Thursday, March 28, 2024

State Board awards nearly $5 million to aid salmon recovery

Posted

METHOW VALLEY -  Methow Salmon Recovery Foundation (MSRF) was awarded 
$4,794,000 in
Salmon Recovery Funding Board (SRFB) funding to implement restoration 
actions in the Methow River Sugar Reach at 4 project areas between RM 
41.25 to 46.5. The total project cost estimate is $7,386,511 and MSRF 
is seeking match funding from Department of Ecology’s Floodplain by 
Design program along with match from Bonneville Power Administration 
programmatic (BPA). Sugar (combines Sugar Left and Sugar Right 
subproject areas), Eagle Rocks, and WA Department of Fish
and Wildlife. The goal of restoration actions is to expand peripheral 
and transitional habitat, increase instream structural complexity, 
and improve natural function within the reach to benefit ESA-listed
Spring Chinook and Steelhead. Grant funds will be used to address 
anthropogenic features including levees, culverts, placed fill, 
remnant dam features, and bank armoring, and to implement actions to
restore river process needed to increase side channel and floodplain 
connections, in-channel and side-channel complexity, and riparian 
plantings to provide rearing and refuge habitat.

The Upper Columbia Salmon Recovery Board serves as the lead entity 
coordinator for SRFB and works to support the local organizations 
that submit project proposals each year. Earlier this year,
the Upper Columbia Region received almost $2.5 million for use in the 
annual SRFB grant round. The region was then alerted to an additional 
$5 million that would fund a fall 2022 grant round for one
large cap project (over $5 million). Over the past 20 years, this 
annual funding has established a restoration economy in the region, 
creating an estimated 2565 jobs and generating $315 million in
economic activity.

  MSRF will begin seeking to identify interested construction 
contractors in January 2023. MSRF will schedule site walk-through 
opportunities for interested contractors in the spring and/or summer 
of 2023. Prospective contractors can contact Jessica Goldberg 
(Jessica@methowsalmon.org) for more information and to schedule site 
review. Construction will occur in 2024 and 2025, though early
coordination by construction contractors is recommended for 
prequalification.

For more information on the UCSRB visit ucsrb.org.

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