The Department of Commerce and NOAA officials have recommended over $105 million in funds for 14 new and continuing salmon recovery projects and programs for the West Coast and Alaska, the federal agencies announced Aug. 1.
The money is to be funded through the Pacific Coastal Salmon Recovery Fund (PCSRF), the agencies said, with funds including Fiscal Year 2024 annual appropriations, plus $34.4 million under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and $7.5 million under the Inflation Reduction Act.
The money is expected to help support programs and projects in Alaska, California, Idaho, Oregon and Washington, including habitat restoration stock enhancement sustainable fisheries and research and monitoring.
California received allocations to two entities, while Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington each receive a total of three grants. The largest grants overall were $26 million to Washington’s salmon Recovery Funding Board, $22.25 million to the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board and $18.1 million to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Fisheries Restoration Grant Program.
The funding, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, is expected to build on decades of salmon recovery work while helping Pacific coast tribes and Alaska Natives to sustain their communities and cultural traditions in the face of climate change.
“This is a result of the most ambitious climate agenda in history, and I am proud that nearly half of all funds in this announcement are being awarded to tribal applicants,” she said.
The funds are to supplement state and tribal programs that provide demonstrable and measurable benefits to Pacific salmon and their habitat, plus aid in recovery of 28 salmon and steelhead species listed under the Endangered Species Act, as well as non-listed ESA salmon and steelhead necessary for Native subsistence or tribal treaty fishing rights and those in the Columbia River Basin.
“The value of these investments goes far beyond recovering Pacific salmon and steelhead and their habitats to also provide community and economic benefits, such as jobs and climate resilience,” NOAA Fisheries Assistant Administrator Janet Coit said.
The funding recommendation for the Western states is as follows:
Alaska
- $6.8 million to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Alaska Sustainable Salmon Fund for protection of water quality and quantity, land conservation, fish passage improvements, removal of invasive species, instream restoration and monitoring of salmon populations.
- $500,000 to the Arctic-Yukon-Kuskokwim Consortia for population research and monitoring to better understand complex relationships between salmon and freshwater nearshore and marine and improved management.
- $716,700 for a new Chilkat Indian Village program to monitor water quality and increase tribal capacity to document current conditions in portions of the Chilkat watershed prior to future Development that may impact salmon populations importance for subsistence.
California
- $18.1 million to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Fisheries Restoration Grant Program for large-scale, process-based habitat restoration projects for salmon and steelhead throughout the state.
- $2.428 million to the Klamath River Inter-Tribal fish and Water Commission, as a support organization to four federally recognized tribes in the Klamath Basin, which would administer funds to tribes to conduct habitat restoration activities, monitoring and research.
Oregon
- $22.25 million to the Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board for salmon recovery projects and support of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s salmon recovery programs integral to the Oregon plan for salmon and Watersheds.
- $6.862 million to the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission to allocate to member tribes based on high priority needs for salmon in all aspects of salmon recovery.
- $3.608 million to the Coquille Indian Tribe to restore riparian buffer along the mainstem of the South Fork Coquille River to improve water quality for threatened Oregon Coast coho salmon.
Washington
- $26 million to the state’s Salmon Recovery Funding Board through the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office to continue recovery of Endangered Species Act-listed salmon and support treaty fishing rights through habitat restoration and fish monitoring.
- $7.693 million to the Northwest Fisheries Indian Commission to administer funds to restore and protect habitats, conduct monitoring and enable projects to fulfill tribal treaty fishing rights for ESA-listed salmon and steelhead.
- $747,000 to the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation for a third year of studying reintroducing salmon upstream of Chief Joseph and Grand Coulee dams in the Upper Columbia Basin.