek, which runs past Kitsap County Fairgrounds and into Dyes Inlet.

• Minter Creek: Five culverts will be replaced along Minter Creek, opening up more than 15 miles of salmon habitat. Two culverts are in South Kitsap, three in northern Pierce County. The grant is for $666,000.

• Dogfish Creek Estuary: In conjunction with a new bridge on Lindvig Way, the city of Poulsbo will remove earthen fill, restore 1,200 feet of shoreline (including a 200-foot buffer of trees), and protect 13 acres of upland habitat, which can be used as a park. The city will match the $450,000 grant with $1.1 mil-lion from other sources.

• Steele Creek: $831,000 to remove fish-blocking culverts under Glud's Pond Road and Brownsville Highway. The closure of Glud's Pond Road and the removal of Glud's Pond itself will allow construction of a fish ladder with 39 log sills in three sections.

• Sinclair Inlet: About 1,500 feet of estuarine shoreline in Gorst will be restored after fill is removed at the former site of an auto-wrecking yard. The result will be a salt marsh with freshwater inflow from a small stream. The grant to the Port of Brem-erton is $318,000.

Hood Canal projects in Kitsap, Mason and Jefferson counties were approved for $2.1 million by the SRF Board.

They are, in order of ranking:

• Salmon and Snow Creek estuary: In coordination with the Jefferson Land Trust, the $400,000 grant will be used to protect three miles of streams and 300 estuarine areas in northern Jefferson County.

• Skokomish River estuary: $149,000 will be used to breach dikes in the Skokomish delta, creating new salt marshes and salmon habitat.

• Lower Skokomish acquisition: $223,000 will be used to purchase about a mile of habitat in the Purdy and Weaver creek watersheds to restore wetlands.

• Big Quilcene floodplain: About $129,000 will be spent to acquire and restore a portion of the floodplain in the lower Big Quilcene River.

• East Fork Chimacum Restoration: About $54,000 will be used to restore some 1,300 feet of channelized stream. The result will be more natural com-plexity and increased floodplain areas.

• Mid-Quilcene restoration: The project includes the acqui-sition of 15 acres of river-front property and landowner incen-tives to protect the Big Quilcene River. Installation of large woody debris will create pools and cover habitat for salmon. The grant is $178,000.

• LeBar Creek Road stabilization: LeBar Creek Road in the Skokomish watershed will be removed and the ground stabilized to reduce erosion into streams, using the $298,000 grant.

• Chum/chinook habitat inventory: The $75,000 grant will be used to compile existing information about salmon habitat in the Hood Canal region and conduct field inventories for additional data. Projects will be identified and incorporated into an ongoing strategy by the three-county Hood Canal Coordinating Council.

• Lower Hood Canal habitat restoration: $180,000 will be used to identify and restore spawning and rearing habitat in Lower Hood Canal streams.

• Ghost net survey: The $152,000 project will survey locations of abandoned fishing nets and establish a process for deciding which ones should be removed to keep them from continually killing fish.

• Tarboo Creek: Replace two undersized culverts with a grant of $190,000.

• Seabeck Creek: Replace existing log weirs with three-sided box culvert to improve fish passage and improve spawning habitat. The grant is $128,000.