Grants Awarded by the Salmon Recovery Funding Board
By Alison Studley

The Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group was awarded four new state grants for habitat restoration totaling $439,000 in April. These grants were awarded by the Washington State Salmon Recovery Funding Board to watersheds across the state in order to implement high priority salmon habitat restoration and protection projects. SFEG will partner with local landowners to implement three habitat restoration projects and one feasibility study with the awarded grants.

The Salmon Recovery Funding Board approved $36.7 million in grants across the state during its third annual grant cycle. The grants will fund 128 individual salmon recovery projects in watersheds around the state. Thanks to the hard work of the Skagit Watershed Council and its members, the Skagit Watershed received more funding than any other watershed in the state with 14 grants awarded totaling nearly $4 million.

The Skagit Watershed is considered a high priority area for salmon recovery funding due to its importance for the federally threatened Puget Sound chinook salmon. As the largest river in Puget Sound the Skagit River supports the largest wild runs of chinook salmon, pink salmon and bull trout in Puget Sound. Additionally, the Skagit Watershed Council's strategy and review process are highly respected by the state due to its high level of scrutiny and rigorous review. Projects were submitted to committees of the Council last August and went through numerous local and state reviews before becoming part of the prioritized list of projects that were funded in April.

SFEG was awarded grants to work on four projects in the Skagit Watershed. First, we will be working with the community of Marblegate near Marblemount to reconnect important slough habitat to the Skagit River and improve salmon passage where a culvert currently blocks access in the slough.

In the middle area of the Skagit River, SFEG will work with the U.S. Forest Service on two projects. On Finney Creek we will continue our partnership to help restore degraded areas of this important Skagit tributary. Large logs will be flown in by helicopter and strategically placed to recreate log jams throughout a 1.5 mile reach. Log jams will help restore degraded habitat for chinook, coho, chum, and pink salmon throughout the lower 11 miles of Finney Creek by trapping sediment and reducing water temperatures. A second project with the Forest Service on Day Creek will assess historic and current habitat conditions through a feasibility study. Working with landowners, this study will identify habitat restoration and protection actions that will best recover salmon populations of lower Day Creek and Day Creek Slough.

Aerial photo of Finney Creek, once one of the most productive
salmon tributaries of the Skagit River.
Finally, on the East Fork of the Nookachamps near Highway 9 SFEG will partner with a landowner to enhance 1500 feet of stream channel and adjacent wetland habitat. The landowners have protected their property through a permanent conservation easement with the Wetlands Reserve Program. This federal wetlands program will contribute matching funds to assist in recreating the historic stream channel that meanders through the wetland rather than the existing straightened channel with little habitat value for salmon.

SFEG is very excited about these new grants and is looking forward to a full summer construction season. Stay tuned for updates on the status of these projects and their benefits to local salmon recovery.